Customer Reviews

Alison's Automotive Repair Manual: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been reading Barkley's work for several years, and this novel shines. He does an admirable job of portraying a woman widowed in her thirties, inspects grief without oversentimentalizing, and even manages to weave a great deal of humor into a book that travels through the murkiness of memory and loss.

Set in a small West Virginia town, the novel brings you exactly the kinds of Southern characters you'd hope for: quirky, endearing, and full of the kinds of eccentricities that make you want to plunk yourself down in the middle of the story to talk to them for a while.

Buy it. Read it. You won't be sorry.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is the story of Alison, wa woman in her thirties who is widowed when her husband dies in an accident. Like some woman in this situation, Alison romanticizes her relationship with Marty to the point that she is unable to get on with her life in any concrete way. After two years of wallowing in misery, she begins to rebuild a totally rundown 1976 Corvette.

THe novel is cleverly written. Each chapter heading is a section of an automotive repair manual, that gives you a brief description of what Alison is going to learn in the ensuing chapter.

What I liked best about this novel was the complexity of the characters that we meet. There are no wasted characters. Everyone we meet is well texted, they are complete, and they have strengths and weaknesses, and some are not all that likeable. Most of the dialogue is good- to the point, few embelishments, and very realistic. You capture a nice picture of small town America. I was not always happy with the interior narrative of Alison however. Sometimes I felt the narrator was a little too detached, and I guess this supposed to be part of Alison's character, but it separated me a little too much from Alison, and sometimes I really didn't like her character. This is always a big literary sticking point with me- how is the reader supposed to feel about the hero? Are we supposed to like them, or is that too pat?

I also didn't see the pattern of Alison's growth very clearly. I don't like things spelled out, but I think the reader needed to make too many leaps and guesses as to how Alison's character developed throughout the novel. I guess I was not convinced of any real transformation.

But, that aside, I think this is a novel that deserves to be read, and discussed, and reread.

With it's wise-cracking dialogue and oddball characters, this book explores serious themes of loss (accidental and intentional), love and death, and truth. Alison Durst, a former badgirl turned community college history teacher, still mourns the accidental death of her husband Marty after more than a year, and Sarah, her married (but not comfortably so, as she and her husband Bill struggle to get pregnant), encourages her to get on with her life. She meets Max, but of course pushes him away at first as he competes with the ghost of Marty. She is drawn to him--he, the munitions expert, adept at destroying things, buildings, silos, relationships--and at the same time sets about trying to make things right. Against a background that at first seems silly--the unifying thread is Alison's restoration of a hopeless 1976 Corvette--this book does a masterful job of portraying, and resolving, Alison's conflicts.

In "Bird by Bird" Anne Lamott says she wishes there were more funny books about cancer. No, Barkley's novel is not a funny book about cancer, but it is a funny book about grief. Not funny ha-ha, but funny like all the absurdly inexplicable losses in your own life, once you have a little perspective on them. "Alison's Automotive Repair Manual" deftly carries the weight of a great loss, but couples it with the lightness of eccentric and endearing characters. The balance is perfect, for Alison, and for the reader. We never feel her recovery is too easy -- she has to get her fingernails dirty, in all sorts of ways -- but by the end we are convinced such hard-won recoveries are possible, and usually come in unlikely packages.

Okay, so it's not a page-turner. This book is a subtle treat. The author has an amazing grasp on small town life, and the people who make it so. The repairing of the 1976 Corvette shows an obvious parallel to Alison's soul.
After her husband dies, Alison moves to a small town in West Virginia with her sister. The devistation of losing her partner is too much for her to bear. She finds herself unable to work, live alone, or love.
When she discovers the Corvette in her sisters garage she goes through a slow metamophosis while making it new again. She learns that it is possible to go on. If the car can do it, so can she.
The townspeople become her own, and she even manages to find a bit of romance. This is an excellent book with a wonderful positive message. Go out and get it.

Just a perfect online order - received quickly and as described. Not more to wish for! Wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

I always like reading "romances" written by men. In many ways, I have a decided preference for them, and this book is no different. From the book jacket, I was expecting a cutsie little tale with a cotton-candy ending, but what I found was an easily accessible description of life, relationships, mortality, and regret in all their complexity. I didn't find these as just "characters," as the one reviewer mentioned. Particularly the main character is anything but a cardboard cutout. And at the end, I wasn't really sure what to believe . . . or even really sure the "truth" mattered. All in all, if you want a light read that's more than just fluff, give this a try.

