St. Christopher on Pluto

by Nancy McKinley

MK and Colleen get reacquainted while working at different stores in a bankrupt mall. Way back, the women went to Catholic school together and collaborated on racy letters to a soldier in Vietnam who thought they were much older than seventh graders—a ruse that typifies later shenanigans, usually brought on by red-headed Colleen, a self-proclaimed “Celtic warrior.”

After ditching Colleen’s car to collect the insurance, they drive from one unexpected event to the next in Big Blue, MK’s Buick clunker with a St. Christopher statue glued to the dash. The glow-in-the-dark icon guides them past the farm debris, mine ruins, and fracking waste of the northern brow of Appalachia. Yet their world is not a dystopia. Rather, MK and Colleen show why, amid all the desperation, there is still a community of hope, filled with people looking out for their neighbors and with survivors who offer joy, laughter, and good will.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

228 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2019

Reviews

[Daniel Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the most enticing and addicting prose I’ve ever read. Nancy McKinley writes with a gift that kept me up late on many nights flipping through the (digital) pages. I have never been to Northeastern PA and have no conceptualization of what it is like, other than what I’ve read online and seen on shows like “The Office.” This book brought this region to life. A delightful and stirring book about what it means to inhabit in a changing place but simultaneously honoring your roots.

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is big-hearted collection of linked stories about two female friends in a hardscrabble northeastern Pennsylvania town. Sometimes reads more like a sociological exercise than a work of fiction, but the portrayal of the two main characters, MK and Colleen feels genuine. Also, it features a 40-year old Buick, "Big Blue," as a character.

[Ed Kohinke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The charm of this book is in the quirky personalities of its two star characters, MK and Colleen, and in the portrayals of how wonderfully people can choose to share and help each other through difficult times and inevitable change. MK and Colleen's random errands around their central Pennsylvania hometown are the platform for the author to observe and give backstory to the ways big world issues manifest in the lives of ordinary neighbors in out-of-the-way parts of the country. The reader sees human stories of aging, loss, growing up, and finding love, with some mixing-in of the alarming influence of AIDS, xenophobic violence, foreign wars, or the fracking boom. Choosing not to make heavy-handed statements, this book instead creates the feel of a slightly offbeat Lake Wobegon rooted in the realities of current events.

The author doesn't flash much flair in terms of style, but instead provides straightforward dialogue, narration of characters' honest thoughts, and side helpings of family and local history. There are fun devices used to tie together the plots of each chapter as the timeline approaches a pivot away from "familiar times have ended" and towards "cautiously optimistic about new futures". It is a light, charming, nostalgic read with enough substance to get you thinking.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this quirky collection of inter-connected stories. All center on the unlikely re-kindled friendship of MK (Mary Katherine) and Colleen who went to Our Lady of Perpetual Help together in the late 60s/early 70s. They met again at their mall jobs in the 2000s. This is small town/suburb Pennsylvania and as their friendship grows the region shrinks, economically, socially, and politically. It is a story of adapting and changing with the times and surviving vs. thriving. Though their personal and economic situations would point toward surviving, these two middle-aged misfits are thriving due to a great cast of supporting characters and their own decision to engage with the world rather than simply give in to the erosion of their town. Most of this is led by Colleen (a self-proclaimed Celtic Warrior) who is much more outgoing and has supportive family nearby. Resistant but ultimately persuadable, MK tags along as the conscience and moral high ground of some of their endeavors. Characters who get a mention in one chapter become more fully formed in others as they orbit the dynamic duo who drive all the action. Funny, sweet, and socially aware, this book deserves a more mainstream audience.

[Barbara Taylor]

I read Nancy McKinley’s, ST. CHRISTOPHER ON PLUTO, in small bites because I wanted it to last. When I finally finished reading the book, I started it all over again. Seriously, it’s that good. McKinley offers us hope against the backdrop of Northeast Pennsylvania’s bankrupt malls and abandoned coal mines. In a story entitled, “After the Danger of Frost,” she writes of a sunrise, “The golden orb ascends, casting its pristine hue on landscape ravaged by mines. For a moment, the whole world glistens. ‘Make a wish,’ I prompt.” A reader can lose herself in such beauty.

And McKinley is a master at characterization. Her characters come from a place of humor, reverence and honesty. When I read this line about Colleen, “She harbors the belief that men crave big women during times of duress,” I laughed out loud and thought, I know that woman! I know (and love!) all these characters.

McKinley’s, ST. CHRISTOPHER ON PLUTO, is all heart. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read a few more pages.

[Marcia Boundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a ride along the Anthracite Highway with MK and Colleen in the lurching, wheezing yet ever so stalwart Buick – Big Blue. Nancy McKinley knows the route, the on-ramps, the off-roads, the twists, the bends, and even the potholes between the corner grocery marts and beauty salons that outlast the shops in the shuttered strip malls. She captures place alongside the Susquehanna River – from the sumac-enshrouded hillside thick enough to swallow cars (not Big Blue), to the farmland laid waste by fracking, to the rocky vistas to watch a glistening sunrise. She also captures community – the church organist, the bikers, the undertaker, the Girl Scout leader, and other residents, both old and new, as they take on the daily task of living. Life is hard, but not bleak. Rather, in our increasingly bleak time, it’s comforting to return to these linked stories and venture on the road with MK and Colleen.

[JoySheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0
Unfortunately, I read this book during a very busy time of life, so I read it in fits and starts rather than continuously in a short timeframe. On one hand, it lent itself to this approach, because each chapter is a short story, told from varying perspectives. However, I missed nuances that would have been more apparent in a concise read. There are small clues and threads that connect the different stories. McKinley is an excellent wordsmith as she conveys a specific version of Americana.

