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    American Rust
    American Rust
    American Rust
    Audiobook12 hours

    American Rust

    Written by Philipp Meyer

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Author Philipp Meyer presents his astounding debut American Rust—a powerful, morally complex novel of two friends struggling to face an uncertain future in a crumbling western Pennsylvania steel town.

    Twenty-year-old Isaac feels trapped by circumstance after his mother’s suicide and his genius older sister’s departure to Yale. His best and only friend Poe is a high school football hero who made some bad choices and is going nowhere fast.

    When Isaac resolves to leave town for good, Poe walks with him for a while down the tracks before a sudden downpour forces them to seek refuge in a vacant factory. In that dark place, a series of harrowing events is set in motion, beginning with an act of self-defense that will change their lives forever.

    Favorably compared to Pete Dexter, Russell Banks, and John Steinbeck, Meyer vividly evokes the plight of one of America’s abandoned industrial heartlands—a majestic natural landscape pockmarked by the rusting remains of another time and inhabited by people whose futures have long since been sold out.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 6, 2009
    ISBN9781440708411
    American Rust
    Author

    Philipp Meyer

    Philipp Meyer is the author of the critically lauded novel American Rust, winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was an Economist Book of the Year, a Washington Post Top Ten Book of the Year, and a New York Times Notable Book. He is a graduate of Cornell University and has an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a James Michener Fellow. A native of Baltimore, he now lives mostly in Texas.

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    Reviews for American Rust

    3.5/5

    530 ratings90 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Set in a small dying former steel mill town in Pennsylvania, this is the story of two young men (20yrs old). Issac, who is called the smartest person in town except for maybe his sister and had been expected to go straight to college after high school. But his mother dies, his father is in a crippling accident at work and his sister leaves for an ivy league school 3 months after their mother's death, leaving him to stay with his father. The other is Poe, the legendary high school football player who could have gotten a football scholarship to any college but had always been a bad apple and had no interest in doing any more school, even if it was on a scholarship.These two boys are strangely enough best friends, each other's only real friend to be exact and one day there lives and those around them are changed forever. Within the first chapter Issac decides he's hung around long enough, takes his father's four thousand dollars of savings and leaves to head to California to go to school. Along the way he meets Poe who doesn't want to come with him, but agrees to walk to the city limits with him. They spend the night in the abandoned steel mill and three homeless men arrive. Issac knows this is not going to be good and he tries to get Poe's attention and says he's going out for a leak. Poe knows what Issac is up to but he's in the mood for a fight. Issac hears a scream, some thuds and more noises that sound like Poe. He enters through the back door to find his friend, Poe, being held at knife point while another man is obviously about to go at him. Isaac picks up a large iron ball bearing and pitches it across the room hitting the man square in the face and obviously killing him. This is how the story opens.The book is told in a third person omnipotent point of view with each chapter coming from a selection of different character's view point: the two boys, Isaac's sister, Poe's mom, the chief of police and occasionally Isaac's father. The narrative takes a little getting used to as it feels strange to jump from one person's head to another's but it doesn't take long to get used too as this is a page-turner from chapter one onwards. The writing is a delight to read, the characters become very real to the reader and the story of the lives and thoughts of these people in a dead-end situation all around is very compelling. These people do not lead happy lives and the book is somewhat raw in it's telling but that only makes the characters more real. It is not ultimately a sad story though, as the characters learn about hope, love, friendship and redemption. I honestly didn't know whether this was going to be a book I'd like but I have to say it's the best book I've read this month. I know it's only January but I'll be holding the other books I read this year up to this one as I choose my favourites of the year. Recommended!
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed both the setting and the characters in this novel. While I generally prefer a little more resolution in stories I read, I am not terribly disappointed in the conclusion of this book. I look forward to more works by this author.
    • 2/5
      I nearly stopped reading this book about halfway through. The action was slow and the characters largely flat despite the fact that most of the book is spent inside their heads. I also didn't get into the style. Each chapter was written from a different character's perspective. Had their voices been appreciably different, this could have served to build tension, but as it was, I found the switch of perspectives slowed the action rather than propelling it forward. Most of the sentences in this book were either run-ons or fragments. I don't mind either used sparingly for effect or as part of the voice of an individual character, but as something that was used incessantly throughout the novel, I just found it wearying to have to dissect one long, drawn-out sentence after another.

