Trailerpark [Hardcover]

Russell Banks (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809591979
• ISBN-13: 978-0809591978
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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.