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Truck: A Love Story
"All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck. That, and plant a little vegetable garden. Then I met this woman ." As every good mechanic knows, romance can throw a wrench into the best-laid garage plans, but Mike Perry struggles on, attempting to balance the claims of Eros and a well-tuned engine. A Love Story answers the What can the author of 485 possibly do for an encore?
364 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2006
219 people are currently reading
2103 people want to read
About the author
Michael Perry
25 books607 followersMichael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist and radio show host from New Auburn, Wisconsin.
Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population 485, Truck: A Love Story, Coop, and Visiting Tom. Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then wound up writing by happy accident. He lives with his wife and two daughters in rural Wisconsin, where he serves on the local volunteer fire and rescue service and is an amateur pig farmer. He hosts the nationally-syndicated “Tent Show Radio,” performs widely as a humorist, and tours with his band the Long Beds (currently recording their third album for Amble Down Records). He has recorded three live humor albums including Never Stand Behind A Sneezing Cow and The Clodhopper Monologues, is currently finishing his first young adult novel, and can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com.
Perry’s essays and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Backpacker, Outside, Runner’s World, Salon.com, and he is a contributing editor to Men’s Health magazine. His writing assignments have taken him to the top of Mt. Rainier with Iraq War veterans, into the same room as the frozen head of Ted Williams, across the United States with truckers and country music singers, and—once—buck naked into a spray-tan booth.
In the essay collection Off Main Street, Perry wrote of how his nursing education prepared him to become a writer by training him in human assessment, and he credits singer-songwriters like Steve Earle and John Prine with helping him understand that art need not wear fancy clothes. Above all, he gives credit to his parents, of whom he says, “Anything good is because of them, everything else is simply not their fault.” His mother taught him to read and filled the house with books; his father taught him how to clean calf pens, of which Perry has written, “a childhood spent slinging manure – the metaphorical basis for a writing career.”
Perry has recently been involved in several musical collaborations, including as lyricist for Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer, and as co-writer (with Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon) of the liner notes for the John Prine tribute album “Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows.” Perry also collaborated with Vernon and Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne on a project that began when Vernon approached Perry and said, “Say, you’re a nurse…” The results were bloody, but then that was the point.
Of all his experiences, Perry says the single most meaningful thing he has ever done is serving 12 years beside his neighbors on the New Auburn Area Fire Department.
Mike says:
If I had to sum up my ‘career’ in one word, it would be gratitude. I get to write and tell stories all around the country, then come home to be with my family and hang out at the local feed mill complaining about the price of feeder hogs. It’s a good life and I’m lucky to have it.
Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population 485, Truck: A Love Story, Coop, and Visiting Tom. Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then wound up writing by happy accident. He lives with his wife and two daughters in rural Wisconsin, where he serves on the local volunteer fire and rescue service and is an amateur pig farmer. He hosts the nationally-syndicated “Tent Show Radio,” performs widely as a humorist, and tours with his band the Long Beds (currently recording their third album for Amble Down Records). He has recorded three live humor albums including Never Stand Behind A Sneezing Cow and The Clodhopper Monologues, is currently finishing his first young adult novel, and can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com.
Perry’s essays and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Backpacker, Outside, Runner’s World, Salon.com, and he is a contributing editor to Men’s Health magazine. His writing assignments have taken him to the top of Mt. Rainier with Iraq War veterans, into the same room as the frozen head of Ted Williams, across the United States with truckers and country music singers, and—once—buck naked into a spray-tan booth.
In the essay collection Off Main Street, Perry wrote of how his nursing education prepared him to become a writer by training him in human assessment, and he credits singer-songwriters like Steve Earle and John Prine with helping him understand that art need not wear fancy clothes. Above all, he gives credit to his parents, of whom he says, “Anything good is because of them, everything else is simply not their fault.” His mother taught him to read and filled the house with books; his father taught him how to clean calf pens, of which Perry has written, “a childhood spent slinging manure – the metaphorical basis for a writing career.”
Perry has recently been involved in several musical collaborations, including as lyricist for Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer, and as co-writer (with Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon) of the liner notes for the John Prine tribute album “Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows.” Perry also collaborated with Vernon and Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne on a project that began when Vernon approached Perry and said, “Say, you’re a nurse…” The results were bloody, but then that was the point.
Of all his experiences, Perry says the single most meaningful thing he has ever done is serving 12 years beside his neighbors on the New Auburn Area Fire Department.