      I ended up finishing the book because, by nature, I have difficulty putting a novel down once I've started it. The ending was decent, but things sort of came together in a rush after so much grueling exposition.
    • 5/5
      An outstanding novel. Gripping story, complex and beautiful characterizations, effortlessly perfect narrative, Remarkable perspecive and vivid depiction of an age and place. I'm very grateful to the author for writing it, and to LibraryThing for making it available to me.
    • 4/5
      This is is the kind of book that made me want to know more about the author, and so I was pleased to find the interview that was included in the Reader’s Guide. This is a novel that could have been great. When I began reading, I felt that I was in the hands of a master (remarkable for a first novel). I could just relax because it takes a masterful book to overcome my habit of analyzing technique. So I snuggled into the couch, tension leaving my shoulders, and settled in for a great read.That feeling diminished midway through the book as I began to notice the writing instead of being swept along, and the voices weren’t always as distinctive as they had been. I wondered if another draft was needed or a more insistent (or less?) editor. Still, it was a very good book, and I’m interested in what Meyer will do next.American Rust takes place in the rust belt a few hours from Pittsburgh. I had no idea, until I read this book, how bucolic that area is. I always imagined it as, well, rusty. " In the distance most of the hillsides were nearly black but there were a few patches of errant light where the land shone a bright green. "(p 60) "The field descended gradually to a stream and then the land went uphill again, a hundred different types of green, the pale new grass and new buds on the oaks and darkness of the pine tree needles, the hemlocks…You called it all green but that was not correct, there should have been different words, hundreds of them." (p93)The story is told from a number of points of view in a stream of consciousness that owes something to the lineage of Impressionist writers like Ford Maddox Ford. I saw, from looking at reviews in Goodreads, that some readers found that difficult to connect with, but for me, it was successful (for the most part) and deeply engaging. I was gripped and didn’t want to put the book down. The settings were vivid and convincing, the small dying town, the rural surroundings, the nearest prison, and the social and psychological questions these settings provoke.The story is naturally a gripping one, because it is about the consequences of an unplanned murder. Most closely connected to the murder are two unlikely friends: the high school genius and the high school’s top jock, who didn’t live up to their promise after graduation. In their early 20′s both young men are stuck by character and circumstance in a dying town. The other voices in the novel are people connected to these boys: a middle-aged mother, her lover who is the local chief of police, the other boy’s sister and his father (whose voice surprisingly comes in late in the book).Although there are two female voices in the novel, this is a story mainly about men, male violence and male self-sacrifice. Do you remember the O’Henry story (I think it was called “The Gift”) about the young wife who sells her hair to buy her husband a watch fob while the husband is selling his watch to buy his wife a comb? This novel seemed to me a grimmer, darker take on this archetype. Meyer’s male characters find themselves capable of both inflicting physical harm and of giving up their own body in sacrifice for love and friendship. But as each sacrifices himself for another, without knowing the sacrifice the other is making for him, the story seems to move inexorably toward a tragedy where everyone is destroyed.And then it doesn’t. At the 11th hour there is a sharp turn, not toward a happy ending, but an avoidance of total tragedy. My main quibble with the novel is that this feels abrupt and not quite true to the rest. Perhaps the novel should have ended at an earlier point if Meyer wanted to go for ambiguity, or go on for another 50 pages and play out the tragedy.Having said that, I still think this is a book I’d love you to read because he strives for greatness and it’s his first novel. Even if he didn’t quite get there, it was worth the reading and worth the pleasure of thinking about the novel, his themes, his characterization and his style.
    • 5/5
      Steel plants have closed, and jobs lost in the Monongahela Valley, Pennsylvania, where this novel takes place. Poverty, violence, drugs, boredom, and desperation are prevalent. Former steel plant structures stand abandoned in the overgrowth. Two unlikely friends, Isaac (the smart but awkward kid) and Billy (the football jock) have stayed in their small town after graduation, missing their chance to go to college. Isaac has been taking care of his invalid father after his mother’s suicide. His sister has already escaped to college and marriage. He decides to leave and asks Billy to come with him. They approach an abandoned building, where a man will be killed, and their lives forever altered. It is a story of staying vs. leaving, fear vs. bravery, selfishness vs. altruism.

      The writing style took me a bit of time to assimilate. It is quasi-stream-of-consciousness, as if the reader is in the head of six characters, thinking along with them, which proves to be a very effective method of characterization. Each character sees a portion of the greater story from a personal perspective, none having access to the entire picture. In addition to Isaac and Billy, the story is told from the perspectives of Grace (Billy’s mother), Henry (Isaac’s father), Lee (Isaac’s sister), and Harris (the chief of police of their town who has been involved with Grace). The novel is more character-driven than plot-driven, but there is a plot, and the tension is built through this limited perspective of each character, gradually revealing to the reader what has happened. I thought it was a brilliant way to tell this story.

