Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist

by Sherrie Flick

Homing is a feminist anti-nostalgic intervention in writing about the Rustbelt, with essays braiding, unbraiding, and then tangling the story of the author’s father with Andy Warhol, faith, labor, whiskey, and the author’s compulsion to travel and reluctance to return home.

Genres: Memoir, Essays, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Womens Studies

178 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2024

About the author

Sherrie Flick’s debut novel RECONSIDERING HAPPINESS is out with University of Nebraska Press (2009). I CALL THIS FLIRTING, her awarding-winning chapbook of flash fiction, was published in 2004 (Flume Press). Her work appears in the anthologies FLASH FICTION FORWARD (Norton) and NEW SUDDEN FICTION (Norton) as well as THE ROSE METAL PRESS FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH FICTION. A recipient of a PA Council on the Arts grant and residencies from the Ucross Foundation and Atlantic Center for the Arts, she lives in Pittsburgh where she teaches and works as a freelance writer and editor. For 10 years, she served as Artistic Director for the Gist Street Reading Series. www.giststreet.org

Reviews

[Janet Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a lot of years moving around, actively leaving Western PA to chase everything I thought I couldn't find here, including being a writer. I completely related to this book on a personal level. For me it resonated with what I learned when, six years ago, I came home - you can take the girl out of Western PA but you can't take the Western PA out of the girl. A very good read for anyone who both misses their roots and isn't always sure they want to fully live back where they originated from.

[Bill O'driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine collection of memoiristic essays by a writer better known for her short fiction. The theme is her search for the meaning and expression of "home" in family history, a childhood on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, a young adulthood in Vermont, San Francisco and Nebraska, and maturity in Pittsburgh, all through a lens of feminism and pop-cultural reference points (with a shout-out to Gen X). Thoughtful as well as fun to read.

[Kali Wentling Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and thought provoking compilation of essays about author's family history, self discovery, while living in a tranformative Pittsburgh.

As someone living in Pittsburgh, I appreciated all the local references to literary works, destinations/landmarks, and culture. Specifically the passage of "Pittsburgh's culture seeps into you" is so truly relatable and perfectly encapsulates my experience of living in the city the past 10+ years.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book of essays by locally born, and currently living, author, Sherrie Flick. The essays concern various stages of her and her family's life, including coming of age, academia, jobs, pool (billiards), grief, and gardening, all with a feminist perspective. The writing fluctuates between past and present seamlessly, adding perspective and context.

In my current state of mind, one of my favorite essays was "Jade Plant". But I can't point to any of the collection that I did not like or identify with, though I am not of the same generation as Flick. I knew some of the places referenced and envied some of the author's adventures.

I will look for other writings from this author and am considering buying this book for an upcoming holiday book exchange or maybe just for myself.

"It's a game of chess. All these bodies moving through time. . . We shift and shift to find our place, our next move, unsure of when and how it will all end. We figure out a faith that manifests as a path, and it's the one we take, and soon it feels like truth." (38) [Faith in Movement]

"Not sobbing like a toddler, but instead tears leak steadily from my eyes as if I'm a cracked egg." (120) [Jade Plant]

"The fact of the matter is, you remember his name, but he doesn't remember yours. . .And you know there is something wrong with that. But you can't figure our what it is." (152) [Instincts] (from her 1980 story "It's Bob, Let's Say, or John")

"One group ends up laughing, and that laughter gives them the power to do whatever the hell they want, and it prevents those of us on the receiving end from keeping our brains clear of the impact, big and small. It sometimes makes us on that end reconsider how we're going to live our lives." (160)

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it's because Flick and I potentially share a birthday (!), but so much of the writing in Homing: Instincts... brought me back to my own experiences, thoughts, understandings of the ways of things across the 1980s and '90s. Flick writes of GenX, "The collective definition of our generation was coming, but the labels hadn't been glued into place;" and then of our generation's brand of feminism later to be termed Third Wave: "Feminism is really all about power. Equity. Sex can get a person sidetracked. What I want is to be able to talk without being interrupted. I want men to stop stealing my ideas and taking credit for them." Yes.

From qigong, to the '70s sitcoms we grew up on, to the particular difficulties of paper streets (yes...!), to the loss of a beloved friend, this collection of essays hit home for me on so many levels and yet I am sure one does not have to be of the GenX experience to relate to Flick's discovery that "Connections we can see and not see are out there all over the place in the present, past, and future. We pull the meaning together. Sometimes it takes years. Sometimes it speaks to us, and sometimes we miss it altogether."

5 stars!

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

The decline of the steel towns laced with a generation that resisted the norm in the '80s. It's a perspective of the milltown character that I haven't heard much before, perhaps because this is "anti-nostalgic and explicitly feminist."

Flick wove together sociological movements with personal anecdotes and philosophical musings and I was drawn in by the writing. It's not that each essay resonated with me particularly, I'm quite different from Flick in many ways, but the desire for upheaval and rethinking translated across generations.

It's freeing to hear this perspective of the region I call home now. I learned it as a second language whereas Flick was raised on it, and it's refreshingly honest to acknowledge the grit of the American Dream embedded here as well as the grime it left behind. This place draws people back to it for a reason, and her essays are a reminder that you can love a place deeply and also celebrate change.

[Joy]

This is one that I won’t rate, because it’s more or less a memoir. I saw this heavily promoted by indie bookstores and I was intrigued. What they didn’t say is that this is really a collection of essays that have been published elsewhere. That matters, because the book is not one coherent story like I had expected. Some of the essays repeat text or ideas from previous essays. The ideas, while quite interesting, are all over the place. So I was disappointed that I didn’t get a story or one coherent plot line. The essays aren’t bad and some parts are quite neat. It’s just that if I had known it was a book of essays, I never would have read it.

[Mollie Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny, relatable, honest and sentimental collection of essays spanning decades and state lines. You can't choose where you come from, but you can choose where you go - and for Flick, home was always in the Rustbelt. Her stories were descriptive and so well written that I felt a kinship with the people and places she wrote about. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, so much that I finished it in about a week!

[Anusha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Flick has a unique voice and style of writing that makes me curious and eager to read more. I enjoyed her curiosity that transferred over in her voice and how she talks about feminist ideologies, femininity, and also culture in the setting of the book. Thank you to Sherrie Flick, University of Nebraska Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC!

[Mell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good read. This author is just a few years older than me and grew up a mere 20 miles from my own suburban home town. It was very personal to read about her experiences and observations about watching the region that shaped us turn into a rust belt.

I made this part of my library 2025 Summer Reading Challenge, for the (non) theme of "your choice" of book.

[Ramona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these essays and underlined so many beautiful sentences and insights. I especially loved how these essays situated me in places in new and fresh ways. Flick is a mighty observer, and these essays will resonate with any reader who’s thought deeply about home.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A life lived, with impressions in prose. A celebration of Pittsburgh, of rebellion to diseased conventions. More of mini memoirs than of essays. As a woman myself of the same age, her choices and perspectives delighted me, especially where they diverged with mine.

[Chauna Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complex, thoughtful essays that weave together notions of place, culture, and feminism vis a vis studies of Gen X, Pittsburgh, and gardening (yes, gardening). Fierce, funny, and fabulous.

[Donna Burtch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The style and writing is really strong. She writes essays that made me think.

[Brigid Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Al P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Homing in on the journey

Read this for a Book Club discussion. Was pleasantly surprised. Enjoyed the time period and settings and the authors style of storytelling.