From Publishers Weekly
Poirier (Goats) takes his readers for a walk on the wild side of working life in this collection, a brief but wide-ranging affair consisting of five stories about some bizarre cottage industries. "Buttons" starts things off with the odd but noteworthy history of the notorious Badde family (the "Royal Family of Pearl Button Making") as they move from the button industry to a series of successful but off-the-wall ventures in egg farming and marketing. Farming is also a major theme in "Worms," which describes the mismatched but entertaining marriage between a worm farmer and a profile reporter that ends in tragedy. "Gators" concerns a beautiful backwoods Louisiana girl who escapes poverty to make a name for herself in fashion by designing colorful alligator shoes. "Pageantry" moves deftly into the world of appearances as Poirier uses a sharp protagonist to outline the cutthroat competition in low-level beauty pageants as contestants try to work their way up the ladder, while "A Note on the Type" relates both a quirky young man's obsession with a deli worker and his family's success developing typefaces. Like David Sedaris, Poirier is a sharp, funny writer who has plenty to say about the lurid, tabloid side of modern American life, and while most of his characters are rather limited he never lets his curious story lines drift into excess or affectation. Readers who like to explore the stranger aspects of human behavior will find plenty of material here. Author tour. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Poirier, author of the well-regarded collection of stories Naked Pueblo (1999) and a wonderful debut novel Goats (2000), now shares his latest gathering of fascinating, macabre stories. Here are fictional accounts of folks from middle America that are imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit that the American dream (and often heartbreak) is made of. He tells of a button empire on the banks of the Mississippi River that turns into a chicken-processing empire in Arizona, with grandparental favoritism and sibling rivalry serving as its downfall. A worm farmer in Texas who loves a journalist from the North has his life shattered before his eyes over and over again. A teenage girl suffers through the tortures and tedium of the beauty pageant circuit for the benefit of her once beautiful, now-deformed mother. The daughter of a rural Louisiana alligator skinner sees her future in the shoe business in Manhattan. Poirier is gifted with telling tales well; these, which are not for the faint of heart, are often fantastic and bizarre, but strangely, they ring with the truth of reality. Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Portland Oregonian
"These stories are full of lovely moments."
San Francisco Chronicle
"Poirier deserves to be recognized for what he is - a very talented young writer spinning wholly original, humorous tales."
Genre
"The bizarre and macabre come together in five brilliant stories."
Book Description
Worm farming, pearl-button making, chicken processing, pornography, and beauty pageantry. These quirky cottage industries hold the potential to make fortunes, though it's more likely that they'll lead to bankruptcy and shattered dreams. In these compelling stories, Mark Jude Poirier introduces the misfits and visionaries who embody the aspirations -- and frequently the lunacy -- of the American entrepreneur. Following his highly acclaimed debut collection, Naked Pueblo, and first novel, Goats, Poirier returns to life on the edge in tales that race across the American landscape, finding individualists and their outrageous professions in every corner of the United States. In a voice that is all knowing, but never condescending, Poirier ensnares the reader with his wickedly addictive and subversive tales.
About the Author
Mark Jude Poirier is a graduate of Georgetown, Stanford, the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The author of Naked Pueblo and Goats, he recently was awarded a Chesterfield screenwriting fellowship with Paramount Pictures. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and Archer City, Texas.
Unsung Heroes of American Industry FROM THE PUBLISHER
These quirky cottage industries hold the potential to make fortunes, though it's more likely that they'll lead to bankruptcy and shattered dreams. In these compelling stories, Mark Jude Poirier introduces the misfits and visionaries who embody the aspirations -- and frequently the lunacy -- of the American entrepreneur. Following his highly acclaimed debut collection, Naked Pueblo, and first novel, Goats, Poirier returns to life on the edge in tales that race across the American landscape, finding individualists and their outrageous professions in every corner of the United States. In a voice that is all knowing, but never condescending, always cool, but never cold, Poirier ensnares the reader with his wickedly addictive and subversive tales.
FROM THE CRITICS
Portland Oregonian
These stories are full of lovely moments.
SF Chronicle
With Unsung Heroes, Poirier deserves to be recognized for what he is - a very talented writer spinning wholly original and humorous tales. He writes about everyday people with a flair that keeps us reading. The writing reflects these lives, pulling no punches, getting to the heart of these characters and who they are. Their extraordinary qualities, these bits and pieces of ourselves, are evident in the moments least expected.
Publishers Weekly
Poirier (Goats) takes his readers for a walk on the wild side of working life in this collection, a brief but wide-ranging affair consisting of five stories about some bizarre cottage industries. "Buttons" starts things off with the odd but noteworthy history of the notorious Badde family (the "Royal Family of Pearl Button Making") as they move from the button industry to a series of successful but off-the-wall ventures in egg farming and marketing. Farming is also a major theme in "Worms," which describes the mismatched but entertaining marriage between a worm farmer and a profile reporter that ends in tragedy. "Gators" concerns a beautiful backwoods Louisiana girl who escapes poverty to make a name for herself in fashion by designing colorful alligator shoes. "Pageantry" moves deftly into the world of appearances as Poirier uses a sharp protagonist to outline the cutthroat competition in low-level beauty pageants as contestants try to work their way up the ladder, while "A Note on the Type" relates both a quirky young man's obsession with a deli worker and his family's success developing typefaces. Like David Sedaris, Poirier is a sharp, funny writer who has plenty to say about the lurid, tabloid side of modern American life, and while most of his characters are rather limited he never lets his curious story lines drift into excess or affectation. Readers who like to explore the stranger aspects of human behavior will find plenty of material here. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
On the heels of his first novel (Goats, 2001), Poirier returns with a second story collection (after Naked Pueblo, 1999) centered, as the title implies, on offbeat entrepreneurs and their descendants. In "Buttons," the docent at a small-town museum depicting the history of the Badde family's business tells visitors about Zilo Badde IV, a nerdy geek with a large sexual appetite who competes with twin Tommy for their grandfather's affection. The brothers create a brief supermarket sensation with F'neggs, prepackaged eggs, but ultimately Zilo IV fails in both business and love. "A Note on the Type" also features an unpleasant young protagonist: Simon lives with his socially ostracized maiden aunt to save money, but it becomes apparent that he is as much of a misfit as she is. In "Gators," narrator Vaughn's obsession with Durina, a teenaged girl he tutors, lies just on the safe side of erotic. Durina's mother sells alligator skins to shoe designers, and Durina plans to go to New York to try her hand at designing. Vaughn dreams of helping her and is crushed when she doesn't need him. "Pageantry" adds little to our understanding of the beauty contest industry. A young girl pretends she participates only to please her disfigured mother, but we know better. Finest of the five stories in this thin volume is the beautiful, deeply sad "Worms." Here, Poirier allows its central character to show humanity within his eccentricity. Raised by an aunt after a freak car accident killed his immediate family, Billy Hair is a simple country boy. He meets his future wife Dora, a reporter, when she interviews him about his worm farm, produced by "a wonderful accident" when he flooded the manure pasture. Billyand Dora, a Vassar-educated WASP, make a wildly improbable yet charming couple. But after their child accidentally drowns, their marriage collapses. When Poirier drops the cleverness, he can delve powerfully into characters dangerously out of touch with themselves.
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