American Dream starts here, The

Abstract

This collection of essays examines a family--created, sustained, and broken--through their lives in a small town, by war, and by each other. Essays include "Highlights From the Apocalypse," in which the narrator examines familial prophecy and tragedy and their place in the context of a culture over-saturated with end-of-days narratives. "This Is the Story of Someone You Should Know" weaves analysis of a Pink Floyd album through the narrator's attempt to define her father. A foreign war bride, and the family she creates as she leaves behind another, is the subject of "I'm Depending On You to Tell Me the Truth." "In Paradise" chronicles a narrator's time abroad, haunted by a childhood and hometown she can't quite leave behind. In "Blue Collar Love," a couple try to understand their roles in a not-quite-traditional marriage, and examine the class they came from and are ultimately trying to overcome.