Trailerpark [Paperback]

Russell Banks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1996

Get to know the colorful cast of characters at the Granite State Trailerpark, where Flora in number 11 keeps more than a hundred guinea pigs andscreams at people to stay away from her babies, Claudel in number 5 thinks he is lucky until his wife burns down their trailer and runs off with Howie Leeke, and Noni in number 7 has telephone conversations with Jesus and tells the police about them. In this series of related short stories, Russell Banks offers gripping, realistic portrayals of individual Americans and paints a portrait of New England life that is at once dark, witty, and revealing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mesmerizing .... There are times when Banks's prose fairly dazzles." -- -- Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Russell Banks is one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. He lives in upstate New York and Miami, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 10, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006097706X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060977061
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell Banks is the author of sixteen works of fiction, many of which depict seismic events in US history, such as the fictionalized journey of John Brown in Cloudsplitter. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes, and two of his novels-The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction-have been made into award-winning films. His forthcoming novel, The Reserve, will be published in early 2008. President of the International Parliament of Writers and former New York State Author, Banks lives in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Modern-Day Tragedy, September 8, 2005

By 

Mr. Tangerine "KSF" (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trailerpark (Paperback)

I bought this book expecting it to be a hilarious, quirky look at life in a New Hampshire trailer park (Noni Hubner's conversations with Jesus, Flora's Guinea pigs) and was I ever wrong. I got to the end of "The Guinea Pig Lady" almost in tears, and was sobbing by the time I got to the last one, "The Fisherman." Although it wasn't what I expected, it was one the most amzing books ever! The stories are beautifully human, nothing short of marvelous and was full of scenes so unmercifully gritty, it's real. I stongly recommend this book to anyone willing to read such sorrow, but it's totally worth it!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This just gets sadder and sadder..., February 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Trailerpark (Paperback)

Not sure if there's a certain "order" one should read Banks' books in, but I started with "Rule of the Bone" which I enjoyed so much I immediately bought "Trailerpark" and then "Book of Jamaica" (which I have not yet read). In this collection of short stories, we see a cast of characters that, at first glance, could be from Anytown USA. As the stories develop, at first humourous then getting progressively more bleak, we begin to realize that what makes the characters unique, as in "Rule of the Bone," is their life in the rural northeast. I love the way the lives of the tenants of the Granite State Trailerpark are intertwined; it's just a fabulous read.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a collection of short stories., March 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Trailerpark (Paperback)

This collection of short stories can be read as a novel. Most of the action takes place in the late 1970s in a trailer park in the Northeastern part of the USA. There is good character development of the individuals who live in the park, a little sex and very little violence.