      These are flawed but decent people, often making poor decisions and facing the fallout. They are confronted with moral dilemmas and must choose their actions when the stakes are high. This book explores the questions of what lengths a person will go to protect a friend or loved one, and whether a person should save oneself or someone else at the risk of personal safety. It touches on questions of personal dignity, inner strength, and integrity. How much are an individual’s actions are driven by social, mental, or physical fear, and should they be? I questioned a couple of plot points, but in the end, I became so invested in these characters that it didn’t matter. The ending is not tidied up and is left for the reader to imagine but offers hope for the characters of the story and, more importantly, for humankind. This book is the author’s debut and I look forward to reading more of his work. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I did enjoy the writing here and the first half, probably, was not necessarily a who or why dunnit but circumstances leading to it being done. Overall I found it kinda depressing.
    • 4/5
      The Philipp Meyer guy? Dude's a writer's writer.

      This is actually a very simple little book, but the emotional depths Meyer plumbs make this the great book that it is. I'm not going to go on and on about it, so I'll just say, pick this up, and then fall into its pages. Excellent novel.
    • 5/5
      “You ought to be able to grow up in a place and not have to get the hell out of it when you turn eighteen.”American Rust is set in a small Pennsylvania steel town named Buell, a place that had been a wealthy steel town but since the closure of the mills is a place where jobs are scarce and foreclosures are on the rise, where older residents feel trapped and younger ones are eager to take wing and flee. Buell is the underbelly of the 'American Dream'.The book centres around two young men, Isaac English and Billy Poe, best friends since high school. Their friendship is an unlikely one, Isaac is diminutive, brainy and socially awkward, the kid who was top of his class and apparently destined for an Ivy League university and a stellar career; and Billy Poe, the brawny football jock with the volatile temper, who ignored had the opportunity to go away to college on an athletic scholarship but instead chose to stay in Buell.Scarred by his mother's suicide, Issac spent years at home taking care of his invalid father instead of following his sister, Lee, to college, until one day he decides to chuck it all and head to California to begin a new life. When a chance encounter Isaac and Billy have with three homeless men unexpectedly turns ugly, the two former schoolmates find themselves caught in a dangerous spiral of violence, their dreams for the future crushed. Suddenly Isaac is on the run from the authorities whilst Billy is arrested for murder and sent away to prison, where his quick temper lands him in even more trouble.In each chapter the narrative switches from one character’s point of view to another, mainly Isaac and Billy's but on occasion Lee, Grace (Billy's mother) and Harris (the town's chief of police) meaning that the author is able to create a richly layered narrative with multiple perspectives, thoughts and feelings.In Isaac and Billy we have two alienated young men bound to one another by loyalty and a shared past but who also come to represent those youngsters who are ill-equipped for the demands of digital era.Lee and Grace, are two women whose choices has sets their lives on very differing trajectories. Lee, also a brilliant student, got a scholarship to Yale where she married a wealthy classmate and is making plans to attend law school. She feels guilty about having left Isaac at home with their invalid father, and returns home to try and get her father proper nursing care thus allowing Isaac to go off to college. Grace, also once dreamed of going to college; of becoming a social worker, but marriage has kept her from leaving the area and now she fears that decision has not only crushed her dreams but Billy's as well.In contrast Harris, the local police chief, is the moral centre of this novel. He is a kind, decent man, who whilst realizing that the town's halcyon days are behind them, "beings in time, moving towards............expiration", tries to slow the neighbourhoods slide into lawlessness by bringing a sense of compassion to his job, cutting people a break here and there, seeing the best in them rather than the worst, using common sense rather than dogma. Harris, who has been dating Grace on and off for years and now finds himself torn between his desire to help her and the likelihood that her son is guilty.If I'm honest there were a few minor issues with the narrative, in particular on the occasions when Isaac started thinking about himself in the third person, but on the whole I felt that Meyer handled it remarkably well. He has created truly believable characters who took on real flesh-and-blood as the story progressed, meaning that I felt a real empathy for them. I grew up in Cornwall, a beautiful part of the country but also one with limited job opportunities, so on leaving school moved away to find employment, as did many of my contemporaries, so can certainly appreciate with the tough choices made here, by those who chose to leave and those who opted to remain. There are certainly elements of Salinger within this book but I also saw a touch of Moby Dick's Ishmail in Isaac, a young man struggling to cope in an alien environment. It seems strange to be reading this whilst there is a Presidential election going on in America. As an outsider I struggled to see the attraction of Trump the first time around but having read this I feel that I have a little more insight into the hopelessness that many in the country's so called 'Rust Belt' must have felt and how how they feel discarded by conventional politicians. Here we get glimpses into some of the town's local politics and it isn't particularly pleasant reading.Overall a very enjoyable read that deserves to be on the 1001 list.
    • 4/5
      Story of decline in the American Steel Mill in Pennsylvannia and the the families still hanging on. It is a family story and a story of friendship and a story of love. This was Philipp Meyer's debut novel published in 2009. I found the story entertaining though brutal with violence and excessive sexual details I didn't need to enjoy the story. There is some foreshadowing so it is possible to guess the ending though I didn't fully. One reviewer called it a perfect storm of tradgedy. The characters are well crafted but I also felt that the choices made didn't make a lot of sense because, well just because. I don't want to give anything away. It was good, readable, it was called a best novel of 2009 and making some lists like Newsweek and Times, but it really never won any awards and other than being included on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, it really has no other claim to fame. Rating 3.43
    • 5/5
      Extraordinarily gripping.
    • 5/5
      It astonishes me that American Rust is Philipp Meyer's first published novel. It's not so much that the story is gripping or that he's captured the atmosphere of a place; plenty of debut novels have done this, but that the pacing is perfectly timed, the characters fully realized and the book ends exactly where it should. The story begins with Isaac English leaving his rural Pennsylvania home with the intention of riding the rails to California. He stops by to say good-bye to his best friend, Poe, a high school baseball star who never left and who lives in a trailer with his mother. They walk awhile together, and when they meet some other men when they take shelter in an abandoned building, violence ensues. American Rust deals with the aftermath of that crime and it's impact on the families involved. Mostly though, it's about a time and a place. Isaac and Poe live in a community that had made its living off of steel manufacturing, and with the mills closed, the towns in the county are sinking into poverty. My father read American Rust, and said that it perfectly summed up the place he grew up. Given the amount of attention being paid to places like this one, this is as timely today as it was when it was written almost a decade ago.
    • 4/5
      A very dark book about the rust belt and families. when the economy drop the characters are left with few choices. the novel also explores how are own fears limit our actions and choices. well written
    • 5/5
      American Rust by Philipp Meyer is set in a small Pennsylvania steel town called Buell, where the steel mills have shut down and the jobs have disappeared. Foreclosures, minimum wage and drug use are the facts of life in this economical wasteland. This is a town where the older people feel trapped in their lives while the younger ones search for a way out.Although his characters could be classified as “losers” Meyer writes about them with such straightforward clarity and unsentimental sympathy that the reader is soon caught up in their lives and hoping that they find an escape from this one-way downward spiral that they are on. The main characters are two young men who are very different from each other. Isaac is a brainy yet socially awkward kid while the other, Billy, is a former high school football hero with a hair trigger temper. The young men, now in their twenties, didn’t get away to university like everyone thought they would but Isaac now decides it’s time for him to leave. Billy accompanies him out of town, but unfortunately trouble finds them before they get very far. This trouble escalates to affect both young men and their families through a series of bad choices and bad timing.This is a story that reached out and grabbed me. Told from multiple perspectives, the author creates a rich layered narrative that shows how circumstances, personalities and timing combined to bring on a tragedy. This compelling plot is set against a landscape of industrial decline, giving American Rust a distinctive and entirely believable atmosphere that made the story totally work for me.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of friendship between Isaac and Billy who decide to leave their small Mid West American town.But before they get out of town their town one of them commits a murder.|Both go back home to take stock, Billy is the town bad boy and is suspected of this crime. He is arrested and goes to jail which he hates.Isaac runs away properly this time. He looses his money and struggles.Eventually he returns home to hand himself in.OK book this told in 6 stages.
    • 3/5
      I would prefer to give it 2.5 stars, but Goodreads won't let me. It's a dark, dark book. Depressing story about two boys from a Pennsylvania town in the Rust Belt hard hit by the downfall of steel. I kept hearing Springsteen's "Youngstown" in my head the entire time I was reading. Contemporary time period, and yet these characters could be from the 50s, 40s, 1800s..., that's how isolated they feel. I suspect it is done that way on purpose. All of them come across isolated, broken, and alone, even when they interact with each other (Isaac is my least favorite character, I think the least "filled in" - he's escaping, to what and why? Is he crazy? I needed more to really get Isaac, I think). All the little Mon Valley towns are painted as abandoned and broken, no stretch I think to extrapolate this symbolism to the people in the book. Took forEVER to get to the conclusion, but yet just well written enough that I kept reading. I've seen the book compared to Steinbeck, and it definitely has that same feel, and of course the aforementioned Springsteen song comes from the album "Ghost of Tom Joad", which is, of course, about a Steinbeck character. In other words, I'm not the only one who felt it had that Steinbeckian feel, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who had the ol Bruce earworm rolling around as I read. Would I tell someone else to read it? Probably, it's very darkly themed, the writing is spare but quite descriptive for all that. I would definitely warn them though that there are scenes you'll have trouble with, and overall, well, it isn't exactly a feel good book by any stretch. So, recommended with reservations.
    • 4/5
      I liked Philipp Meyer's debut novel "American Rust" enough that I wouldn't hesitate to read the author's future novels. While there were some aspects of his writing style that bugged me, the overall story was compelling.The novel focuses on two high school friends who are opposite sides of the coin -- a super athlete named Poe and a genius named Isaac who are trapped in a defunct mining town, which is decaying as quickly as they are. They both dream of life outside the town, but don't seem able to escape until a crime occurs that changes them both forever.I really disliked the stream of consciousness style of the novel, especially in the opening chapters where it felt like a paragraph of description blending into odd thoughts in characters' brains. However, it started to grow on me as the pages passed. This is a good solid story and a great debut novel.
    • 5/5
      This was, quite simply, a damn good read. The pace was set right from the start, and had me turning the pages anxiously right until the last. It's hard to say much about this book without spoiling the plot. With a backdrop of the antithesis of the American Dream, this novel has the pace of a thriller but the heart of something much deeper. An incredibly well developed cast of characters take their turn to narrate following a life-changing event that is pulling them all down but ultimately setting them all the ultimate test of love and loyalty.This will be one of my favourites of the year.4.5 stars - pure reading pleasure.
    • 5/5
      American Rust tells the story of two young adults, growing up in a small Pennsylvania steel town that has already seen its best years. After the economic decline which sent most of the people living in the fictitious town of Buell into unemployment, life is not the same anymore. As the manufacturiung jobs vanish, the middle class just follows along. The only way to get out of the downward spiral is a good education and leaving Buell. The protagonist, Isaac English, is the smartest kid in town and has all the chances to attend an ivy college and leave behind all the misery in his home town. His sister has already taken that chance which makes it harder for Isaac who remains with his father after his mother's death. Still, the dream to finally leave grows stronger in him with every day he stays at home. Isaac's best friend, Billy Poe, lives on the other, even poorer, side of town. His ticket out could have been playing football, but he, too, does not leave Buell because of family ties. He remains with his mother who only wants the best for her kid - a kid that has problems with being aggressive and violent.This is the setting of American Rust, a novel about the decline of the American Dream. Right in the beginning Isaac and Billy get into trouble with Isaac ending up killing someone unintentionally. The story then unfolds from different points of view that all contribute their share to advance the plot from a first-person perspective. The way the author places all the bits and pieces is remarkable as it gives the reader an insight into the different characters and their feelings and also creates a bleak atmosphere where both main characters are stuck in a rut and are completely helpless. While Billy Poe goes to jail for what Isaac did, Isaac starts out on a roadtrip that leaves him hungry, dirty and more helpless than ever before. Eventually, both of their stories end where they began. Both return to the dilapidated town of Buell they did not leave when they had the chance to and now do not seem to get out of.Philipp Meyer writes a very intelligent novel which succeeds in creating an authentic atmosphere that makes you wonder at points whether the book is based on a true story. Perfectly crafted characters, narrative style, choice of words, atmosphere and plot are so much in tune that reading the novel makes for an extraordinary read. It is quite simple to give a recommendation: Read this book and enjoy this book.4.5 stars.
    • 3/5
      I give out three stars only because I can't do two and a half. I recommend it but with reservations. It's not a feel good happy book that's for sure.
    • 5/5
      Gritty look at the people left behind when the steel mills closed in Western Pennsylvania. I liked how the story is broken up into the main characters with each telling their story or their version. Each is flawed but each has a streak of honor in them I particularly looked forward to Harris' and Grace's voices. Grace was the most vulnerable while Harris hoped Grace wasn't just using him but he knew she was. Grace was also stronger than she gave herself credit for. Harris knew that. I would like to have heard Ho's voice on some of the events. Isaac had his problems. Lee, Poe, and Henry were too wrapped up in themselves to notice or care much about others. Tough read but worth it.
    • 3/5
      I started reading this book the first time a few years ago when my life started spinning into a chaotic new direction. This book ended up being shelved with an "I'll get back to it" designation as I didn't think my frame of mind at the time could handle further depressing stories or circumstances. I think that was the right move to give the book its fair due. Now, in a much more balanced and relaxed place, I could appreciate the bleak ambiance and the darkness.