Mike says:
If I had to sum up my ‘career’ in one word, it would be gratitude. I get to write and tell stories all around the country, then come home to be with my family and hang out at the local feed mill complaining about the price of feeder hogs. It’s a good life and I’m lucky to have it.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 539 reviews
August 18, 2025
I didn't like this as much as I had hoped to. In the beginning he jumps around quite a bit, finally settling down more purposely when he talks about the truck and his relationship with Anneliese. While the writing itself is skillful, I struggle to understand his intent in sharing these chronicles.
July 30, 2012
A delightful exploration of the pleasures and challenges of rural Wisconsin life. The theme of rebuilding a 1951 International Harvester pick-up and building a new relationship as Perry approaches a balding forty provides a coherent framework for the year's worth of progress in monthly chapters full of "mini" essays full of homor and wisdom. He occasionally goes "over the top" with piled on metaphors, but it's all in good fun, with any tendency to preachiness balanced by his humility and self-deprecation. As an example, sample this paean to the pleasure of listening to Greg Brown: "Greg Brown's voice sounds as if it was aged in a whiskey cask, cured in an Ozarks smokehouse, dropped down a stone well, pulled out damp, and kept moist in the palm of a wicked woman's hand. ... A Greg Brown song doesn't make me want to whoop and holler, it makes me want to sift bare-handed through the dirt for repentance and then go looking for a woman who doesn't mind a few chickens."
January 8, 2008
This book resonated with me on too many levels to write.
I enjoyed Perry's self-depreciating wit and felt as though he found the story of a year in his life cathartic to pen. It seemed very personal and I appreciated his willingness to not only expose his faults and challenges, but to show confidence in his strengths and accomplishments.
It was inspiring to read about another man who isn't perfect either but honestly and truly tries to shore up his few shortcomings and face the world another day in a stoic, Scandinavian way. :)
I was struck by the obvious love and support of his family and how from various members it manifested differently. It wasn't over the top affection but the sense of loyalty and bond was there.
I took too long to read this book and it wasn't long enough.
Read this book for a reason to love the Midwest and the people who live in small towns.
P.S. Michael Perry has shot near to the top of the "People I want to have a beer with" list. (Although it's quite fine if I'm the only one of us with a beer)
I enjoyed Perry's self-depreciating wit and felt as though he found the story of a year in his life cathartic to pen. It seemed very personal and I appreciated his willingness to not only expose his faults and challenges, but to show confidence in his strengths and accomplishments.
It was inspiring to read about another man who isn't perfect either but honestly and truly tries to shore up his few shortcomings and face the world another day in a stoic, Scandinavian way. :)
I was struck by the obvious love and support of his family and how from various members it manifested differently. It wasn't over the top affection but the sense of loyalty and bond was there.
I took too long to read this book and it wasn't long enough.
Read this book for a reason to love the Midwest and the people who live in small towns.
P.S. Michael Perry has shot near to the top of the "People I want to have a beer with" list. (Although it's quite fine if I'm the only one of us with a beer)
August 8, 2025
Picture this: Nightfall with a dozen relatives in a large cathedral-ceiled cabin in Northern Wisconsin, curled into chairs and couches, quietly absorbed in books and screens.
Also me, reveling in the level of writing that makes me want to disturb the tranquility of the moment and command all to "listen to this!" Alas, (mostly) I refrained.
Back-to-back, Brian Doyle and Michael Perry are two authors who have made me gaga over their gorgeous prose.
Who knew a truck restoration could be so much fun?
Also me, reveling in the level of writing that makes me want to disturb the tranquility of the moment and command all to "listen to this!" Alas, (mostly) I refrained.
Back-to-back, Brian Doyle and Michael Perry are two authors who have made me gaga over their gorgeous prose.
Who knew a truck restoration could be so much fun?
August 5, 2015
Small-town Wisconsin life....written by a fellow UW Eau Claire grad who attended the same years I did. A rare combination of humor, romance, and a bit of history. And his romance began at the Fall Creek library....awwww, warms a librarian's heart!
February 26, 2008
I actually liked the parts that were NOT about the truck the best. I think it's cute the way he's not ashamed to reveal his softer side. He even admits he gets sentimental about old '80's songs you'd think were chick stuff!
Some random things I copied from the book while I was reading it:
"But what a repulsive thing to associate with food: willpower. As if one would parse out love or oxygen by the teaspoon."
"A gentle pox on yogis who insist on taking out ads in which they pose as human origami."
"In seventh grade, I began to care how I looked, which is a shame."
"Of course you will find fellows in blaze orange who have confused their rifles with their penises (and what fun to poll their wives and lovers for the purpose of drafting a list titled Top Ten Reasons the Metaphor is Inapt.)"
Some random things I copied from the book while I was reading it:
"But what a repulsive thing to associate with food: willpower. As if one would parse out love or oxygen by the teaspoon."
