Joy, Pa

A darkly insightful evocation of the post-industrial era, Joy, PA tells the story of a family teetering on the precipice of ruin. The Augenbaughs live in a broken and decaying town where the last vestiges of country-club wealth run up against the terrible realities of working-class poverty. Abigail, a fervent believer in the apocalyptic teachings of a radio preacher, is desperate to save her son from Judgment Day as she readies herself for the Rapture-due to arrive in just a few days. Her husband, Burns, has moved to the basement to live out his days in a medicated stupor, unable to cope with memories of his service in Iraq. Caught between the suffering of his mother and father, ten-year-old Willie fights the inherited demons that have savaged his parents' tenuous grasp on reality.

The somber drama surrounding the Augenbaughs plays out with a piercing and commanding lyrical beauty. Both transfixing and disconcerting, Steven Sherrill's empathetic portrait of alienation elicits hope and sympathy amidst shattered but no-less-dignified lives.

Author: Steven Sherrill
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 02/16/2015
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780807159569

Review Citation(s):
New York Review of Books 05/07/2015 pg. 30

About the Author
STEVEN SHERRILL, associate professor of English and integrative arts at Penn State, Altoona, is the author of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, published in 2000 and translated into eight languages; Visits from the Drowned Girl; and The Locktender's House. His collection of poems, Ersatz Anatomy, was published in 2010.