Letourneau's Used Auto Parts

Egypt, Maine #2

by Carolyn Chute

Head of the Letourneau clan of Egypt, Maine, owner of the only profitable business in town, and notorious philanderer, Big Lucien presides over an assortment of oddball characters, from an aging flower child to a country music star. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Poverty, Family, Literary Fiction, Adult, Adult Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Chute's first, and best known, novel, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, was published in 1985 and made into a 1994 film of the same name, directed by Jennifer Warren. Chute's next two books, Letourneau's Used Auto Parts (1988) and Merry Men (1994), are also set in the town of Egypt, Maine.

Chute also speaks out publicly about class issues in America and publishes "The Fringe," a monthly collection of in-depth political journalism, short stories, and intellectual commentary on current events. She once ran a satiric campaign for governor of Maine.

Her job career has included waitress, chicken factory worker, hospital floor scrubber, shoe factory worker, potato farm worker, tutor, canvasser, teacher, social worker, and school bus driver, 1970s-1980s; part-time suburban correspondent, Portland Evening Express, Portland, Maine, 1976-81; instructor in creative writing, University of Southern Maine, Portland, 1985.

She now lives in Parsonsfield, Maine, near the New Hampshire border, in a home with no telephone, no computer, and no fax machine, and an outhouse in lieu of a working bathroom. She is married to Michael Chute, a local handyman who never learned to read; they have a daughter, Joannah, and several grandchildren.

- from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up sort of randomly and have been reading it during my "short-time" reading opportunities. My copy is hardbound, but with this cover. I read "The Beans ..." years ago and liked it despite the often delirious and over-wrought prose. I was not so sure just what the author was aiming at but her writing was certainly unique to herself. This one's a bit more straightforward so far as Ms. Chute sets her story in a section of Egypt culture somewhat above the Bean family and below the Pomerleaus. I live in Maine and can attest to the fact that the rural underclass does indeed exist, though I'm not so sure that Ms. Chute's often lyrical portrayals of them and their life challenges is particularly realistic.

Well ... if anyone can "humanize" this bunch of abusive, violent, semi-literate, ignorant wackos I guess Ms. Chute can do it, as she proved in "The Beans of ...." Trouble is, they become more interesting than they really are. Occasionally some of the young ones manage to "escape" by going to college or by taking advantage of some god-given focus and energy that allows them to achieve escape-velocity. By humanizing them the author also turns them into rural cartoon characters. As she did in "The Beans ...," she occasionally tells things straight in a attempt to make their miserable lives understood to the rest of us. The objective approach, however, robs the story and the characters of their "color" so the author wisely stays away - mostly. What she does manage to achieve is to link their sad-sick lives to their rural isolation and poverty. Totally legitimate ... We do root for a few of the characters and hope they can avoid degradation, but THAT particular ball is still up in the air for the younger characters. One of them has already dropped out of school at age 15 and seeks "escape" through body-building. Yeah ...THAT'll work!

Movin' on as the lack of a plot or clear "time passing" guidance are a bit of a distraction. Ms. Chute seems to have inserted herself into the narrative as the "old hippie." The whole driveway dispute thing re-surfaces from "The Beans ..." and there was some sort of suggestion of "TLOTR," but I can't remember what it was. Two mysteries have been raised having to do with ?????? I suspect it's feud between Big Lucien - who hasn't actually appeared so far in any "present moment" scenes(a clever(?) plot device I suppose) - and the apparently evil Babbidge.

New character alert! Ernie Train. semi-famous country singer and sort-of brother to Blackstone Babbidge comes back home. The guy who wrote and sang "Tombstone Every Mile," Dick Curless was from Downeast Maine, the home territory of Babbidge and Train. One constant theme emerges. Big Lucien is so far not a physical presence in the novel. He's the god-like, benevolent higher power out there trying to help everyone(including dogs).

Moving on ... things go up, down and sideways in this impressionistic look at the underbelly of the American Dream. One mystery cleared up(the dogs), one to go(the pig head - think "Lord of the Flies"). Now 2/3 of the way through and no plot so far. Two years have passed since page 1 - we got that much at least! Incest has reared it's ugly, insistent head. Sex in general with this bunch seems essential, yet unappealing. A powerful urge with no sane social context to "contain" it. More dysfunction. That happens in higher social strata as well, of course. That, and economics of poverty, have swallowed up the life of poor Junie, one of the ones who seemed to have some possibilities. Depressing indeed. Big Lucien and Blackstone = modern day backwoods patriarchs. What saves this book is the author's mostly entertaining writing. Like its predecessor, it doesn't seems to be "about" very much.

