NO HEROS by Chris Offutt (review)

NEW APPALACHIAN BOOKS OPINIONS AND REVIEWS Offutt, Chris. NO HEROS. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002. 268 pages. $24.00. Chris Offutt, a highly respected fiction writer from Eastern Kentucky, has written NO HEROS, a book chronicling the year he returned home to teach writing classes for Morehead State University. Offutt brought his wife and sons to the area where he had grown up and where he hoped to spend the rest of his life. Offutt's wanting to find his "home," to renew ties with his parents and friends, to enjoy his life and work, and to respect the natural beauty of the countryside strikes a sympathetic chord with many readers, no doubt. Mingled with Offutt's vignettes of Morehead "local color" are the stories told to him by his Jewish in-laws about their struggles to survive in concentration camps during World War II. In today's politically correct world, Offutt appears insensitive to the obvious potential for misinterpretation in the way he portrays local people. The book is entertaining in a witty, somewhat sarcastic, "bad boy" way, following the mood created by the picture on the dustjacket of a scruffy Offutt holding an opossum. Perhaps he feels he is utilizing stereotypes to inject humor into the book. However, while Offutt's presentations of his Appalachian homeland are often overdrawn, the stories his wife's parents tell him of being forced into Jewish concentration camps and their ultimate survival are gut wrenching and extremely moving. Offutt was sensitive and respectful of his in-laws' voices. The loss of their homeland and their belief that survival doesn't depend on being a hero-that there are "no heroes"—are themes repeated throughout the book Offutt's story is ultimately about himself and his struggles to grow up at age forty. He tries to establish a different relationship with his parents, renew his ties with old friends and make a difference in the lives of his students at Morehead. He presents himself as no longer needing the "wild life" he proudly admits experiencing as a youth and is very clear that he hopes to be mentor, not a "hell-raiser" with his students. While male chauvinism is rampant throughout the book and his wife seems to have little say-so in day-to-day decisions affecting their family, Offutt is consistently a true-blue husband and family man. 98 Offutt clings to parts of his former self, though, especially when he describes the awe he receives for his 1968 Malibu with a 327 cubic-inch engine and his relationships with his former buddies. Very few books are available that give insights into the way a talented intellectual feels when he returns to his "roots." Offutt gives us that, and, although I sometimes found his presentational style offensive, I think that we need to look at what he is saying. Perhaps he cloaked his writing with exaggerations in an effort to make his story less painful. After all, he had hoped to live the rest ofhis life in eastern Kentucky but ultimately decided that he needed to move his family away from Appalachia. Offutt's book focuses on the reasons for his obviously painful decision to leave his home once again. Offutt begins his saga with optimism and what seemed to me to be a very inflated sense of self. He believed he could be a hero, "rescuing" Appalachia where others had failed. He saw himself, not as an outsider or a missionary, but as a native who understood the people and the region. His insights into the experiences he and his family faced become the foundation upon which he builds this autobiographical saga. While I am concerned that he is reinforcing stereotypes for readers outside the region, I think it is very important for those of us living in Appalachia to try to figure out what he is saying to us. Is Offutt saying that small Appalachian communities like Haldeman where he grew up, are being lost forever, thus changing the variety and uniqueness ofAppalachian culture? As local schools, stores and "hang-outs" are replaced with mega-stores and large consolidated schools, the feelings of belonging which were part of...