The following posts include (1) "footnotes" for The Doris Piserchia Website (link at left), (2) texts-in-process that will eventually appear there, (3) texts from other websites, and (we hope) (4) stimulating discussion threads. The picture to the left is the back cover of The Spinner (book club edition), depicting a citizen of Eastland "hanging out" while Ekler the cop and Rune the idiot-superman look on.
View current page
...more recent posts
I'm having some late thoughts on Blood County, specifically about my conclusion:
Strangely, there's almost no subtext (this is true of many of Piserchia's books). Yes, there is an implied condemnation of Appalachian provincialism (and unhealthy political systems the world over), and a certain emotional tug that comes from an author revisiting the world of her girlhood.Big point I missed, considering the semi-autobiographical aspect of the book: how despairing is it that Clint tries to leave the sick, hick town he grew up in, to start a new life as a teacher in the big city, only be drawn back to Blood County till the end of time? What is Piserchia saying about the difficulties of transcending roots and class in America? Or about her own fears and frustrations trying to make the same kind of transition Clint did? It's something many of us can relate to: Clint as a kind of bloodsucking George Bailey, doomed to make the best of his own hillbilly Bedford Falls. I should add something about this to the review.