IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND by Edward Hoagland

Finished Su 9/24/17

The Contemporary Book Club Selection- August, 2017

NOTES-

Set in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Montreal, CA is not too far Northwest of the area

Melba- Press's maid, 'charwoman', "pig ate her baby, and what's worse, they had to eat the pig", Bronco Guys- Vegas and Reno.

Carol- Artist/Activist. Dorothy Day's Workers Party CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT, lower east side. 2 kids- Christie and Tim. Stained Glass.

Dorothy Day wikipedia-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day



Jeremy and Molly- Press's 2 middle school aged children. Claire is his wife.

Prescott worked for Merrill Lynch before his blindness.

Clarks and Swinnertons are Press's neighbors.

Karl Swinnerton- Volunteer Fire Chief, WWII vet, emphysema, scanner. Pays $5.00 to eat lunch with the Swinnertons.  Dorothy is Karl Swinnerton's wife. She's a columnist for the local paper.

Darryl and Avis Clark. They are evangelicals- 'Solid Rock Gospel'. Don't believe in evolution.

Odd Scene- Melba takes guys wallet as he suicides at Point Reyes, Ca. Her 22 yr. old son froze to death trying to locate his father/ mountain man. Pig ate her baby- they ate the pig.

Reupert is an auctioneer and cattle dealer. Rupert and Melba are/were lovers and partners. She helps buy his livestock/horses and he lets her live on his property in a trailer.

Al and Rog are Rupert's adult sons. Rog is also an auctioneer, and has a better delivery than Rupert. Al is 'The Hippie Horseman'- takes them on trips in his truck; also Press.
Rupert and the two brothers might have done a bank robbery 20 yrs. ago. Melba says they might have put the money on a train to get it across to Canada, but failed to locate the train car.

Benny Messer runs the local junkyard. Also a car mechanic. Watches the hippies with a telescope. Thinks that the women bare their breasts when picking vegetables

Chuck- The dealer? Mystery figure who takes Press on fish runs to Maine. Might be from Arkansas or San Diego. Chuck probably not his real name. He takes Press on a road trip south, wrecks the car, and leaves Press to be reunited with Melba.