"A gentle pox on yogis who insist on taking out ads in which they pose as human origami."
"In seventh grade, I began to care how I looked, which is a shame."
"Of course you will find fellows in blaze orange who have confused their rifles with their penises (and what fun to poll their wives and lovers for the purpose of drafting a list titled Top Ten Reasons the Metaphor is Inapt.)"
February 18, 2025
When I FINALLY finished this book, I went back to the pages I dog-eared thinking maybe it was better than I was giving credit. A couple of the marked pages had quotable thoughts like, "...when you pulverize your Pontiac to the point that it appears to have been tumble-dried in a rock crusher, you are sending a specific message,and that message is, this vehicle has been rendered irretrievably out of service". Or, "...I figured your best bet would be to jack up the radiator cap and drive a new truck in under it!" This is the kind of down-home writing I was expecting and hoping for, unfortunately, the author felt the need to throw in a lot of "fancy vocabulary" that really seemed out of place in a memoir of this type. He also felt the need to throw in a lot of unnecessary sideline info that did nothing other than distract from the main story. Near the end there was a 2-page political tangent that left me scratching my head as to it having any relevance whatsoever. Throughout the book, he started a thought, left it hanging while he wrote out another thought and then (sometimes but not always) returned to the earlier thought to try to make a point. Until I had a handle on this ADHD-child-style of writing, I found it very difficult to be engaged and follow the story. The actual narrative revolved around the author restoring an old truck and how he met his wife. This would have been much better had it not been so disjointed and although there were a couple photos in the epilogue, I wish there had been more and placed within the main pages.
A couple of my marked pages sent me to the internet to look up some things so I feel a tiny bit smarter now, but not enough to warrant a higher rating. I was quite excited to find and read this so I may be overly critical of it not meeting my expectations. I do still intend to try more books by this author. Fingers crossed I will find one more satisfactory.
A couple of my marked pages sent me to the internet to look up some things so I feel a tiny bit smarter now, but not enough to warrant a higher rating. I was quite excited to find and read this so I may be overly critical of it not meeting my expectations. I do still intend to try more books by this author. Fingers crossed I will find one more satisfactory.
February 1, 2022
This is good in terms of Vibes, less so in terms of Writing and Being A Book
Basically a memoir of a year this Wisconsin dude spent trying to fix his knackered truck. But it actually ends up being about him learning to commit to his new gf. Aww.
It's a very sweet and genuine snapshot of middle aged middle American life. In fact it's so genuine it often feels like not a single editor has looked at it haha. Mr Perry seems like a gentle himbo but for me he's manifesting Whitman too hard and regularly going on tangents that dont matter at all. He goes a long way out of his way to make a quip.
Thankfully, because of the cute and scatter brained style, it lends itself to be skimmed in a way that doesnt feel rude. He'll do a really good stretch about his new gf or his truck, and then you can kinda just vibe out and think about trucks and corn and diners while he's rattling on about 'kids these days' or whatever.
Dad friendly vibes. By dads for dads.
Shout out to the Clinton administration too.
Basically a memoir of a year this Wisconsin dude spent trying to fix his knackered truck. But it actually ends up being about him learning to commit to his new gf. Aww.
It's a very sweet and genuine snapshot of middle aged middle American life. In fact it's so genuine it often feels like not a single editor has looked at it haha. Mr Perry seems like a gentle himbo but for me he's manifesting Whitman too hard and regularly going on tangents that dont matter at all. He goes a long way out of his way to make a quip.
Thankfully, because of the cute and scatter brained style, it lends itself to be skimmed in a way that doesnt feel rude. He'll do a really good stretch about his new gf or his truck, and then you can kinda just vibe out and think about trucks and corn and diners while he's rattling on about 'kids these days' or whatever.
Dad friendly vibes. By dads for dads.
Shout out to the Clinton administration too.
May 8, 2021
After reading Perry's first book, Population: 485, about his return to his hometown of New Auburn, WI and joining the volunteer fire department I was eager to read the next two. I blasted through Truck: A Love Story, which alternates between an account of the restoration of Perry's beloved vintage International Harvester pick-up truck and his courtship of his future wife. The writing is very good, frequently hilarious, moving … and has the added bonus of being about this beleaguered state that I love so much.
October 30, 2017
Another great book from an author I discovered only a month ago, Truck mines some of the same subject matter that made his earlier Population: 485 such an interesting read. The easygoing, conversational-style reflections on growing older in a small Midwestern town, all the while fixing up a battered '51 International Harvester pickup and possibly finding true love, had the right amount of humor and heart. But wait, there's even more - like gardening, hunting, family relationships - and Perry covers it all with a quiet charm.
