A few years ago, Carrie reviewed Coop, Michael Perry’s memoir describing his family’s move to his family farm, and their adventures in chickens, pigs, and babies. But before Coop, he wrote Truck: A Love Story, now available on audiobook from Brilliance Audio.
Truck is Perry’s second memoir and takes place over the course of a year, when he decides to get his 1951 International Harvester pick-up truck off the blocks in his driveway and restore it with the help of his brother-in-law. Unexpectedly, he meets a woman at a book signing and falls in love with both her and her daughter. The sub-titular love story in Truck is twofold – the process of restoring the truck, and his relationship with Anneliese and Amy.
While the truck’s restoration is the underlying theme of the book, Perry meanders a bit with sidebars including a full listing of all cookbooks in his kitchen and his goal to cook every recipe, friendships with unusual characters in his small Wisconsin town, his attempts at cultivating a garden, deer hunting season, and the book tour for his first memoir.
Whether or not the restoration of a classic truck interests you, Perry’s observations on human nature and small town life are not to be missed. I added both this book and Coop to my Goodreads to-read list a long time ago, but never got around to either one. If you did the same, or Perry’s memoirs are new to you, I highly recommend checking out either Coop or Truck.
Notes on the audiobook: Truck is read by the author, which doesn’t always work for memoirs, but in this case, it does. He even has a voice for his own dialog, which is a slower, less cultured version of his reading voice. His love for Annalisa and the truck are evident in his reading of his book.