Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin, where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.

Average Customer Rating:

A Heartfelt Portrait of Small-Town Life	Customer Rating:
Since reading this book, Michael Perry has quickly become one of my favorite authors. His writing style is humorous but at the same time heartfelt and sincere. Population 485 is about Michael's return to his hometown and his adventures on the volunteer fire department. The people in the town are the characters and by the end of the book, you feel as if you've know them yourself.

Much more than I'd expected

Customer Rating:

From the little I'd read about this book, I expected some warm, perhaps funny vignettes about life in a rural town. This book is much more! It's laugh-out-loud funny: I read several passages to my family. It also gives an insider's view of the world of volunteer firefighting and EMT/ambulance work. The author uses an impressive range of voices--from "local yokel" to knowledgeable medical professional, essay writer, and lover of poetry. My favorite book of the year so far!

Delightful	Customer Rating:
MIchael Perry is a good writer. Any reader will feel instantly at home and comfortable reading one of his books. Population 485 accurately describes life in a small town. People know and care for each other. This emotion comes through in Population 485. If you want to feel good about the spirit of America, read this book.

Just Read The Last Chapter	Customer Rating:
I was hoping to find some real insight into small town living. What i got was a long winded version of a story that could have been better expressed as a short story. I recommend reading the last chapter and skipping the rest.

population 485	Customer Rating:
I thought after reading Michael Perry's essays, this would reflect life in his small town of New Auburn. It is much more about life, yes, in a small town area, but full of vast emotions. He may have not learned to polka but he knows how to live and understand people's unusual appearances and behaviors and accept them as they are. We should all register for this life lesson.