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Egypt, Maine #6
The Recipe for Revolution
It's September 1999 and the world is on the cusp of a new millennium. In rural Maine, Gordon St. Onge, known as "The Prophet", presides over his controversial Settlement, a place rumored to be a cult, where his many wives and children live off the grid and off the land. Out in greater America, Bruce Hummer, the aging CEO of multinational corporation Duotron Lindsey, lays off workers by the thousands. Meanwhile, the newest member of the Settlement, fifteen year old Brianna Vandermast, is fired up and ready for change. Disillusioned with the covert local militia, she and other Settlement teens form the True Maine Militia. Putting her visionary ideas into practice, Bree pens "The Recipe", an incendiary revolutionary document that winds up in the hands of wealthy elites, including Bruce Hummer.
When a chance drinking session during an airport layover brings Bruce and Gordon together, Hummer--in a confounding moment-- gives Gordon a mysterious brass key, one turn of which has the potential to make heads roll and spark the unrest that is stirring in Egypt, Maine. As word of "The Recipe" spreads, myriad factions of anti-corporate revolt from across the country arrive at The Settlement wanting to make Gordon their poster boy. Gordon soon finds himself at the center of an uprising, the effects of which ripple beyond Settlement life. In The Recipe for Revolution Carolyn Chute portrays politics, class, love, and friendship with acuity and complexity, giving us a pulsating, relevant book for today's America.
When a chance drinking session during an airport layover brings Bruce and Gordon together, Hummer--in a confounding moment-- gives Gordon a mysterious brass key, one turn of which has the potential to make heads roll and spark the unrest that is stirring in Egypt, Maine. As word of "The Recipe" spreads, myriad factions of anti-corporate revolt from across the country arrive at The Settlement wanting to make Gordon their poster boy. Gordon soon finds himself at the center of an uprising, the effects of which ripple beyond Settlement life. In The Recipe for Revolution Carolyn Chute portrays politics, class, love, and friendship with acuity and complexity, giving us a pulsating, relevant book for today's America.
700 pages, Hardcover
First published February 11, 2020
31 people are currently reading
1225 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Chute
13 books111 followersChute'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
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
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 14, 2020
I wrote the same thing about "Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves" so this is basically and updated version of the same review.:
This is the third of a projected series of four connected novels by Carolyn Chute. She claims each is a stand-alone book, but I think reading "The Recipe for Revolution" would be very confusing without reading the other two books (in order) first. All the books are organized in the same manner, various narrators accompanied by icons creating a bulleted book that is given to us in chunks. This seems to bother many readers, but I find it an amusing nod (or sad shake of the head) to modern life where everything seems to have been dumbed down to icons and whole courses of study are presented on bulleted PowerPoints feeding students information in digestible chunks (yes, chunking is a real term used for presenting information). Some of the narrators aren't human (in the other books the crow is a narrator but in Recipe the crow is just a character), others are children, some aren't even biological in nature, and some are conceptual. Coupled with Chute's use of language and her unique cast of characters, this can create a kind of sensory overload. I suspect that is Chute's aim as all of the books are quite obviously disdain technology that isolate humans. Her perfect society is one in which days are spent in the company of others working for a common good (for example, communal kitchens and dining areas) while maintaining privacy and nuclear family groups in single homes.
All three books tell the same basic story of the intersection of a rather singular commune led by Gordon St. Onge and the militia movement. As with all of Chute's books, it is set in Maine (a pre-9/11 Maine), the same poverty stricken Egypt, Maine that brought us the Beans and Letourneaus. It is a highly political book examining the effects of the government and corporations on the common worker and will leave no reader wondering where Chute's sympathies lie. Since the 2016 election, many of us, especially those of us on the "left", have been wondering just how we got to where we are, why we seem to have become so polarized and far apart. Chute's latest books (especially "The School on Heart's Content Road") might just lead to some understanding of how the tea-party, Trump movement gained so much traction, leading to, hopefully, a deeper understanding and empathy for a group of people that many brush off as ignorant, under-educated, and misled.
This is the third of a projected series of four connected novels by Carolyn Chute. She claims each is a stand-alone book, but I think reading "The Recipe for Revolution" would be very confusing without reading the other two books (in order) first. All the books are organized in the same manner, various narrators accompanied by icons creating a bulleted book that is given to us in chunks. This seems to bother many readers, but I find it an amusing nod (or sad shake of the head) to modern life where everything seems to have been dumbed down to icons and whole courses of study are presented on bulleted PowerPoints feeding students information in digestible chunks (yes, chunking is a real term used for presenting information). Some of the narrators aren't human (in the other books the crow is a narrator but in Recipe the crow is just a character), others are children, some aren't even biological in nature, and some are conceptual. Coupled with Chute's use of language and her unique cast of characters, this can create a kind of sensory overload. I suspect that is Chute's aim as all of the books are quite obviously disdain technology that isolate humans. Her perfect society is one in which days are spent in the company of others working for a common good (for example, communal kitchens and dining areas) while maintaining privacy and nuclear family groups in single homes.
