Alison's Automotive Repair Manual

by Brad Barkley, Carrington MacDuffie (Reading)

A widow in her mid-thirties, Alison has been mourning for two years. Now living in small town West Virginia with her sister Sarah and brother-in-law Bill, Alison is unable to move on with her life. Finally, she promises Sarah and Bill that she will start over---once she restores the abandoned, nearly ruined 1976 Corvette she found rusting in the garage and immediately loved. Unfortunately, Alison doesn't know the first thing about cars, and the fact that the townspeople (with the exception of a cute demolition man) find a woman messing with automotive parts bewildering doesn't help.

With beautiful frankness and surprising hilarity, Brad Barkley tells of a gutsy woman's attempts to overcome loss, and fit into a close-knit community, in a triumphant look at grief, love, loss, and moving on.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2002

About the author

Brad Barkley is the author of the novels Money, Love (Norton), and Alison's Automotive Repair Manual (St. Martin’s), two collections of short stories, and three YA novels with Penguin: Scrambled Eggs at Midnight , Dream Factory, and Jars of Glass. Brad has won numerous awards, including four Individual Artist Awards from the State of Maryland and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His short fiction has appeared in nearly thirty magazines, including Southern Review, Georgia Review, the Oxford American, Glimmer Train, and the Virginia Quarterly Review, which twice awarded him the Emily Balch Prize for Best Fiction. His work was anthologized in New Stories from the South: The Year's Best. A native of North Carolina, he lives in Western Maryland with his wife Kristin and their dog, Millie Grace. When not working, he plays as a hang glider pilot and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Reviews

[Phair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. Rather than being chick-lit or a romance, this turned out to be a great read about loss, friendship, truth, belief and personal growth. Loved the format with each chapter relating to a section of an automotive repair manual. For a male author I thought the female pov was very well done. I read very little contemporary fiction but this one was great.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a tiny little bit of a gearhead, the title caught my eye. Alas, there isn't very much of the automotive repair in the book. We know it happens, but all we get is "two hours and some bruised knuckles later" kind of stuff. There isn't really anything wrong with that, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Also, Alison's repairs all seem to go off without a hitch. In my family's experience, that is not how that works.... Alas, I don't know enough about cars to know if her order of operations makes any sense. And it's kind of disappointing, though totally logical, how it ends. (But the planet....?) And I felt rather uncomfortable with her whole Max... thing. Right from the get-go, it felt weird. A little bit like the book.......

And this review....

[Brian Grouhel · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this is a great story full of interesting characters each with their story and all intertwined, it is more a manual for rebuilding self as well as the car! It is on the "Read Again" list!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story - more romance than car stuff... guess that makes it a cozy without the mystery.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the characters so unlikable I could barely finish. The protagonist's husband died so she spends two years mooching off of her sister and refusing to get on with her life. What a society we live in where people can indulge themselves in this way! The guy she is dating is a selfish prick who wants to revenge some old hurts from his father and uses Alison to do it.

Pushing a car into a lake is terrible for the environment. What did she think would happen to the chemicals in the car? And driving it around without a license or registration or insurance? What if someone got hurt!?

Not people I would ever want to know - selfish, self-involved, boring. The only reason I gave it 2 stars not one is I did actually finish it.

[Julian Froment · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. This book was a relatively easy read, holding the readers interest and attention right to the end. I found myself wanting to know how things turned out between the main character Alison and the Corvette, Max, and the townsfolk. In some instances these relationships were resolved, but in others the reader was left to keep guessing. I would have liked a clean resolution to the relationship between Alison and Max, but this was left for the reader to decide.

It was the story of a grieving widow coming to terms with her loss and moving on with life. She did this through the rather unusual therapy of rebuilding an old car with absolutely no prior knowledge. She enlists the help of a young man that she soon finds herself developing feelings for. It is a heart-warming story of self-discovery and dealing with the loss of a loved one.

I loved the protagonist Alison and the growth of her relationships with not only the townsfolk, but also with the town itself, and the car that she was restoring. We are shown how she begins to heal and find a way to move on, through her work on the car, but also through the death of a friend. She grew to a greater understanding of the complex nature of a small town and the interpersonal relationships between the townsfolk, and also between the townsfolk and outsiders, of which she was considered one.

I found it a refreshing, fun read that always held the attention. It even came with handy tips about automotive repair, with a snippet from a Haynes manual, at the conclusion of most chapters. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants a feel good book, dealing with the difficult subject of loss, in an easy relaxed manner.

This review is based on a digital review copy.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel about a grieving widow, Alison, that has yet to move on with her life two years after the death of her husband. She has abandoned her house, her career, and any responsibility for herself. She has moved in with her sister and brother in law; living in a small West Virginia town.

Alison decides that she will begin trying to heal her life by healing (rebuilding) an old, rusted out Corvette she finds in her sister's garage. Each step in her repair of the Corvette parallels her small steps back into life.