February 9, 2008
Perry's writing is like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. For the most part, the narrative is continually engaging, although I admit to having to reread a few paragraphs to get the imagery straight in my brain. There were some genuine laugh out loud moments - not a mere chuckle, but a guffaw - where I actually found myself putting the book down for a second to enjoy the moment.
July 5, 2021
A pleasant read.
July 26, 2013
My book group is meeting next Tuesday (that's four days from now) and I haven't started either of the two books we're supposed to discuss. One of them I have; the other I'll need to borrow. Which rebuked me into finishing up the last one I borrowed, which we discussed a couple of months ago when I was about a chapter and a half from the end: Truck: A Love Story Yeah...two months for a chapter and a half...I deserve that tsk, tsk you're thinking at me.
Michael Perry can write. In particular, he's a machine-gun metaphorist, firing off more on an average page than I can come up with in an average year. He crafts beautiful phrases, tells delightful stories, delivers funniful punchlines, and occasionally preaches wisdomful sermonettes. (His inconsistency on that last item, however, is a point of caution.) Here are a few of the shorter bits I tagged with soon-to-be-removed sticky notes (ah, the heartache of borrowing a book so worthy of underlining and margin-scribbling!):
"...deep green zucchini squash lying boa-belly fat in the grass..." (56)
"He has given me moments that will forever inflect the lexicon of my heart." (105)
"Greg Brown's voice sounds as if it was aged in a whiskey caks, cured in an Ozarks smokehouse, dropped down a stone well, pulled out damp, and kept moist in the palm of a wicked woman's hand." (127)
For the record, Greg Brown is on Pandora. Knowing that Perry and some friends have also recorded a bit, I checked for his name and was warned away by an explicit lyrics alert. Page 76 ("My name is more common. If she had Googled me, she would have discovered that I was: Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and a leading authority on the relationship of morality to law; a self-appointed expert on cocker spaniels ('Dealing with fleas? Ask me!"); Nellie B. Smith Chair of Oncology for the University fo Missouri at Columbia; scenic artist for Flight Night Part 2; author of The Groom's Survival Manual; or, a board-certified sexologist from California whose 'hot' products include the Love Swing.") was missing "foul-mouthed musician of indeterminate genre (because I wasn't tempted to click and listen)."
"Despite my backsliding in the areas of tears and rage, it is my conviction that over the past several decades, the repression of feelings has been undervalued. After a lifetime of being harangued to let it all out, I am heartened by recent studies indicating the people who repress their emotions have a higher heart attack survival rate than people who are overly emotional. I know people who are constantly 'letting it all out,' and their spirits remain unimproved. I humbly submit that the world could do with a little more keeping it in. Sometimes caring people tell me I am repressing my anger. My chosen response is to meet their gaze intently, let one eye drift slowly inward, and reply: " (169)
"...paddling laps in a demitasse of home-brewed ennui..." (251)
"...sitting beneath quiet stars that wrap all the way around the world." (268)
[Describing guests at his wedding} "...a group of people perhaps best summarized as without whom." (270)
Michael Perry can write. In particular, he's a machine-gun metaphorist, firing off more on an average page than I can come up with in an average year. He crafts beautiful phrases, tells delightful stories, delivers funniful punchlines, and occasionally preaches wisdomful sermonettes. (His inconsistency on that last item, however, is a point of caution.) Here are a few of the shorter bits I tagged with soon-to-be-removed sticky notes (ah, the heartache of borrowing a book so worthy of underlining and margin-scribbling!):
"...deep green zucchini squash lying boa-belly fat in the grass..." (56)
"He has given me moments that will forever inflect the lexicon of my heart." (105)
"Greg Brown's voice sounds as if it was aged in a whiskey caks, cured in an Ozarks smokehouse, dropped down a stone well, pulled out damp, and kept moist in the palm of a wicked woman's hand." (127)
For the record, Greg Brown is on Pandora. Knowing that Perry and some friends have also recorded a bit, I checked for his name and was warned away by an explicit lyrics alert. Page 76 ("My name is more common. If she had Googled me, she would have discovered that I was: Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and a leading authority on the relationship of morality to law; a self-appointed expert on cocker spaniels ('Dealing with fleas? Ask me!"); Nellie B. Smith Chair of Oncology for the University fo Missouri at Columbia; scenic artist for Flight Night Part 2; author of The Groom's Survival Manual; or, a board-certified sexologist from California whose 'hot' products include the Love Swing.") was missing "foul-mouthed musician of indeterminate genre (because I wasn't tempted to click and listen)."