And finished last night as the circle seems to be closing on these money-challenged folks in the western Maine woods. There are indeed towns like Egypt in Maine; many, in fact. And there are urban versions of the same thing. We are NOT a wealthy state. More like a slightly better off Mississippi. The southern part of Maine(closer to Boston) is reasonably affluent. That's NOT where (the fictional)Egypt is located, though it's not that far away as the crow flies. Plenty of rural dysfunction: emotional, financial, sexual, cultural etc. Pretty much a cultural dead zone, black hole etc., though Ms. Chute assures us that the inhabitants continue to struggle on in their dead-end(to us) lives. If/when these folks vote, they tend to follow the path of low-understanding, low-thought, low-information and resentment. Think Reagan, LePage and Trump. Not that they'll get ANY help at all from the Right side of the spectrum. The Repubs are just better at inflaming the resentment, and these folks have plenty to be resentful about.

- in the real world it's Levinsky's instead of Lavinski's

- The author sort of repeats herself in some ways. Junie's fate closely resembles Earlene's(from "The Bean's ...." Blackstone and Reuben Bean could be twins. Beal and Crowe = brothers of the gun.

The author offers up NO solutions to this mess. There are significant connections between this and Brave New World(believe it or not!) in what each has to say about environment and conditioning. We are inclined to turn up our noses at the losers in this story, but the author, in her epigraph challenges us rise to the "Superhuman" and access our compassion. Years ago, in college I encountered a dream girl/goddess who'd just gotten married. I thought she was perfect. Looking back I see her as a solid product of a reasonably stable and prosperous American middle-class environment(Boulder, Colorado). Her MOTHER was pretty damned attractive too! Many years later I found myself working in a hospital in Maine. While delivering some supplies to the ICU I spotted her doppelgänger(still young) in the midst of a family group crowded around a bed in one of the rooms, visiting a very sick relative(I assume). They were a bunch of Beans/LeTourneaus/Babbidges ... not a healthy-sane-normal looking bunch. In this grouping the cute blonde gal stood out and immediately made me think of that long-ago(but not forgotten) goddess. But, from my observation, she seemed sort of degraded-looking. Her complexion was blotchy and a tooth or two seemed to be missing. It was like a replica of that gal from the past had grown up in a very different environment and the stress of it showed. And my heart went out to her ...

- Mostly excellent and compelling prose here, but the territory is overly familiar from my reading
of "The Beans ... 3.5* rounds down to 3*

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommend reading "The Beans of Egypt Maine" first. The author continues the development of some loveable but often flawed characters here as well.

[Judy Vasseur · Rating 5 out of 5]

We learn of Big Lucian, small of body and big of soul, as he seeks to shelter and protect the individuals in his extended clan. Like a biblical bearded leader, with his own faults and trials, he is full of life, in fact larger than life.

Like flipping through a thick family photo album, each chapter is a snapshot of a powerless poor working class vernacular: Celebrating life cheaply by eating yellow cake, drinking Kool-Aid, and smoking almost non-stop because they are living in the moment with not much hope for advancement. They do not expect to live long lives. Their greatest hopes involve owning certain cars or certain guns.

These people are not consumers. They create, re-use, and find discarded treasures. They are fruitful and they multiply. They are not watching constant news coverage of, for example, the “Arab Spring” or the dysfunctional USA political theater, because they are busy living their lives. Female strength and male strength and a respect for life that may seem familiar but old fashioned and invisible in mainstream culture—For the unborn, the elderly, those “not right in the head”—These individuals are not viewed as an inconvenience in the tapestry of this off-the-grid tribe.

In as much as cell phones and hand held devises separate the people we pass on the street or stand in line next to…here the people confront each other face to face. There is brutality, messiness and despair but also kindness manifest from the stresses of living in close quarters.

This is hard living—not sterile, safe or miserly. Carolyn Chute is a witty, lean, and entertaining wordsmith. Especially, in my view, when describing the antics of the endless supply of babies, and marauding swarms of kids.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letourneau is a poor man, do-gooder, rich in love. The story is how the lives of most everyone in their tiny run-down town revolve around one man.