This is a beautifully written story and well edited, even though there are some proof reading errors.

Now here is my problem with the book: I disliked the heroine. Alison came off as whiny and selfcentered. She grated on my every nerve as she took misstep after misstep, sucking the life out of the people around her. My second problem is that the romance between Max and Alison had no conclusion. The reader is left guessing as to whether there is a happy ending or not.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

[Gaenor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept with the Haynes manual references! Nice easy read with a twist at the end

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

needed to read a book that I had never heard of, to give myself a break from all the big name classic authors and novels – things you “HAVE TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE” sort of thing. I was pleasantly surprised with this story. It dealt with both death (Alison’s husband, the deaths in the book, the revelation of Mr. Kesler’s false past) and life (Sarah and Bill trying to conceive, the Corvette’s restoration, Lem and Pammy) and even eternity (the evangelical car parts salesman). And the thing is, these topics weren’t just discussed or alluded to or hidden behind illustrations and archetypes but expressed through life and the ending and beginning of it. Alison is a character we can all relate to in her loss – we’ve all lost something. And Alison’s journey is a wonderful example of how to deal with it.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book for a couple of reasons. One it was written very well and two Alison was restoring a car! My second reason is a little bias, I have a thing for old cars. I'm from a small town, and generally everyone in town knows who's telling stories but no one ever admits it. Its kind of an unwritten rule. I didn't care to much for the ending though. I didn't think it was necessary for the book to end with the town mad at her. She was the only one to tell the truth, she shouldn't have been shunned for it. Alison shoving the car in the water was a bit of a disappointment, especially after all of her hard work. It didn't take me to long to get through this book. It easily grabbed my attention.

[Amodini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review here.

I’m quite impressed that Barkley manages to write from a woman’s point of view so well; if I hadn’t know that the author was a man, I would have guessed quite the opposite. There is humor in this book, and hopelessness and grief – it all seems very relatable; they are people like us. However I didn’t always connect with Alison, though I sympathized with her. The book moved at a very, very slow pace for me, although to be fair, for this genre, it might not have worked as well as it did, had it rushed through; some things just take time.

A decent read, this one’s for you if you are into deep, life-affirming journeys of healing and hope.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked this up (intrigued by the title), I thought it would be a chick lit book, an easy read after Gone with the Wind. It drew me in with the characters. The group of senior citizens who meet every week for dance classes, the brother in law who does the craziest things for a baby, the munitions man who brings a little romance, and the sister who is just a bit cynical, and finally, Alison.

As Alison decides to fix up a Corvette that isn't worth the time or money, she learns a lot about herself, her family and friends, and sometimes, that the truth isn't just about not telling lies.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books I picked up at a library sale, mostly because I was intrigued by the title. It was a great surprise, as I did not expect a male author to show such insight into his female main character.

Alison is a young widow who starts working on a dead Corvette in her brother-in-law's garage to avoid facing the ruins of her life. Her terrible secret is that she is mourning not just her husband, dead from a freak accident in a home workshop, but the dying marriage she will never have a chance to fix. It was not only thought-provoking, it was funny, with a great cast of characters. Glad I picked it up!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this book, but after getting past the first three chapters, I was hooked. The book follows a woman in her thirties who has recently lost her husband, whom she realizes she didn't completely love, to a terrible accident. She resolves to fix-up a terribly run-down Corvette...almost as a process of grieving and recovery. I learned that if we aren't really truly living an honest life, it's really not worth living. This book delves into the affect lies and honesty have on both our psyche and our relationships. Good read.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really mean to start reading this, but got drawn in. Alison is a widow who is having trouble moving on with her life, and begins renovating a rusty old Corvette as a way of putting off more fundamental repairs to her world--which of course she ends up undertaking after all. Although the metaphor is perhaps a little too obvious, the writing is excellent, the observations on life are nicely formulated, and the characters are interesting enough to keep the reader's attention to the end.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always impressed by male authors who write books with female main characters, and this book is no exception. The story of a woman trying to come to terms with her life after the death of her husband is sweet and poignant but also a little gritty. Once I got through the first three pages, I had a hard time putting this book down.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I was surprised a male author took on writing from the perspective of a grieving woman, but he did ok with it. I couldn't identify or sympathize with the main character and I didn't want to be her, so the story didn't engage me.

[Edie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book supposedly about a women recovering from loss was all about an old dude's ego and his ~~damaged~~ son. So boring, so over it, so glad I only paid $1 at the used book store for this. It went into the recycling when I finished so others could be spared this atrocity.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was nice and entertaining. It was interesting to have a man write from a woman's point of view. It was also empowering to read. It made me feel that I could do anything I put my mind to.

[Katelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty routine - Broken person becomes attached to broken thing (in this case, a car) and proceeds to fix the thing as a metaphor for their life.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very satisfying read...the last sentence will leave you smiling.

[Ronald C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting low key read. The book focus is on how we live our lives and how we see ourselves and those around us.