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92 pages
ISBN: 978-1737470939
Weight: 7 ounces
Arresting novel of the struggles of laid off steelworkers in 1980s America. (BookLife) A group of steelworkers from Wisconsin Steel on the south side of Chicago organize a Thanksgiving Day demonstration in 1983 in order to call attention to their plight after the mill was suddenly shut down. Their gimmick is a coffin that the demonstrators will carry which represents “the death of the American steelworker.” The Pallbearers of Thanksgiving first appeared in the collection Steel City, Heavenly Kingdom.
Review
“Dey’re actin’ like dey can get away wid anything,” a steelworker declares in this arresting, outrage- and dialect-driven novel of labor set in South Chicago in the early 1980s. Savich (Wilde About Holmes) dramatizes the fight of workers against Wisconsin Steel, which abruptly shut down plants early in the Reagan era, denying laid-off workers promised benefits. Mike Lazich, a shop steward, has worked hard planning a demonstration on Thanksgiving Eve with the idea of carrying a coffin symbolizing the death of the American steelworker. As the workers gather, Mike is apprehensive as he is aspiring for the precinct captain’s job. A television crew films the proceedings, but the evening news is a nasty surprise to him and the demonstrators as it features Bobby B, a local lawyer and politician, and not Mike, as the savior. Savich’s searing prose captures the rough life of the steelworkers with wry humor and compassion, especially their struggles, camaraderie, and feelings of betrayal. The characters are all well-etched, complex, and true to life, and their talk is funny, bleak, pained, and convincing, though the choice to phonetically recreate accents may give some readers pause. Like Mike and his disturbed Vietnam vet brother Bronx, these creations and lives linger in the mind after the last page: the perceptive, bookish Jan Polski; Gino, who loses an arm in an accident; Javi, whose wife turns to drastic measures to pay the bills. The introduction of real-life union leader Frank Lumpkin into the narrative bolsters the prevailing sense of authenticity. Savich uses the coffin as an effective symbol of both the end of an era for American labor but also the persistent possibility of death. Companies have scant regard for the lives of steelworkers, saving costs by neglecting maintenance and denying benefits. The cast’s offhanded discussion of horrible accidents is just one example of the grim realities that Savich’s accomplished story lays bare.—BookLife
92 pages
ISBN: 978-1737470939
Weight: 7 ounces
Arresting novel of the struggles of laid off steelworkers in 1980s America. (BookLife) A group of steelworkers from Wisconsin Steel on the south side of Chicago organize a Thanksgiving Day demonstration in 1983 in order to call attention to their plight after the mill was suddenly shut down. Their gimmick is a coffin that the demonstrators will carry which represents “the death of the American steelworker.” The Pallbearers of Thanksgiving first appeared in the collection Steel City, Heavenly Kingdom.
Review
“Dey’re actin’ like dey can get away wid anything,” a steelworker declares in this arresting, outrage- and dialect-driven novel of labor set in South Chicago in the early 1980s. Savich (Wilde About Holmes) dramatizes the fight of workers against Wisconsin Steel, which abruptly shut down plants early in the Reagan era, denying laid-off workers promised benefits. Mike Lazich, a shop steward, has worked hard planning a demonstration on Thanksgiving Eve with the idea of carrying a coffin symbolizing the death of the American steelworker. As the workers gather, Mike is apprehensive as he is aspiring for the precinct captain’s job. A television crew films the proceedings, but the evening news is a nasty surprise to him and the demonstrators as it features Bobby B, a local lawyer and politician, and not Mike, as the savior. Savich’s searing prose captures the rough life of the steelworkers with wry humor and compassion, especially their struggles, camaraderie, and feelings of betrayal. The characters are all well-etched, complex, and true to life, and their talk is funny, bleak, pained, and convincing, though the choice to phonetically recreate accents may give some readers pause. Like Mike and his disturbed Vietnam vet brother Bronx, these creations and lives linger in the mind after the last page: the perceptive, bookish Jan Polski; Gino, who loses an arm in an accident; Javi, whose wife turns to drastic measures to pay the bills. The introduction of real-life union leader Frank Lumpkin into the narrative bolsters the prevailing sense of authenticity. Savich uses the coffin as an effective symbol of both the end of an era for American labor but also the persistent possibility of death. Companies have scant regard for the lives of steelworkers, saving costs by neglecting maintenance and denying benefits. The cast’s offhanded discussion of horrible accidents is just one example of the grim realities that Savich’s accomplished story lays bare.—BookLife