Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting
I was expecting a memoir about farming, but Coop turned out to be quite a bit more.
Michael Perry, his pregnant wife Anneliese and his “given daughter” Amy (he says the word stepdaughter explains the situation but falls “utterly short of the mark when it comes to expressing the heart”) live on 37 acres in Wisconsin, in an old farmstead that belongs to his wife’s family. Perry wants to grow their own vegetables, raise pigs and chickens (“… it is my long-standing opinion that entertainment-wise, chickens beat TV”) and he gets help from his family and by digging through his childhood memories of being raised on a farm.
“‘Tell me a story from your childhood,’ she says, and I tell her of waking on summer mornings so socked with fog I could make myself believe the world had fallen away to leave our isolated farmstead floating through space – and how that illusion was gently undone by disembodied voices drifting in through the mist as our neighbours to the north called their cows to milking: ‘M’bawsss…. M’bawssss….’”
There’s something very disarming and genuine about Perry’s writing. He’s funny and sarcastic. And he’s upfront about his farming inexperience and tendency to procrastinate, such as when trying to figure out his pigs, he turns to his brothers and brother-in-law for help:
“Fortunately they are men of patience who furthermore have learned over the long term that their indulgence will be amply repaid by the quality of entertainment provided by my incompetence once I got rolling.”
I also loved the strong sense of family in this book, from the sweet tales of his childhood with his many brothers and sisters (his parents took in foster children) to the lessons he tries to teach young Amy through farming chores.
However, Perry’s style takes a bit of getting used to, as the narrative meanders from past to present. At one point, I confuse the two, thinking that he’s talking about something that happened in his childhood, only to realise later that he was talking about the present. The other problem I had was when he went on about farming hardware like tractors or other technical whats-its, which made my eyes glaze over. He undoubtedly has a deep love for farming and for DIYing, but that can also make for a bit of a chuckle when reading of his chasing down Craigslist bargains, trying to beat his friend Mills to the deal.
Perry has more or less charmed his way into this reader’s good books, and I can’t wait to read his other books about small town life: Population: 485 
I’m glad you liked it, and I’m struggling with the same issues you are. I have a bit of the book left, and now that I’m more in the groove, things are going much better. Thanks for participating!
Thanks for the book selection!
I agree with you on the style, it took a little bit of getting used to for me. But overall I think I liked it, being the mix of charming and sarcastic throughout. I skimmed some of the more technical stuff, but I think that was important to the story too. Thanks for participating in BookClubSandwich, and sorry it took so long for me to stop by and comment!
Thanks for stopping by, Kim. I’m looking forward to more BookClubSandwich reads!