All three books tell the same basic story of the intersection of a rather singular commune led by Gordon St. Onge and the militia movement. As with all of Chute's books, it is set in Maine (a pre-9/11 Maine), the same poverty stricken Egypt, Maine that brought us the Beans and Letourneaus. It is a highly political book examining the effects of the government and corporations on the common worker and will leave no reader wondering where Chute's sympathies lie. Since the 2016 election, many of us, especially those of us on the "left", have been wondering just how we got to where we are, why we seem to have become so polarized and far apart. Chute's latest books (especially "The School on Heart's Content Road") might just lead to some understanding of how the tea-party, Trump movement gained so much traction, leading to, hopefully, a deeper understanding and empathy for a group of people that many brush off as ignorant, under-educated, and misled.
April 9, 2020
So glad she came out with another book! I can’t get enough, and given today’s BS with coronavirus, the topics she touches on in this book ring far too true. Her ideology just makes sense, and she’s been roasting corporate pigs and the New World Order since the 80s.
If everyone in this country had the same political leanings as Carolyn Chute, society wouldn’t be a train wreck. I wish I could find more information about how to join a local militia here in Syracuse with similar leanings.
If everyone in this country had the same political leanings as Carolyn Chute, society wouldn’t be a train wreck. I wish I could find more information about how to join a local militia here in Syracuse with similar leanings.
February 23, 2026
none as beloved as merry men for me but I will always love inhabiting Carolyn's worlds for a while. her writing! there are always phrases and whole sections like nothing I've ever read, the subject or scene in perfect clarity
Read
July 13, 2023If legendary Cambridge figure Peter Valentine (may God rest his soul) had a masters in English Lit. This was an endurance test more than anything else
February 3, 2021
Complicated stories of lots of imperfect people, centering around a commune in Maine. I found this book hard to get into at first. It's certainly not told in a linear way, but I liked that about it. It constantly shifts perspective, so you get accounts from lots of voices - and some of those voices are ideologies, not people. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.
March 8, 2020
This is the first and probably last Carolyn Chute book I’ll read. I picked it up after a glowing review in the New York Times. The NYT Book Review calls Chute “the James Joyce of the backcountry, a Proust of rural society, an original in every meaning of the word.” Hmmm...
This book felt gimmicky and unoriginal. It’s the story of a backwoods cult leader with many wives and more children told through snippets from a dizzying character list. The author regularly tells you to “read the character list in back” but truthfully there’s little point. Most of the characters in this book are cardboard cutouts with little impact on the ‘action’ of the book. There are icons to give you insight into what part of the story is rolling out— unnecessary and ultimately silly.
In the end, it’s supposed to be a novel about class and politics. The movie Parasite does more in 2 hours on those subjects than this book accomplishes in 700+ pages.
I’m just left scratching my head. Why the accolades for a book that’s long, gimmicky, and not that original? Certainly there are more deserving books for the Times to laud with praise.
This book felt gimmicky and unoriginal. It’s the story of a backwoods cult leader with many wives and more children told through snippets from a dizzying character list. The author regularly tells you to “read the character list in back” but truthfully there’s little point. Most of the characters in this book are cardboard cutouts with little impact on the ‘action’ of the book. There are icons to give you insight into what part of the story is rolling out— unnecessary and ultimately silly.
In the end, it’s supposed to be a novel about class and politics. The movie Parasite does more in 2 hours on those subjects than this book accomplishes in 700+ pages.
I’m just left scratching my head. Why the accolades for a book that’s long, gimmicky, and not that original? Certainly there are more deserving books for the Times to laud with praise.
June 15, 2020
I have been waiting for this book for a couple years- checking periodically for release date for this third of a 4 or 5 book series. The author broke new ground with her debut novel, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, and since then continues to write about the issues of poverty, oppression, and struggles and beauty of rural life.
Many reviews here of Recipe for Revolution appear to be by readers who have not read the first two books in the series. I love the story, the characters, and the prose Chute created for these books. The true test for me, is when I am not reading my current book, the thought comes to my mind- “what are those folks doing now?” And true to form, in the weeks I was reading this book, I would suddenly think, “I wonder what’s going on at the Settlement?” The Recipe for Revolution did not disappoint. Chute is not everyone’s cup of tea for sure, but I for one am eagerly waiting for the next installment.
Many reviews here of Recipe for Revolution appear to be by readers who have not read the first two books in the series. I love the story, the characters, and the prose Chute created for these books. The true test for me, is when I am not reading my current book, the thought comes to my mind- “what are those folks doing now?” And true to form, in the weeks I was reading this book, I would suddenly think, “I wonder what’s going on at the Settlement?” The Recipe for Revolution did not disappoint. Chute is not everyone’s cup of tea for sure, but I for one am eagerly waiting for the next installment.