      Many of the reviews talk about this story being inspirational and in the great spirit of American literature comparing it to the likes of Twain and Steinbeck. No - it's nothing like those authors and I don't believe this book will fall into the pantheon of great American stories.It is however, an aptly described portrait of the Rust Belt of America. In this case, the steel towns around Pittsburgh that were closed, in some cases dismantled and in others left to decay reminding displaced workers of more prosperous times.

      This is a very bleak story so it's wise to be in a positive state of mind or else you might easily be sucked into the darkness and despair of the story - especially in these long, dark Seattle winter days.

      The story is told through the eyes of six or seven different characters. Each one is at a different place in their life experientially and developmentally and this informs the choices each make. The back story which launches this book is an accidental murder, committed in self defense. From that moment, the story unfolds as characters make choices based on their own self-preservation, made in the name of family, romantic love and friendship.

      The character of Isaac is a main character but of all the viewpoints expressed, his was the most existential and given the circumstances he was in,made the least sense in some ways. I felt he was least developed and to nitpick the reality factor, his situation would have been more akin to Poe's, one of survival. Most of his inner dialogue is navel gazing and inconsistent with his circumstance (survival) and experience. What's more, this character is 18 and while he has definitely had some defining experiences, his character seemed to have too many inconsistencies.

      The characters of Poe, Harris and Grace were, to my reading, the most fully drawn. The development of these characters represent what really great prose fiction can do in making a story great. There is a simplicity combined with clarity in the writing and each of the characters voices are very true to the personalities, life experiences and development within the story.

      Because of the uneven development, I wondered whether these three were written later while Isaac, Lee and their father were written first. There are glimpses and potentials in the other three but nowhere near the formers in style, complexity and completeness.

