Crapalachia by Scott McClanahan (review)
Rent from DeepDyve- Crapalachia by Scott McClanahan
Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place is the imaginative title for a short work by Scott McClanahan, a native of Fayette County, West Virginia.
The genre of Crapalachia is debatable: Is it fiction or memoir? Whatever it is, the author states it is the biography of the unincorporated hamlet of Danese, West Virginia, the home of McClanahan’s ancestors.
The title’s coined word “crapalachia” and the orange and black cover promise something unusual. The front illustration, a political cartoon from a 1917 Australian coal strike, shows a well-dressed raven sitting on a tree stump or lump of coal. The raven is a dead-ringer for Edgar Allan Poe. Abstract mountain-like shapes occupy the cover’s background. Quotes related to two West Virginia coal-related disasters appear cut and pasted on the edges.
McClanahan’s tales take place during the frequent times he spent visiting his Grandma Ruby and her homebound adult son, Nathan.
The likeable Nathan, born with severe cerebral palsy, doesn’t lack for dreams or ambitions. He communicates in his own invented ways and has an engaging personality. He enlists his empathetic nephew, one Scott McClanahan, in his schemes, especially those involving finding a big fat crazy woman to love or getting beer poured into his feeding tube.
Caregiver Grandma Ruby contributes her share of excitement. She is prone to photographing the dead in their coffins and visiting them in the cemetery. At the cemetery she decorates her own grave and photographs her children and grandchildren at her tombstone.
Ruby has lots of ways of getting what she wants, including calling 911 for chest pain then recovering mid-trip to insist the driver take her to the grocery store to buy soda pop for Nathan. She’s sort of a rebel granny and provides lots of memories.
Not known for providing a straight answer, McClanahan shares these memories “slant” and in a style reminiscent of Chuck Kinder and Ed McClanahan, with a little of George Ella Lyon’s warmth on the side. [End Page 76]
This is a “nevermore” kind of story. According to McClanahan, “The theme of this book is a sound. It goes like this: Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. It’s the sound you are hearing now, and it’s one of the saddest sounds in the world.”
This unusual book has a six page appendix with notes. McClanahan uses it to differentiate between real and imagined elements in Crapalachia. He points out there is a “… genre of literature called The Appalachian Minstrel Show.” He does not want Crapalachia included in this genre. He’s safe. The book is warm and real. Besides, no one knows what the Appalachian Minstrel Show genre is except McClanahan.
McClanahan’s style is unusual. He writes a good story. [End Page 77]
Phyllis Wilson Moore is retired from a career as a registered nurse. After attending the 1987 Appalachian Writers Workshop to hone her poetry, she set out to research, read, and write about the multicultural literature of West Virginia. She is now a leading expert. In 2004 she chaired the creation of the first official literary map of West Virginia. One of her poems first published in Appalachian Heritage serves as the epigraph for the West Virginia Encyclopedia and one of her essays first published here has been reprinted by Contemporary Authors. She lives in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