December 29, 2019
Wow
Ok there is a lot going on in this book. At first I thought it was going to be to political undertoney (that's my word) for me but it wasn't done on a preachy way if that makes sense. You could tell what the other was trying to say without feeling like you needed to agree with it. I agreed with some stuff, not some other stuff, but was still able to enjoy the narrative.
A lot of characters, alot of different relationships and conflicts going on. A very long book that will deserve a reread on my part as I know I have missed some things. It's also hard to say how much I may have not taken away since I have he read the other books that take place at the same time as this. So I will have to pick up the final copy when it does come out.
Ok there is a lot going on in this book. At first I thought it was going to be to political undertoney (that's my word) for me but it wasn't done on a preachy way if that makes sense. You could tell what the other was trying to say without feeling like you needed to agree with it. I agreed with some stuff, not some other stuff, but was still able to enjoy the narrative.
A lot of characters, alot of different relationships and conflicts going on. A very long book that will deserve a reread on my part as I know I have missed some things. It's also hard to say how much I may have not taken away since I have he read the other books that take place at the same time as this. So I will have to pick up the final copy when it does come out.
July 23, 2020
Four stars for an amazing effort. Some things about the Settlement were way too idealized for me, Gordon's treatment of women drove me totally crazy (does anyone else think he "uses" needy women (and girls) for his own selfish satisfaction?),, and the simplistic wrong/right attitude of teenagers, as much as I appreciate it, leaves little room for compromise. But wow, anyway. Chute's writing is simply superb.
February 24, 2026
Another sprawling, brilliant, rural epic from Carolyn Chute—the beloved Maine writer and chronicler of a kind of rural life and community that is being wiped out systematically by the power structure and late-stage capitalism. The story unfolds through the voices of a myriad of odd-ball (read: real) characters you can’t help but root for. Plus other “voices” you might not.
This (and/or Chute’s MERRY MEN) would be the perfect companion read to Kingsolver’s DEMON COPPERHEAD. The fact that one novel was published to such acclaim while the other languished I chalk up to a blackballing of sorts—deliberately performative & elitist snobbery—after the shorter Chute work, SNOWMAN, got the author in “trouble.”
I get it. Hard to rah-rah anything about militias, but isn’t this what we are always asking ourselves: WHY do they feel this way? WHAT are they thinking? If you really want to see the rural people in America from another perspective, read this book and her others! Chute is a genius literary writer, and these books are ones you will not soon forget.
This (and/or Chute’s MERRY MEN) would be the perfect companion read to Kingsolver’s DEMON COPPERHEAD. The fact that one novel was published to such acclaim while the other languished I chalk up to a blackballing of sorts—deliberately performative & elitist snobbery—after the shorter Chute work, SNOWMAN, got the author in “trouble.”
I get it. Hard to rah-rah anything about militias, but isn’t this what we are always asking ourselves: WHY do they feel this way? WHAT are they thinking? If you really want to see the rural people in America from another perspective, read this book and her others! Chute is a genius literary writer, and these books are ones you will not soon forget.
August 16, 2020
I'm upset that it ended. I want you now what happens next. I feel like they are family now.. I'm really glad the last page said...Stay Tuned...I hope that means there are more books coming.
I have loved Carolyn Chute's books since I read The Beans of Egypt, Maine when it first came out.
After reading these last two books I want to go back and reread the others.
I think I'm in love with Gordon, extra wives, craziness and all.
I have loved Carolyn Chute's books since I read The Beans of Egypt, Maine when it first came out.
After reading these last two books I want to go back and reread the others.
I think I'm in love with Gordon, extra wives, craziness and all.
October 24, 2023
Whatever.
Is it me or does it seem like the more accolades and awards a book receives, the more incoherent it is? Out of respect for the reader, the editors could’ve organized this story better. DNF
Is it me or does it seem like the more accolades and awards a book receives, the more incoherent it is? Out of respect for the reader, the editors could’ve organized this story better. DNF
April 10, 2020
Definitely the quirkiest book I've read in awhile, but was refreshing to read something totally different and thanks to my dear friend Samaha for enabling this read :)
June 5, 2020
A lot of this seemed like recycled material for the first five hundred pages. We know a lot of this story from previous books. Her writing is exquisite, however, so I was willing to go along with it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2020
Not as good as her earlier books but her political insight is always worth the read. Even plus 700 pages!
August 11, 2020
I loved this book but I did find the end unsatisfying. It took me forever to read but the format is interesting and the character development is really impressive.
December 31, 2020
It just went on and on and on. Her written word is lovely in every way but the plot in this one was a drag. Much too long and hard to finish.
March 2, 2020
Very difficult to follow. I only read a couple of chapters, not worth it.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews