Merry Wanderer of the Night + TIME

Getting Out of Town

I bought Getting Out of Town

used while I was in Chicago. I'd been having this feeling for awhile that I really wanted to find a book no one had heard of. Something different and awesome from what you read reviews of all the time. I think I do an okay job of reviewing lesser known titles on my blog, alongside more well known books, but wanted something totally different. Getting Out of Town looked like it might be that book. The back cover says it's a short story collection, but I look at it more like The Imperfectionists, a series of stories that are all connected. It is short though, just over one hundred pages. I'm counting this as part of the November Novella Challenge. The story takes place in a small town in Canada and mostly focuses on Nancy McKinnon, a woman in love with a drunk.

Most of the book is about wanting to get out of a small town and starting a new life. I was interested in the treatment of women throughout this book. In this small town everyone's business is everyone's business, and if a woman has multiple sex partners everyone knows it. And she gets labeled a slut. There is not escaping that, it's branded on her as long as she stays in the town. This is one example of many brands people in the small town get stuck with. It's as if it's impossible to change in a small town because everyone knows of you as the slut or the drunk or the pervert.

While I enjoyed that aspect of the book, I have to say I was extremely disappointed overall. I felt the characters lacked depth, I didn't really know much about them outside their personas in the town. I found the narrative structure to be extremely difficult to follow, one story starting off at a completely different point from where the previous one ended. The language felt contrived. I hate the saying "Show don't tell," but reading this was very difficult because most sentences were just telling me "We did this... then we did that... I saw this... then I thought this." Very frustrating to read.

I know I'm being really hard on this book, and part of it might have to do with the fact that I was somewhat offended by the portrayal of small town life. Most of the characters in this book were in there thirties but they all acted like they were sixteen. And while this might be true for some people who live in small towns, it's also true for some people who live in suburbs or cities. I felt like the characters became caricatures, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I feel a little bad being so harsh on this book considering I haven't found a review of it anywhere else, and I don't think anyone has read it on Goodreads, but I call them like I see them.

I give this book a D. It does have a very nice cover though, so kudos to the publisher for that.

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Getting Out of Town + TIME