Award Name Michigan Notable Books Award category Notable Book Description Pulling Down the Barn eloquently recalls author Anne-Marie Oomen's personal journey as she discovers herself an outsider on her family farm located in western Michigan's Oceana County, in the township of Elbridge--a couple hundred acres in the middle of rural America.
Written as a series of heartfelt interlocking narratives, this collection of essays portrays the realities of farm life: haying, picking asparagus and cherries, the machinery of tractors and pickers; but each chapter also touches upon the more ethereal and rarely articulated: the stoic love that permeates a family, the farmer's struggle with identity, and the way land can shape a childhood.
With its rich language and style, Pulling Down the Barn engrosses the reader in Oomen's memories--setting beauty and wonder against work and loss--and paints a poignant portrait of growing up in rural Michigan.
About the Author Anne-Marie Oomen is chair of the Creative Writing Department at Interlochen Art Academy.
| Life | Haying picking asparagus and cherries the machinery of tractors and pickers |
|---|---|
| But each chapter also touches upon the more ethereal and rarely articulated | The stoic love that permeates a family the farmers struggle with identity and the way land can shape a childhood |
Wayne State University Press Pulling down the barn: memories of a rural childhood, paperback/anne-marie oomen