"Despite my backsliding in the areas of tears and rage, it is my conviction that over the past several decades, the repression of feelings has been undervalued. After a lifetime of being harangued to let it all out, I am heartened by recent studies indicating the people who repress their emotions have a higher heart attack survival rate than people who are overly emotional. I know people who are constantly 'letting it all out,' and their spirits remain unimproved. I humbly submit that the world could do with a little more keeping it in. Sometimes caring people tell me I am repressing my anger. My chosen response is to meet their gaze intently, let one eye drift slowly inward, and reply: " (169)
"...paddling laps in a demitasse of home-brewed ennui..." (251)
"...sitting beneath quiet stars that wrap all the way around the world." (268)
[Describing guests at his wedding} "...a group of people perhaps best summarized as without whom." (270)
December 12, 2011
I really can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book so much. The writing is so thoroughly entertaining and engaging, it makes activities completely outside my sphere of interest (deer hunting and automotive restoration, among other things) seem compelling and almost noble. And Perry has a gift for capturing everyday experiences in a way that is both thought-provoking and hilarious.
Oddly enough, I was surprised to discover that Truck: A Love Story is, in fact, a love story (as opposed to a story about a guy in love with his truck). And, also to my surprise, it was the happy ending and the romantic bits I enjoyed the least—probably because that's where Perry waxes the most big-picture philosophical/theological. Perry's theology seems to be a lot like a marshmallow: sweet, squishy, and lacking substance. But in his defense, that's really not the point of this book.
I have a hard time imagining a person who couldn't find something to love about this book. And anybody who can write with wit and insight about dirt track stock car racing, Camille Paglia, and the state of American poetry—all in a single paragraph, no less—has got to be some kind of literary genius. No, really.
Oddly enough, I was surprised to discover that Truck: A Love Story is, in fact, a love story (as opposed to a story about a guy in love with his truck). And, also to my surprise, it was the happy ending and the romantic bits I enjoyed the least—probably because that's where Perry waxes the most big-picture philosophical/theological. Perry's theology seems to be a lot like a marshmallow: sweet, squishy, and lacking substance. But in his defense, that's really not the point of this book.
I have a hard time imagining a person who couldn't find something to love about this book. And anybody who can write with wit and insight about dirt track stock car racing, Camille Paglia, and the state of American poetry—all in a single paragraph, no less—has got to be some kind of literary genius. No, really.
March 23, 2010
I really wanted to like this book better. I read it as part of April's radio show theme of "An emerging genre - books where the author chronicles an experience or goal for a year in the tradition of A Year in Provence or Animal Vegetable Miracle" -- I can't say I was all that impressed. Perry's theme of taking a year to fix up his old International truck, is what intrigued me at first. I liked the idea of a project book about using your hands. However, the book ended up being more of a journal or just chronicle of his thoughts and daily goings-ons. He would spend pages listing all the cookbooks in his house or friends in his small town. While these details are what make small town living so great, I didn't necessarily want ALL of these snippets. On the bright side, I did like that by the end you felt like Perry was a friend, or someone who you knew pretty well -- something to be appreciated in nonfiction writing.
March 22, 2008
Somewhat reminiscent of Lake Woebegon tales, I enjoyed this humorous memoir about life in rural Wisconsin. Written by a man who talks discursively about day-to-day life over the course of a year, the book reminded me of my own Wisconsin upbringing, which is what really captured my attention. I was more interested in his family, friends and romantic relationship and cared less about his restoration of an old International Harvester truck which provided the context in which his stories were told. Great descriptions, good story telling and lots of LOL moments.
March 27, 2010
Mr. Perry is quite adroit with the pen. He used words I've never heard of and I appreciated that.
However, he is prone to rambling and jumping from one topic to another and this irritated me. I found I was skimming paragraphs, only landing my eyes when certain phrases or words jumped out at me. That is no way to read a book.
If he could concentrate on the topic at hand, I would have enjoyed this memoir much more. Perry's observations on the world around him, from his beloved truck to the wilderness to men-women relationships are extraordinary. Too bad he can't keep my interest.
However, he is prone to rambling and jumping from one topic to another and this irritated me. I found I was skimming paragraphs, only landing my eyes when certain phrases or words jumped out at me. That is no way to read a book.
If he could concentrate on the topic at hand, I would have enjoyed this memoir much more. Perry's observations on the world around him, from his beloved truck to the wilderness to men-women relationships are extraordinary. Too bad he can't keep my interest.
September 25, 2019
A 2.5. This didn't pique my interest like Population 485.
