The Beans of Egypt, Maine

Ex-library book has the usual markings, stamps, stickers, writing, and card holder. DJ has some bumping on top, spine, edges, corners. Outer page edges with tanning, browning, stains and foxing. There are families like the Beans all over America. They live on the wrong side of town in mobile homes strung with Christmas lights all year round. The women are often pregnant, the men drunk and just out of jail, and the children too numerous to count. In The Beans of Egypt, Maine we meet the God-fearing Earlene Pomerleau and experience her obsession with the whole swarming Bean tribe. There's Cousin Rubie, a boozer and a brawler, tall Aunt Roberta, the earth mother surrounded by countless clinging babies, and Beal, sensitive, often gentle but doomed by the violence within him. Vividly told, at times both funny and sad, Chute gives life and dignity to an unforgettable cast of American characters. A27.