Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time (original 2002; edition 2003)

by Michael Perry

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Biography & Autobiography. History. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML: "Part portrait of a place, part rescue manual, part rumination of life and death, Population: 485 is a beautiful meditation on the things that matter." �?? Seattle Times Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now�??after a decade away�??he has returned. Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Perry figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked Amer… (more)

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Member:	samaree
Title:	Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time
Authors:	Michael Perry
Info:	Harper Perennial (2003), Paperback, 256 pages
Collections:	Your library
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Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry (2002)

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Michael Perry is a great combination of literati and good ol' boy. I think my brother would like this book. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

Perry is one of the better nonfiction writers: his content is actually interesting, his prose is appropriate rather than pretentious, and he moderates his genre-requisite self-reflection with enough entertainment. The essay format seems natural to his style, but the geographic and communal focus of his content provide the right amount of connection for the book to be unified. Some essays do remake the same narrative point with multiple stories, but the extra length was worthwhile in entertainment. (

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et.carole | Jan 21, 2022 |

powerful, moving. snapshot of what it is like to live in Wisconsin. (

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Thomas.Cannon | Dec 7, 2021 |

adult nonfiction; firefighting in rural Wisconsin. I think Perry's other book (Truck: a love story) was better, but it's been so long since I read that, and it wasn't that memorable either. (

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reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 |

As a native of a small town and frequent reader, I've rarely found any writer that both covers rural issues and is so highly skilled (the Fellowses are skilled, but they are really journalists), so it turns out Perry is the one I'd been seeking. This was one of his earlier titles about his hometown/current home of New Auburn, Wisconsin, and introduces you to the place through the many calls he responds to as a volunteer firefighter.

The narrative is easy to follow but also frankly honest about the place, not skipping over the drug abuse or infidelity if it's relevant to the story, but also covering the skill and camaraderie of his fellow first responders. And while some of the chapters started as individual essays, they have been stitched together into a coherent story. (

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jonerthon | Jul 12, 2020 |

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Great Lakes Book Award (Finalist – General Nonfiction – 2003)

Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book – Adult Nonfiction – 2003)

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Canonical title

Original title

Population: 485

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2002

People/Characters

Important places

New Auburn, Wisconsin, USA

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For J. & S.

First words

Summer here comes on like a zaftig hippie chick, jazzed on chlorophyll and flinging fistfulls of butterfilies to the sun.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

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Original language

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Wikipedia in English (3)

Belmont Street, Aberdeen

Classical music in Scotland

Glenesk Folk Museum

▾Book descriptions

Biography & Autobiography. History. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML:

"Part portrait of a place, part rescue manual, part rumination of life and death, Population: 485 is a beautiful meditation on the things that matter." �?? Seattle Times

Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now�??after a decade away�??he has returned.

Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Perry figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked Amer

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