Dennis Deery
Visiting Tom: A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace by Michael Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been a huge Michael Perry fan since his first hit, Population 485. He’s back once again with stories of small town life. In this book (his best since Pop 485), he writes about his neighbor Tom. This book really struck a chord with me because Tom reminds me of my dad, and many of the other characters I met when I was a kid hanging out with my dad. The personality of the quiet, brilliant innovator working in his garage and inventing the tools and things he needs is one I’m very familiar with, and like Perry I wish I could be more like that. The stories are beautifully told by Perry. I felt like in the book Coop Perry was trying a bit too hard to be Perry, but in this book he seems to have really settled in to who he is, and that shines through in the ease with which these stories unfold. A great great book!