      If I had to summarize simply what was going on, I would have to quote "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." This novel is about that quiet desperation and the choices, in some instances a choice that will be the lesser of two difficult ones, and how those impact each person and the people around them. The back drop is an economically depressed former steel town full of people whose dreams have been shattered, many in despair, some accepting their fate and others fighting to stay energized and alive.
    • 5/5
      Keine zwei Wochen umfasst der Zeitrahmen dieses Buches - doch es reicht um das Leben aller Beteiligten grundlegend zu ändern.
      Ein trostloser, heruntergekommener Flecken in den Weiten von Pennsylvania: Isaac, ein zarter junger Mann um die 20, intelligent und wißbegierig, will weg wie seine Schwester, auf nach Kalifornien zum Studieren. Er bricht auf, ohne das Wissen des Vaters doch mit dessen Geld und hofft, dass ihn sein bester Freund Poe begleitet, der im Trailer seiner Mutter ohne Zukunftsaussichten in den Tag hineinlebt. Doch diesem fehlt die Energie für einen solchen Aufbruch, will Isaac jedoch noch ein Stück begleiten. Als sie in einem leerstehenden Gebäude vor dem aufkommenden Regen Schutz suchen, begegnen sie dort drei merkwürdigen Gestalten. Isaacs schlechte Vorahnungen trügen ihn nicht: Während er nach draußen verschwindet, versuchen die Männer Poe zu vergewaltigen. Isaac rettet seinen Freund indem er einen der drei tötet. Kurz darauf verschwindet er erneut ohne jedoch zu erfahren dass Poe wegen Mordes verhaftet wird.
      Alle Figuren des Buches mühen sich ab mit der Frage nach dem Sinn des Lebens angesichts der allgegenwärtigen Trostlosigkeit und Düsternis rings um sie herum. Der einzige Lichtblick in diesem freudlosen Dasein ist die beständige Schönheit der sie umgebenden Natur. Während Isaac weiter auf dem Weg nach Westen ist, sich mühsam auf der Straße durchschlägt und beständig mit den Schuldgefühlen kämpft, die ihn seit dem Selbstmord seiner Mutter umtreiben, lernt Poe die harte Realität des Gefängnisalltags kennen. Den Sinn seines Lebens sieht er nun darin, seinem Freund all dies zu ersparen, er will die Schuld auf sich nehmen.
      Parallel zur Geschichte von Isaac und Poe beschreibt Meyer den Niedergang der Stahlindustrie dieser Gegend in zwei Dimensionen: Die riesigen nun verlassenen Werke rosten vor sich hin und die Natur holt sich nach und nach wieder was man ihr mühsam abgetrotzt hatte. Im gleichen Maße kehrt auch die Gesellschaft wieder zu ihren Ursprüngen zurück: Nachdem 10.000e entlassen wurden, wird die zivilisatorische Schicht stetig dünner. Immer öfter gilt das Recht des Stärkeren, Gewalt und Diebstähle nehmen zu, das Rechtsbewußtsein im gleichen Maße ab. Isaac bekommt dies auf seiner Reise zu spüren: Als scheinbarer Penner identifiziert, wird er von Jugendlichen ohne Grund (Penner sein reicht) zusammengeschlagen.
      Meyer zerpflückt den ‚Amerikanischen Traum’, dass es jede/r durch eigene Kraft nach oben schaffen kann. Er beschreibt wie durch Profitgier ganze Familien zerstört wurden, stolze Facharbeiter mit Stundenlöhnen zu 30 $ zu Verkäufern mit 4,50 $ pro Stunde degradiert wurden, Häuser massenweise geräumt und versteigert und völlig Verzweifelte auch vor dem Letzten nicht zurückschreckten.
      Es ist das Porträt einer Gesellschaft die ihre beste Zeit hinter sich zu haben scheint und nur wenig Auserwählten die Möglichkeit bietet, am Leben teilzunehmen, denn: ‚Dass der Durchschnittsbürger keinen Job mehr hat, in dem er gut sein kann, da liegt doch das Problem’.
      Meyers Erzählweise ist ungewöhnlich: Durch einen kleinen Kunstgriff gelingt es ihm, die Geschichte sowohl von außen mit Blick auf eine Person zu schildern aber auch deren Gedanken und Emotionen direkt miteinfließen zu lassen. Dies mag zu Beginn etwas verwirren, doch das Prinzip ist schnell zu durchschauen und bringt dem/der Lesenden die Protagonisten überaus nahe. Obwohl jedes Kapitel des Buches einer Person gewidmet ist und damit ständig die Sichtweise wechselt, fällt es nicht schwer dem Fortgang der Geschichte zu folgen.
      Wer einen intensiveren Blick auf die heutige Gesellschaft (nicht nur der USA) sucht, ist mit diesem Buch bestens bedient. Als leichte Unterhaltungslektüre ist es denkbar ungeeignet.
    • 4/5
      Philipp Meyer's debut novel, American Rust, landed on my TBR pile early in 2010, not long after its paperback release. Four years later I've finally read it, and wonder why on earth I waited so long. Set in an economically depressed steel town in Western Pennsylvania, this is a story of friendship and loyalty, but also of the desperation that comes from experiencing life crashing down all around you. Isaac English and Billy Poe graduated from the local high school and, for various reasons, stayed in their hometown rather than going to college. Isaac's older sister Lee went off to Yale and is now married and financially secure; Isaac cares for their invalid father. Poe mostly gets into trouble and worries his mother sick. When Isaac decides to strike out on his own and head to California, he convinces Poe to come along. But before they can even hop a freight train, they get caught up in a violent conflict. A few days later, Isaac skips town. Poe becomes a suspect and takes full responsibility rather than betray his friend. Isaac's sister arrives to care for their father, and rekindles an old romance with Poe. Chief of police Bud Harris has to lead the investigation, even as he's wrestling with romantic feelings for Poe's mother and a history of protecting Poe from the arm of the law.The story is told through alternating points of view, and Meyer effectively weaves these threads together both to build dramatic tension and show the economic and psychological impact from the collapse of the American steel industry. The novel's last chapters describe "endings" for each character's storyline in a way that resolves some conflicts while leaving the future uncertain. A lot like life, really. I read the last 100 pages of this book in one sitting and the characters are still inhabiting my thoughts a day later.
    • 3/5
      Two rather hapless young men "accidentally" murder a homeless man. Well, maybe not accidentally, but they didn't start out to do that act which provides the basis for this entire story. Set in a depressed section of Pennsylvania after the collapse of the steel industry, this story is told from the perspective of six individuals whose lives are drastically affected by this murder: the two young men, a sister and father to one, the mother of the other, and a local sheriff who is also the mother's lover.While the premise of the book is believable; such murders could happen. The actions of the two young men are sometimes a stretch to buy into. One is supposedly brilliant which opportunities to go to Ivy League schools; the other was a football hero with opportunities to attend any number of good colleges on a football scholarship. Both manage to throw away their futures. Isaac runs away from a disabled father hitch-hiking to California and goes from bad to worse to pathetic. Poe finds himself in a horrible prison arrested for the murder (which was actually committed by Isaac)and refuses to help himself; he blindly seems to accept his fate.The narratives told by each of the six characters telling the story vary according to style. There is a lot of angst and stream of consciousness in Isaac's telling. The style of writing is quite different when the father, sister or sheriff tell the story. This is obviously a very well written novel, but one that I just found impossible to like very much. All of these characters had such tremendous character flaws and none seemed really to want to help themselves other than the sister who made it out of this town to Harvard. Yet, even she though newly married comes back and has an affair with Poe whose life consists of drinking beer in front of the TV. I found it a bit hard to believe that an old high school boyfriend could still be that alluring.I read this after reading Meyer's newest novel "The Son" which was absolutely wonderful. I was disappointed in this one.