This is a good book in the way some movies are good movies; it's not necessarily a book that stays with you long after you've finished it, but you don't feel like you've wasted your time. One thing blocking my wholesale enjoyment is that the characters in the story seem like just that: characters. There's the damaged widow, her shrewish sister, the quirky townspeople, the troubled lover of the widow who has an equally troubled relationship with his father---they all seem to be brought into the book to add "depth" because the plot itself--widow finds renewal by restoring an old car--doesn't really have much depth when taken on its own merits. And you can see how it's all going to end at least thirty pages before it does.

Having said that, the book has its moments and certainly gets you turning the pages. There are also several passages of plain, flat-out GOOD descriptive writing, so it isn't like a plate of Twinkies that are empty calories. When all's said and done, I'd be interested to read Brad Barkley's other books now that I've read this one.

Brad Barkley's new novel ALISON'S AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR MANUAL is the type of fable about southern living that belongs right beside Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize- winning masterpiece TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Although Barkley's novel does not encounter the racial overtones of Lee's 1961 bestseller, ALISON'S AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR MANUAL paints an enriching landscape of everyday life in Wiley Ford, West Virginia through the eyes of protagonist and recently widowed Alison Durst.

In an attempt to reconcile with the loss of her husband Marty, Alison is living with her sister Sarah and brother-in-law Bill and stumbles upon a 1976 Corvette in their garage that is in dire need of attention. The similarities between Lee's Atticus Finch, a widower with two small children on his hands, and Alison are remarkable. While Atticus does all he can to raise his children right while defending a wrongly accused black man during the Depression, Alison struggles with her identity in a contemporary southern town with people who aren't too comfortable with a woman peeking her head under the hood of a sports car and getting grease under her fingernails. Instead of getting on with her life and returning to teaching at the nearby college, Alison tackles the task of repairing the Corvette without knowing a thing about auto repair and this is where Barkley's work shines the most.

While her sister Sarah and her husband Bill can only shake their heads in disbelief over Alison's attempt at salvaging the Corvette, Alison is befriended by Max Kesler, the local demolitions expert and, before long, Alison turns the ignition key and her 'Vette roars to life.

Barkley, author of the acclaimed novel MONEY, LOVE, adds a snippet from Haynes Automotive Repair Manual: Chevrolet Corvette, 1968 Thru 1982 before each of the 14 chapters of the book that somehow correlate with the flow of the story and the progress of the restoration of Alison's beloved chariot. Barkley's description of the nuances involved in repairing the tattered Corvette is magnificent. With the Haynes manual by her side and with the help of Mr. Beachy, the owner of AAAA Auto Parts, the car gets as much an overhaul as Alison can afford.

The novel also contains a bittersweet love story between Alison and Max, the father of Gordon Kesler, the town's outspoken compulsive liar. Alison does all she can to keep the thoughts of her late husband Marty close to her heart, while realizing that falling in love with somebody like Max could be exactly what the doctor ordered. Or could it? Meanwhile, Max, who has a tattoo of cartoon character Yosemite Sam, fears Alison is getting to close to his lying father during routine visits to Sarah's house, where a group of elderly residents from the nearby nursing home come to take dance lessons on a weekly basis.

While the pace of the book may seem stuck in first gear to some readers, the entire story is completely well thought out and contains a conclusion that ties the entire message of the story together extremely well. The novel is also filled with hysterics that seem to happen at just the right time. Whether it's Barkley's comical depiction of Alison and Max attending Bingo night or the calamity of Gordon Kesler's countless fabrications, there is plenty of laughter to go around.

Not enough can be said of Barkley's depiction of life in a sleepy southern town like Wiley Ford. From the description of the garage that houses Alison's Corvette, to the insides of the auto parts store complete with a bubble gum machine or the details of the local diner, Barkley has ALISON'S AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR MANUAL firing on all cylinders.

--- Reviewed by David Exum

In West Virginia, thirty something widow Alison Durst remains in mourning though her husband died in an accident two years ago. Her sister Sarah and brother-in-law Bill have been supportive, but even they are tiring of Alison as a permanent, grieving guest plus they care and just want her to rebuild her life. Both believe she needs to start over first by moving into her own home.

However Alison is not ready to leave. Although she knows nothing about cars, she decides to rebuild Bill's broken-down Corvette. She will move out once she completes her task. Munitions manufacturer Max Kesler agrees to assist Alison on her quest. They begin seeing each other although his father's behavior jeopardizes this relationship before the attraction can become anything permanent.

ALISON'S AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR MANUAL is an amusing romantic romp with serious undertones that is at its best when the lead couple goes out on dates at weird locales. Her side, including her late husband, provides strong support so that the reader further understands Alison's struggles with getting on with her life. On the other hand, his father impedes the flow of a delightful tale worth reading by fans of second chance romances.

Harriet Klausner