The vocab felt forced, particularly in the first half of the book. There were too many $20 words in proportion to $10 and $5 ones.
The vocab felt forced, particularly in the first half of the book. There were too many $20 words in proportion to $10 and $5 ones.
July 9, 2025
Truck: A Love Story is a unique memoir of a year in the life of a middle age bachelor in a small Wisconsin town as he both refurbishes his 1951 International pickup truck and meets a special women at a book reading. Perry writes with a fantastic voice and a humble wit. I happened upon this book in my daily Book Bub email of ebooks on sale. Perry takes a lot of little detours on his chronological tour and they demonstrate that he is a good guy with a wonderful writing talent capable of evincing chuckles in one moment and poignant thoughtful considerations in the next moment. This is my first of his books and will not be my last. Recommended reading especially for rural people and those who might appreciate fixing up a truck and thinking a little. I wish I could write as well as Mr. Perry. 4 stars.
January 21, 2018
I never laugh out loud at books but this one got me many times. Very enjoyable and fun to read.
June 17, 2025
I had to find an audiobook of this or I really don’t think I would’ve made it through. Went on too many tangents for my liking but overall a cute story
February 25, 2023
Very much liking Michael Perry’s style of writing. Certainly don’t agree with some of his religious views, but still nice to hear his perspective on things. I will post some favorite bits later.
September 1, 2012
This is a review of TRUCK, A LOVE STORY by Michael Perry.
Don't you think the title of this book TRUCK, A LOVE STORY seems a little hokey, maybe even manipulative? It's as if its author — or more likely, the book's editor/publisher, who most often does the naming — wanted to broaden the book's market appeal. How many women would read a book titled TRUCK? How many men would read A LOVE STORY (setting aside that old romance novel by Eric Segal, which was made into a movie)? However, I guess it could be said that this particular book appeals to broader audiences than those just enamored of a particular vehicle or of touchy-feely stories of romance and love.
Well, all of that is beside the point. The book is good, worth reading whether you're a male or female or somewhere in between. Michael Perry writes well, even if it seems sometimes he has too much on his mind. I happened to read this with a book club comprised primarily of women. They generally outnumber the men in the group three or four to one. Many of the books we read could be considered more or less feminine oriented and sometimes I've even heard the women themselves utilize the term chick lit. Because they outnumber the men so far this is the dynamic we men in the group have to live with. But truthfully, we cover a broad swath of interesting fiction and nonfiction, mostly fiction, which brings me to this book.
Is TRUCK, A LOVE STORY fiction or nonfiction? It reads like a memoir, but I never did really see anywhere where it claims to be nonfiction. Perhaps, Michael Perry realizes that imaginations always figure into memories and experiences anyway. (The author after all writes, "Fortunately, the eye is an organ capable of deception. In collusion with the brain, it convinces you to ignore what you see — or don't see.) Or perhaps I just missed where it says what it is.
This is a slow reading piece, a work you want to take your time with, a book you might start reading in bed at night if you want to go to sleep. Now I don't mean by that to say that it is boring or anything derogatory. But don't compare it with today's fast-paced fare, which seems targeted at hyperactivity disordered readers. This isn't calculated to keep you on the edge of your seat, shrieking, or covering your eyes in order to cope. Instead it'll make you want to languish like you are in the Bahamas on the beach with unlimited time and plenty of food and drink by your side with the most charming companion.
Where does a truck come in to all of this? Perry is restoring an old International Harvester truck with his brother. The restoration ticks off the time in the book. Perry's attitude is communicated in this manner: "In 1951, a man bought a pickup truck because he needed to blow things up and move them. Things like bricks and bags of feed. Somewhere along the line trendsetters and marketers got involved, and now we buy pickups — big, horse-powered, overbuilt, wide-assed, comfortable pickups — so that we may stick our key in the ignition of an icon, fire up an image, and drive off in a cloud of connotations. I have no room to talk. I long to get my International running in part so I can drive down roads that no longer exist."
Who is Perry? He describes himself: "At thirty-eight, I'm still a few follicles from a Category Cue Ball." This is one of his obsessions, besides his truck. He says, "I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian sect that not only frowned on vanity but viewed long hair on a man as sinful." He also describes himself as follows: "No matter our vocation, we so often find ourselves living life as a form of triage. I need more time with the dirt, the sense of the soil with its plenty." So gardening is another of his — I don't want to say obsessions — passions.
Family is another honored subject for the author. Speaking of his grandmother, he says "this time she raised five children of her own and took in another twenty-eight foster children. She did her baking with a .22 rifle at hand and was known to step away from the stove to snipe feral cats and once an incautious woodchuck."