He collects auto parts and people, working with both to help put them back together.

[Bobby Keniston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to give this a five star review because Carolyn Chute may be one of the most misunderstood but brilliant authors I have read recently.

"Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" is Chute's second novel, after her successful first outing, "The Beans of Egypt, Maine," which had her touring the country as a "specimen," as she told Sandy Phippen in an interview in the early 2000s. You see, Carolyn Chute is completely unpretentious, completely authentic, and completely honest to her working class roots, which has led many to wonder over the years how she can possibly write so well (an insulting notion of course), and that she must somehow be "phony."

Not so.

Chute knows Maine, and I don't mean the Maine of "The Way Life Should Be", slogans, which apply to the tourists coming in on the coast and dropping their money around. She knows the Maine that I have seen much of my life--- she knows the poverty, and the rage and desperation that comes with it. She knows the people who work hour after hour, breaking their bodies and their minds and never getting ahead. The people who see the government as the enemy because the government sure isn't helping them any.

And this book, which I think is even better than "The Beans," is another beautiful display of her knowledge of the working class and poverty, the way they work, the way they play, the way they have sex and make babies and just keep going in a world they feel couldn't care less about them.

Chute is an author who focuses on character over all else, and she draws them here with haunting, minimalist strokes, in episodic short chapters. There's Junie, who we meet at 15, who wants nothing ore than to save up money for a cool sports car. There's Crowe Bovey, who is cheating on his wife as she dies in a house fire right at the beginning of the novel (this is not a spoiler, it is the first few pages), and spends most of the novel as a "slave" for Big Lucien, who owns Letourneau's Auto Parts. There's Little Lucien, truant from school to work in the woods with his older brother Norman, and E. Blackstone Babbidge, a "Godly" man who also works for Big Lucien and has just married Junie's mother, Lillian (or Lily-ann as she is called).

And of course, there are the many, many women that Big Lucien has married, had affairs with, and sired children with. This seems to be something he cannot keep from doing. And he houses many of these exes, their children, and his employees on land he owns called "Miracle City", a collection of old trailers, that the selectman and code man want to get rid of somehow.

Big Lucien is rarely seen in the book--- he is talked about--- and is an almost mythical figure. They talk about his "heart of gold" and his terrible headaches that will lead to screaming... and, of course, his many, many children.

I don't want to overstate this, but, in truth, if Democrats want to understand why they aren't winning the working class, they would be wise to read some Carolyn Chute and take some copious notes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky character-driven small-town novel, set in Maine. This was good bedtime reading.

[Jeanine Malarsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book right after Chute's "Beans of Egypt, Maine" and liked it but not as much. It's a good book but wouldn't make my "favorite" list.

[Randy Waite · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't want to sound like a prude, but this is a terrible, disgusting novel. There is absolutely nothing to like here, including the unsympathetic characters.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this book. So good, so depressing, so exhausting, so dissatisfying

[Milt · Rating 1 out of 5]

unredeeming and over with

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved The Beans of Egypt. This sequel had no plot or character development.

[Veronica Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with The Beans of Egypt Maine - a perennial favourite!

[Anesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chute concerns herself with degradations of the working class and working poor in northern New England. Amid material hardships, the message for the female half of the human race seems to be: "Latin men will never be cruel, but they'll sleep with every woman they can get their hands on." This proves true of the Letourneau men and others of Acadian descent.

By contrast, Anglo Saxon men may appear faithful and steady, but they are unabashed sadists prone to molest their daughters (the Blackstone type). As for the protagonists of Chute's previous novel THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE, they seem to possess the worst of both traits. While the earlier book came as a postcard from the southside of Hell, Letourneau's world portrays a mythic hero.

The title character appears only in the final paragraph and there reveals himself as a small, unimposing man, but through the book we've known him as "the Man of Gold"—a deserving patriarch, not a petty Bean tyrant. Letourneau might (probably would) disappoint a woman with unrealistic expectations, but he would never abuse her or her children. Would never leave a friend in the lurch or an unfortunate without a roof over his or her head.

The web of human interactions that characterizes Chute's stories is one I found totally engrossing, even if it draws upon generalizations like those I've tried to sketch above. I would say her work suggests that forgiveness and reconciliation await those who hang on long enough. As for economic improvements, there's a bit less optimism.

