Visiting Tom: A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace
Description
"Somewhere between Garrison Keillor's idyllic-sweet Lake Wobegon and the narrow-mindedness of Sinclair Lewis's Main Street lies the reality of small-town life. This is where Michael Perry lives."
--St. Paul Pioneer Press
"Perry can take comfort in the power of his writing, his ability to pull readers from all corners onto his Wisconsin spread, and make them feel right at home."
--Seattle Times
Tuesdays with Morrie meets Bill Bryson in Visiting Tom, another witty, poignant, and stylish paean to living in New Auburn, Wisconsin, from Michael Perry. The author of Population: 485, Coop, and Truck: A Love Story, Perry takes us along on his uplifting visits with his octogenarian neighbor one valley over--and celebrates the wisdom, heart, and sass of a vanishing generation that embodies the indomitable spirit of small-town America.
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About the Author
Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, playwright, and radio show host from New Auburn, Wisconsin.
Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population: 485 (recently adapted for the stage), Truck: A Love Story, Coop, Visiting Tom, and Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy. Among his other dozen titles are The Scavengers (for young readers) and his novel The Jesus Cow.
Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then detoured into writing. He lives with his wife and two daughters in rural Wisconsin, where he serves on the local volunteer fire and rescue service and is an intermittent pig farmer. He hosts the nationally-syndicated “Tent Show Radio,” performs widely as a humorist, and tours with his band the Long Beds (currently recording their third album). His three live humor albums include Never Stand Behind A Sneezing Cow and The Clodhopper Monologues, and can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com.
Michael also hosts a subscription audio newsletter at www.michaelperry.substack.com.
Reviews
"Funnier than Keillor."--MinnPost
"Visiting Tom is more than just a whimsical portrait of a unique character. It's a meditation on modernity and self-reliance that sneaks up on you with its unexpected depth."--Capital Times
"The portrait Mr. Perry paints...is of a place and a life that is worth noting....His writing is beautiful and immediate and elegant."--Wall Street Journal
"Charming and humorous."--Booklist
"[Perry] is a sharp and empathetic observer."--Journal Sentinel
"In Visiting Tom, a story that melds Perry's unique humor with notes of Garrison Keillor and Billy Bryson, the elderly man's tenderness and character jump off the page as he shares his thoughts on life and love."--Express Milwaukee
"Drop whatever you are doing and sit down to read Michael Perry's Visiting Tom....Perry is a craftsman of the highest order....When you go back to doing what you were doing when you picked up this book, you might just see your world with a broader, more humane perspective."--New York Journal of Books
"Michael Perry writes the words that create the memoirs that make so many of us want to raise chickens and pigs, plant a few rows of corn or otherwise just make hay. Mostly, though, he makes us want to get to know our neighbors better - no matter where we live."--Experience Wisconsin Magazine
"It's part memoir, part character piece. There's a bit of the poetic to it. It's about fighting bureaucracy, Foxfire-ish self-sustenance, life the 'old timer's' way, and male-bonding foolishness. It's about fatherhood, marriage and love. And it's just about one of the sweetest books you'll ever read."--Daily Sparks Tribune