And what of the love story part of the title? Well, there is Anneliese. But I can't say more without spoiling it for you, so I'll shut up and just recommend that you pick up the book, especially if you appreciate a good turn of word in the lathe of literature. If you like anecdotes stacked within the framework of car restoration and raising turnips while discovering a love interest, then find a beach in the South Pacific or Caribbean and languish away with TRUCK, A LOVE STORY in hand.
Don't you think the title of this book TRUCK, A LOVE STORY seems a little hokey, maybe even manipulative? It's as if its author — or more likely, the book's editor/publisher, who most often does the naming — wanted to broaden the book's market appeal. How many women would read a book titled TRUCK? How many men would read A LOVE STORY (setting aside that old romance novel by Eric Segal, which was made into a movie)? However, I guess it could be said that this particular book appeals to broader audiences than those just enamored of a particular vehicle or of touchy-feely stories of romance and love.
Well, all of that is beside the point. The book is good, worth reading whether you're a male or female or somewhere in between. Michael Perry writes well, even if it seems sometimes he has too much on his mind. I happened to read this with a book club comprised primarily of women. They generally outnumber the men in the group three or four to one. Many of the books we read could be considered more or less feminine oriented and sometimes I've even heard the women themselves utilize the term chick lit. Because they outnumber the men so far this is the dynamic we men in the group have to live with. But truthfully, we cover a broad swath of interesting fiction and nonfiction, mostly fiction, which brings me to this book.
Is TRUCK, A LOVE STORY fiction or nonfiction? It reads like a memoir, but I never did really see anywhere where it claims to be nonfiction. Perhaps, Michael Perry realizes that imaginations always figure into memories and experiences anyway. (The author after all writes, "Fortunately, the eye is an organ capable of deception. In collusion with the brain, it convinces you to ignore what you see — or don't see.) Or perhaps I just missed where it says what it is.
This is a slow reading piece, a work you want to take your time with, a book you might start reading in bed at night if you want to go to sleep. Now I don't mean by that to say that it is boring or anything derogatory. But don't compare it with today's fast-paced fare, which seems targeted at hyperactivity disordered readers. This isn't calculated to keep you on the edge of your seat, shrieking, or covering your eyes in order to cope. Instead it'll make you want to languish like you are in the Bahamas on the beach with unlimited time and plenty of food and drink by your side with the most charming companion.
Where does a truck come in to all of this? Perry is restoring an old International Harvester truck with his brother. The restoration ticks off the time in the book. Perry's attitude is communicated in this manner: "In 1951, a man bought a pickup truck because he needed to blow things up and move them. Things like bricks and bags of feed. Somewhere along the line trendsetters and marketers got involved, and now we buy pickups — big, horse-powered, overbuilt, wide-assed, comfortable pickups — so that we may stick our key in the ignition of an icon, fire up an image, and drive off in a cloud of connotations. I have no room to talk. I long to get my International running in part so I can drive down roads that no longer exist."
Who is Perry? He describes himself: "At thirty-eight, I'm still a few follicles from a Category Cue Ball." This is one of his obsessions, besides his truck. He says, "I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian sect that not only frowned on vanity but viewed long hair on a man as sinful." He also describes himself as follows: "No matter our vocation, we so often find ourselves living life as a form of triage. I need more time with the dirt, the sense of the soil with its plenty." So gardening is another of his — I don't want to say obsessions — passions.
Family is another honored subject for the author. Speaking of his grandmother, he says "this time she raised five children of her own and took in another twenty-eight foster children. She did her baking with a .22 rifle at hand and was known to step away from the stove to snipe feral cats and once an incautious woodchuck."
And what of the love story part of the title? Well, there is Anneliese. But I can't say more without spoiling it for you, so I'll shut up and just recommend that you pick up the book, especially if you appreciate a good turn of word in the lathe of literature. If you like anecdotes stacked within the framework of car restoration and raising turnips while discovering a love interest, then find a beach in the South Pacific or Caribbean and languish away with TRUCK, A LOVE STORY in hand.
September 6, 2024
Enjoyable, well written small town memoir. I especially enjoyed that this is set in rural Wisconsin, where my husband was raised. It makes me want to garden and participate in community activities. He fixes his truck, gardens, cooks, works as a nurse, volunteers with the fire department, and writes. His math calculations of the number of recipes in the cookbooks he owns divided by the number of meals he actually cooks in a year cracked me up. Then recalculating when he is in a relationship how long it will take to get through them all 🤣. He also laments the divisive politics of the day and the need for nuance and understanding- letting each other hash out ideas then come back with better ones. We so need this gentleness with each other.