[Janet Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a bit of a disappointment. It takes us through several years in the lives of the complexly-interconnected residents of the tiny fictional (I think) town of Egypt, Maine and the surrounding rural area, including a ramshackle, unlicensed trailer community dubbed “Miracle City.” The people are compelling and believable, and their circumstances--grueling poverty feeding ignorance, suspicion, and violence--feel all too real. I wanted to care about these people, even if I couldn’t quite like them, and sometimes I nearly did. But something about the writing was off-putting to me, preventing me from falling into the narrative as I would have liked. Chute only lets us see things from the outside, with lots of description of sights and sounds, but we never quite get inside the head or heart of any character. I know writers are supposed to "show, not tell," but this one, frankly, could have used a little bit of telling. Since I don't share the experiences of these characters, I need something to give me a sense of what the external events mean to them. I did care enough to keep reading to the end, but to be honest I thought a few times of giving up. (I read Chute’s The Beans of Egypt, Maine many years ago and dimly recall liking it. But I could be misremembering…) This one was maybe closer to two-and-a-half stars for me, though I can see why some folks would enjoy it.

[Jane Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved this book. Kudos to Chute for reminding us that there ARE ppl who don't live for status, trendiness, upward mobility (other than that which can be found beneath the seats of a junk car!). Did wonder though if dear ole Maine has the following: Child Protective Services, Animal Rescue. Having grown up in the 50s-60s (when nobody had much), I'm alws interested in clothes. Do ppl have enough, and where did they get what they do have? In this world, the staple of most of the mens' wardrobe is their green, embroidered LUAP workshirt! (Did women wear them in book? May have.) And not to be trendy! One man wore his black 'dress sweater' for weddings, funerals. YEAH!

[tamarack · Rating 4 out of 5]

unfortunately i didn't read "The Beans of Egypt Maine" first - and i have to wonder if i stumbled awkwardly into the second in the series. no matter, i really enjoyed having some redneck pulp fiction to read. it's not to racy, so don't get overly excited. enjoyable enough to make me put another book of hers ("Merry Men") on hold at the library immediately after finishing this. recommended bedtime reading.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it with reservations. Really enjoyed her first in the series (The Beans of Egypt, Maine or something like that) but this one makes me feel like I want to really wash my hands or clean the kitchen floor. The characters are sort of foul, ignorant and insensitive...just, um, trashy. You know, the ones that put cars up on cement blocks, have yapping dogs, big ones, chained in a grassless yard. Front doors standing wide open. Can't help but feel sorry for many of the characters.

[Melissa McCauley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess you can include me in the list of unwashed heathens who didn’t think this book was a work of literary genius. I found the non-exploits of the Letourneaus and the Babbidges to be beyond boring, and I could not force myself to finish.

[Kyrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It covers Egypt, Maine, but centerson the LeTourneaus nstead of the Beans. It felt grittier and uglier. Maybe it was meant to be that way- poverty is gritty and ugly, but no one seems to rise above it.

[Nataly Hollingsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one too...got into the Carolyn Chute trap! :)

[Amy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Images from this book have stayed with me for years like the metaphor of the chained up dogs. The clash of suburbia meets hill people in Maine...happening everywhere now.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I <3 Carolyn Chute.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

just not good....loved the beans so much thought I would like this one

[Olivestarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. There were parts that reminded me of Faulkner's Sanctuary. If you liked Beans, you'll like this one too.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chute's characters are amazing. A glimpse into poverty that you are able to feel,smell, touch. A great social commentary.

[Bruce Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysterically funny.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, funny, sad, very human story of a little seen part of the residents of the Maine backwoods.

[Linda Broussard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about the offspring of Big Lucien Letourneau, their mothers, and all the people who turn to him for help. It takes time to adjust to the author's writing style.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lives of the sometimes working poor shouldering kids and bills

[Erinn Aronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a companion book to "Beans" this book is an uneven episodic beautiful mess. Although many characters come and go, the main protagonists are Blackstone, a former hippie and Vietnam Vet who rules his brood with an iron fist and heavy hand, often holding a Bible as Blackstone has become almost fanatically religious. His second wife, Lilian and her daughter, Junie, represent the female POV as the other half of the main characters. Grim, ugly and hopeless, at times this book will have you wishing the whole town of Egypt gets nuked and wipe these horrible people off the planet but nothing can take this group down, they persevere in the face of crippling poverty and hopelessness