    • 2/5
      overrated.
    • 3/5
      Set in Pittsburg end of the rest belt, Meyer uses alternating third person monologues to give us a story of a group of people with few options, none of them good. It's a crime story but done from the inside. We get the two boys, one an athlete, another the genius, their parents, siblings and the police chief. Given the landscape it could have been much better written and unfortunately, while he tries, the author can't give each of the character's a distinctively different voice - they all run together. Still it manages after over two hundred pages to drag you into the story. Largely it is told chronologically, with a few juts here and there. The alternating characters allows him to control and tease us, which gives the book some suspense but he would have been much better off cutting back on the monologues where the characters search for truth. I expected more.
    • 4/5
       The story centres on two unlikely twenty year old friends, Billy Poe, a hulking one ex-schoolboy football player, and Isaac English, a slight boyish genius who is looking to escape the dwindling small town in which he grew up. But on the day of his planned departure a dramatic event alters not just Isaac's plans, but plunges Billy into a most testing situation.Along with Billy and Isaac, playing a big part in the story are Grace, Billy's mother, Harris, the police chief who is in a sort of relationship with Grace, and Isaac's father and sister.It is an involving story, with appealing but by no means perfect characters. But one of the aspects that makes it especially interesting is at the same time in danger of making it verge on the tiresome. The story is told by turn from the viewpoint of the various individuals, and although always in the third person, we see into the mind of each of the characters, and this is done very convincingly, so convincingly that it capture the way one's mind works on a problem or worry, by going over it again and again, looking at it from different angles. While this is very real, for we all probably have done this in our own minds at some time, it can become a little wearisome in print, and one becomes impatient for the story to advance.But that aside, it is a fascinating story about relationships, not just of the loyalty of the two boys, but of all the characters involved, and what they will do for those who really matter to them.
    • 4/5
      Very well-written and engaging.Isaac and Poe are childhood friends who have grown up in Buell, Pennsylvania, a town that used to have a thriving steel industry and is now little more than a shell. Both dream of escaping, but when Isaac finally gets himself together to do so, something happens that is inescapable, and will change both of their futures.I enjoyed this book very much. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character, as so many authors seem to do these days. I've marked it down a bit for the predictability of Isaac's encounter with the Baron - saw that coming miles away and hoped the author wouldn't be tempted, but he was. Apart from that, it's exactly the kind of book I love to read. If it were a film, it'd be a classic '80s indie - maybe a Gus Van Sant road movie with River Phoenix.
    • 4/5
      A well-written debut novel that I enjoyed despite its stark sensibilities, American Rust has been reviewed often, as it was part of an Early Reviewer batch. Most people gave it something between three and four stars, but I think that it deserves at least four stars simply for Meyer’s stylish way of presenting a well-managed plot. I see that many people disliked the dreariness of the story, but I think that is mostly a case of not seeing the wood for the trees. The tale is, admittedly, a depressing one, with small town Pennsylvania serving as the backdrop to a story of accidental murder, and all the consequences that flow therefrom. It is a character-driven novel, however, and one never senses that the plot becomes too restrictive.I liked the pace of the novel, which is abetted by the often stripped-down narration – many of the action and descriptive passages have a Hemingway-like minimalism to them, although the description is a bit more textured than Papa’s tends to be. The staccato sentences and mixture of first and third person narration can get a bit much, but it is mostly handled well. What I also liked was the way Meyer switches between the different characters, with each having a unique angle on the story, and a distinguishable voice. Not all of them are likeable, but they are all recognisable as individuals. I did like Isaac English, the young man who actually commits the murder, mostly because I could relate to his situation – no, not to murdering someone, even accidentally, but to being a young man of a peculiar stripe: at Isaac’s age, I also felt that I did not really fit into any particular society. I have mellowed out somewhat since then, but I can still connect to that feeling of alienation. But enough about me – Meyer obviously has a strong feeling for character idiosyncrasies, which he puts to good use in representing characters from different generations.To give you an idea of Meyer’s style, here is Isaac on the murder and his friend, Billy Poe:Only reason you and Poe are alive, that small choice. Your own body trying to keep you breathing - go in the other door. Hard-wiring. Old as gravity. Look what you did to the Swede: no premeditation, no knife, gun, or club. A found object. A natural part of you, the lower level. Built into every man woman child, you tell yourself you don’t need it but look around you. Your friend over the stranger. Yourself over the friend. Highest stakes and you are still here and the other guy is not.Grim indeed. Isaac’s interior monologue is beautifully realised – he even has an alter ego he calls ‘the kid’, more worldly-wise than himself, whom he defers to when he lands in tough situations. Of course, it is only a coping mechanism that does not always work. But Isaac has a few amusing conversations with himself / the kid throughout the book, especially when he flees home on a quixotic quest to reach California.American Rust is obviously informed by contemporary concerns about American exceptionalism. Not being American, I can only speculate as to how accurate description the book gives of present hopes and fears. Perhaps the characters in the book are a tad pessimistic, but their situation in a dying rustbelt town probably does not engender confidence in the nation or themselves. It did remind me of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, as mentioned on the back page, but only tangentially. This book is a more personal statement about relationships, be they between family, lovers, or friends. Yet it is also concerned with broader issues of decline and possible redemption. It does not shy away from showing the dark side of unbridled capitalism. Now, I am no socialist, but I do sometimes worry that, as Emerson wrote, ‘Things are in the saddle, / And ride mankind’. I remain an irreverent optimist, however, and hope that this is not quite the case. In any case, the ending of the book left me feeling somewhat ambivalent: it is hopeful to a degree, but one cannot help feeling that Meyer himself is anything but hopeful about America and the wider world.Well, a good, worthwhile book. I look forward to Meyer’s sophomore effort.