A representative snippet:
“A girl missing her two front teeth grins and tugs at my jacket. She points at the surrounding hills where colored lights twinkle.
My eyes widen. I know those houses need siding and new paint, yet the scene rivals a holiday image on the Hallmark cards Colleen sells.
The girl reaches for my hand.
She lisps, ‘Feliz Navidad.’
Puffs of breath rise with the night.
She and I watch as exhaled vapors crystallize into tiny specks of snow.” (P. 39)

[Gale Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most inspired books of linked stories I have ever read. The author, Nancy McKinley, is a master storyteller. The storytelling begins with the title, "St. Christopher on Pluto," which itself is loaded with meaning. She is also a master of the writing craft, infusing humor, inference, pathos, color, and character into every tale and skillfully and carefully unspooling narrative and dialogue with every turn of phrase. While it has messages to convey about towns that has America has neglected and forgotten and certain types of its people it has downgraded and marginalized, it is not a "message" book. The author bravely and skillfully paints tales filling the book's pages and let's the reader come to her own conclusion. If you like fiction that makes you feel smarter, more observant, and more empathic having read it, "St. Christopher on Pluto" is for you.

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn’t great. Two middle-aged women, Colleen and MK, reconnect after knowing each other at a Catholic elementary school. They get reacquainted because they both work at the local mall which is on the verge of closure. This book is a series of links stories that are very clumsily connected. The author links them with oven mitts on, repeating the same telltale threads in nearly ever story. The reader is never expected, or even allowed, to begin to make her own connections as the threads are faded. There are a couple of moment of humor, particularly the story about the Period, and a poignant moment during a vet’s funeral. I wouldn’t recommend this.

[Maria Judnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what I’d think of this collection of interlocking short stories about two middle aged women who reunited after being friends in a Catholic elementary school. I was charmed by the stories of this small, economically distressed town. Some of the characters and stories were there for comic relief but others wanted to make a point about the resilience of the community or even offer a brief moment of hope. My favorite story was *spoiler alert* the one of a gay farm boy who'd left for the big city but came home dying of AIDS — what a poignant ending to that story.

It's a quiet read but felt like a good one for this pandemic year.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this novel in stories that follows the lives of two women working at a mall in northeastern Pennsylvania. The stories are so funny and yet so moving, so beautiful and poignant. And it shows so much of the reality of life in the rustbelt, people the economy left behind, struggling with overwhelming changes in their world, and doing it with humor and grace and appreciation for existence and the natural world around them. Everyone should read this book!

[Tomas Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something so magical about the authenticity of St. Christopher on Pluto. Hailing from the Wyoming Valley myself, I am all too familiar with the depressed settings and forgotten people that populate this area. Yet, Nancy McKinley's prose renders the area and its cast of characters with brushstrokes of both truth and beauty. I find myself thinking back on this novel and smiling.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful read! I felt that I was a backseat rider in Big Blue, observing the nonverbal communication and listening to the dialogue between MK and Colleen. Descriptions of mundane activities peppered with encounters with engaging characters immersed me in the story.
For Nancy McKinley, I have one word: series.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

exceptional read from a local(ish) author-enjoyed her placement of local landmarks, etc.-actually pretty good!
errors: p.135-no period at the end of the sentence- wouldn't have been so glaring if it weren't the final sentence on the page.. p. 172-the friend's name is Colleen.. on this particular page, however, her name is Coleen. well, i noticed the difference...

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book. I heard the author read a chapter of it at a signing for another of my favorite authors, and am really glad I decided to grab a copy. The intertwining stories that flow in and out of time and perspective is absolutely my jam, and the writing is top notch. A great story about friendship, small towns, and identity.

[Richard Fellinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy McKinley has a fantastic voice and a real ability to draw colorful characters who stumble towards moments of grace. These stories are funny and touching and reveal the human side of people tucked deep inside a forgotten part of rust-belt Pennsylvania. I highly recommend it.

[Marlokkentgmail.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

St Christopher on Pluto was exactly the book I needed to read right now! The Pennsylvania setting and references were spot on, the characters were compelling, the humor and sense of community was uplifting! This is a great read!

[Leslie]

"Fresh Air," May 26, 2020

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!

[Terri Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely sweet little book! A very short read but such fully developed and likable characters. I feel like I will be thinking of them often and missing them now that I’m done.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel in connected stories with a pair of recurring protagonists (thought sometimes featured only in cameos or as offstage presences), introvert Mary Katherine (MK) and extrovert Colleen. Every other story is narrated by MK and the pattern in these tends to be that Colleen involves herself in some scheme, usually volunteering for some altruistic activity, in which she involves a reluctant but ultimately compliant MK. Though they are presented as complementary personalities, Colleen a bright-eyed optimist and MK a fretful pragmatist, both are basically good natured and well-meaning, with both taken together lacking anything like the sharp edges of Olive Kitteridge.

Except for two "flashback" stories about MK's experiences in a Catholic middle school in the late 1960s, the stories are set in the period from the 1990s to the early 2010s in a very specific area of northeastern Pennsylvania, naming actual towns and regional businesses. Things are bad and getting worse in the world surrounding these characters: violence against immigrants, failing businesses, environmental rapine by industry, AIDS, drug addiction, National Guardsmen sent to die in endless war in the Middle East, their funerals picketed by belligerent homophobes. Only a few stories confront these problems directly and all the stories inevitably contain an epiphanic moment.
The characters are all people of basic decency and charitable impulses; McKinley doesn't create villains or even antiheroes. I found her reluctance to look into the abyss ultimately disappointing and even depressing. I am familiar with the region and know that she has sketched its problems accurately; it was the hopefulness she attempts to convey that I found ultimately unconvincing.

[Ace Boggess · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking collection of connected stories that is at once a serious and light-hearted stroll through history.