November 13, 2013
"All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck," says Michael Perry. "That, and plant my garden. Then I met this woman. . . ." Truck: A Love Story recounts a year in which Perry struggles to grow his own food ("Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined"), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley), and sort out his love life. But along the way, he sets his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans. As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck: A Love Story may be found in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor, a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so that his quadriplegic pal can ride along, a bartender who refuses to sell light beer, an enchanting woman who never existed, and half the staff of National Public Radio.
By turns hilarious and heartfelt, a tale that begins on a pile of sheep manure, detours to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and returns to the deer-hunting swamps of northern Wisconsin, Truck: A Love Story becomes a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love.1006(
By turns hilarious and heartfelt, a tale that begins on a pile of sheep manure, detours to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and returns to the deer-hunting swamps of northern Wisconsin, Truck: A Love Story becomes a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love.1006(
December 22, 2009
This one should probably be more like 3 and a half stars, but I guess I'll round up. As someone who went to college in a rural midwestern town, I appreciated the nice reflections on life in a similar setting. The best parts of the book are when the writing has a certain stripped down emotional clarity about it that sneaks up and really gets to you and which reminded me a little of Scott Carrier's writing, which can have a very similar quality of profound simplicity (or maybe simple profundity?). It is definitely refreshing and unusual to read something by a somewhat liberal, feminist-sympathizing redneck guy as an antidote to the unending refrain of an America increasingly polarized along republican/liberal, rural/urban lines.
My main criticism is that sometimes the lack of variation in the sentence structure started to wear. Also, not all of the reflections are as funny and/or deep as they could be and occasionally felt a little contrived. Still worth reading.
My main criticism is that sometimes the lack of variation in the sentence structure started to wear. Also, not all of the reflections are as funny and/or deep as they could be and occasionally felt a little contrived. Still worth reading.
August 4, 2011
Review Part 1: I have to confess, I skimmed the last half. Maybe if I had more time I'd have stuck with it, but it was overdue at the library, I had another book I needed to finish for my book club, and, frankly, this one was just not holding my attention. I usually enjoy books like this, and it got off to a good start - e.g., writing about the allure of seed catalogs - but after a while it started to feel like reading someone's moderately amusing blog. Perhaps you need to be a guy to appreciate all the minutiae of sanding the paint off an International truck and dirt track racing. I seldom start a book that I don't finish, but this, I'm afraid, is one. Review Part 2: I decided to eat the fine and hang in and finish Truck, because there were enough enjoyable bits, and I was tired and cranky when I wrote the earlier review. That said, I still had to skim most of the truck rehab detail and would still say that it is more of a guys' book. Got some good recipe ideas though!
February 22, 2016
About a year ago I went to a reading by Michael Perry and something he said stuck with me. He said that people who have never lived in Wisconsin find the things we do here very exotic and interesting. Having a fiancé who's originally from Texas and is still experiencing some culture shock, I had a good laugh at Perry's observation. After reading this novel, I see how Perry has used our weird Wisconsinite quirks to make what we consider normal everyday life interesting. Perry tells the story of what it was like for him to be a single man living in a small town in central Wisconsin. He ties together his successes and failures at gardening, meeting a new woman, and bringing his old International truck back to life. I'm not sure what readers outside us Northerners would think of us after reading Perry's story, but it's certainly relatable no matter where you are. This is a great read for anyone looking for a light-hearted story with a feel-good ending.
May 6, 2016
I enjoyed his book about living in a small community "Population 485", and I found this one even more enjoyable. In it he alternates between two stories: the restoration of his International Harvester truck and developing his relationship with a new woman in his life. Without spoiling it, I will say that both threads are compelling - wanting to see how the truck came out and also wanting to find out if the last bachelor of his family finally has met "the one". Less compelling are the passages where he ruminates on the nature of some of the locals and their habits. Sometimes these are interesting digressions but a few feel more like filler to make the book a bit fatter. He can get carried away with adjectives at times, but generally his writing is colorful and amusing, and the ending is truly touching and heart-warming.
July 20, 2012
Awesome and hilarious! To be fair - I had a LOT in common with the author so I found myself particularly endeared. The book discusses writing, cooking, gardening, fixing up his ol' truck, friendships that change through the ages, coping with things that don't work out the way we want and celebrating the successes of things that do. I thought this was well written and entertaining. My only note is it had a LOT of words I did not know. Had to keep a notebook and look them up at the end of the day, that said - I did pick up a few keepers for the vocab like "foofaraw" and "ignominy". If you liked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Julie & Julia - you will enjoy this, and find it refreshing and pleasant to hear a story from a male perspective.
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