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Mill Town
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains | Kerri Arsenault
11 posts | 8 read | 5 to read
A galvanizing and powerful debut, Mill Town is an American story, a human predicament, and a moral wake-up call that asks: what are we willing to tolerate and whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival? Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that employs most townspeople, including three generations of Arsenaults own family. Years after she moved away, Arsenault realized the price she paid for that seemingly secure childhood. The mill, while providing livelihoods for nearly everyone, also contributed to the destruction of the environment and the decline of the towns economic, moral, and emotional health in a slow-moving catastrophe, earning the area the nickname Cancer Valley. In Mill Town, Arsenault undertakes an excavation of a collective past, sifting through historical archives and scientific reports, talking to family and neighbors, and examining her own childhood to present a portrait of a community that illuminates not only the ruin of her hometown and the collapse of the working-class of America, but also the hazards of both living in and leaving home, and the silences we are all afraid to violate. In exquisite prose, Arsenault explores the corruption of bodies: the human body, bodies of water, and governmental bodies, and what its like to come from a place you love but doesnt always love you back.
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blurb
Amiable
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Sitting on the shuttle bus into work. We‘re stuck in traffic with an accident on our side of the highway. These are the times when I‘m glad that I always have a book with me.

CarolynM Hope you're not stuck for too long. 2y
Tamra Never Leave Home Without A Book - readers‘ motto 😁 2y
Amiable @Tamra When I was growing up, my grandmother told us to remember two life lessons: Bring a book with you and always pee before you leave. :) 2y
See All 7 Comments
Amiable @CarolynM Got to work only about 20 minutes late, which isn't horrible in the grand scheme of things! 2y
Tamra @Amiable 👌🏾👍🏾 Rules to live a good life. 😆 2y
ravenlee Those are two of my life rules, too! The others are: never turn down a breath mint when it‘s offered, and always treat the secretary well. 2y
SamAnne I have this one and can‘t wait to get to it. Grew up in a lumber mill town and it made me an environmentalist. 2y
68 likes1 stack add7 comments
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CoffeeK8
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So far in 2021 I‘ve read some amazing non-fiction books #Nonfiction2021 
Something...
By a Native Author - Dogflower
About A Community - The Rise
By a Person of Color - This is the Fire
Written in a Different Country - The Apricot Memoirs
About a Community - Mill Town
Sunshiny - Never Put A Cactus in the Bathroom
About Overcoming - The Body Keeps the Score
Thanks to @Riveted_Reader_Melissa for the fun BINGO board.

44 likes1 comment
review
melissajayne
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Pickpick

4⭐️ For the most part, the book was very interesting and informative, but towards the end I felt it got a bit repetitive; gave me a different perspective on the mill towns her in BC & what they are facing. #2021 #bookstagram #bookreview #readalong #nonfiction #memoir #contemporary #history #readalong #24in48

Due how I did my #bookspinbingo this month, this ended up being my #bookspin selection for February.

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
25 likes1 comment
review
CoffeeK8
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Pickpick

Kerri Arsenault tells a compelling and disturbing story of the life of a people who work in one specific mill town. We delve into her history, and the history of those who remain behind. We learn about the pollution created by the mill and the cancer and death also created by the mill. It‘s a hard read, but an important one. If we don't keep listening to stories like this, it will be much harder to create any lasting change in our eco-laws.

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Mitch
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Oh my goodness - I‘m a sucker for a list! Stacking like crazy tonight!

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2020/nonfiction/books/?utm_medium=email&_h...

vivastory Love Kirkus. Their best of the year lists are among my faves! 3y
Mitch @vivastory me too! They always focus on great writing - but not so highbrow that it‘s inaccessible! 3y
51 likes2 comments
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

This book is difficult to categorize, as it‘s partially personal/family memoir, partially the history and current reality of a slowly decaying town, partially an exploration of industrial health impact, and partially societal microcosm reflecting our greater culture. For me, the story of this author and her Maine hometown was really interesting, even though the reaction of some people in the town to certain events did not make sense to me.

45 likes1 stack add
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merelybookish
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Ugh when to bail? I don't hate this book but some sections are dull. And it's long! I'm about halfway through but still have 6+ hours left.
I wanted to read it because I grew up across the border from Maine. Not in a mill town per se, although it has a pulp & paper mill I passed daily. I thought this book might give insight into my hometown. And it does. And it doesn't.
So just general ambivalence across the board. 🤷

Eyelit I say bail. You can always go back to it if you truly want to, but it seems like it‘s more work than pleasure right now 3y
Megabooks I bailed on this. 3y
readordierachel Bail. Life is short and there are so many books to read. 3y
merelybookish @Eyelit @Megabooks @readordierachel Thanks for the permission to bail! The current section has picked up so I'm going to keep going for now but plan to stop as soon as I get bored again. Because life is too short! 3y
56 likes4 comments
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Megabooks
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Bailedbailed

I‘m up late, and I‘m trying to get into this for the second time. Her particular writing style is just not working for me. I can still return it, and it was rather expensive. Back it goes. #ItsNotYouItsMe 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Megabooks
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I‘ve been trying to read without much luck yesterday and today. Maybe this spooky bookmark will get me in the mood!

Having Covid isn‘t an experience I‘d recommend. It would get 1⭐️ on Yelp!

Leftcoastzen I‘m so sorry ! I wish the best to you for a light dose & speedy recovery.This book looks important, want to read it but books like this have a high sad load . 3y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I hope you feel better soon ❤️❤️❤️ 3y
youneverarrived I hope you feel better soon 💕💕 3y
See All 16 Comments
Traci1 Love the bookmark. Hope you feel better. 3y
Gissy Loooooveee that bookmark!😱 3y
xicanti Blarg. 😣 I hope your symptoms pass quickly. 3y
BarbaraBB I was looking for you, wondering how you‘d feel. Still shocked by the fact that you could get infected: you have been so careful. How are your parents doing? Wishing you all the best 🍀💚 3y
CarolynM Look after yourself. Hope you're feeling better soon💐 3y
Kalalalatja Take care 💕 3y
Megabooks @Leftcoastzen I was having trouble concentrating yesterday. It kind of reminded me of the writing style (not content other than both small towns) of these authors, which takes more concentration for some reason. Thank you for the well wishes 💙💙 3y
Megabooks @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @youneverarrived @Traci1 @xicanti @CarolynM @Kalalalatja thanks y‘all! I feel better after actually getting some sleep last night. I‘m up from 2.5 hours to 5!! 💜💜 3y
Megabooks @Gissy @Traci1 the bookmark is from an Etsy shop. She has a fun selection of Halloween/fall bookmarks, magnets, pins, etc https://www.etsy.com/shop/FunUsualSuspects 3y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB I know right?? When I told the public health lady that other than drive-thrus and curbside pickups, I had only been to the dentist, she was just kind of surprised. Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Guess I‘m just unlucky, KY had the highest total of new cases ever last we, so I guess I‘m not special. 😂 Mom and Dad felt better yesterday, so 🤞🏻 they don‘t get it. Thanks for checking in. 💙💙 3y
Gissy I just ordered three!😱😍 3y
Megabooks @Gissy enjoy! I really like her stuff! High quality and cute designs. 3y
Reviewsbylola Sounds like a good one! 3y
90 likes1 stack add16 comments
review
Christine
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Pickpick

Like the author, I grew up with a factory-employed dad in a working class paper mill town (Wisconsin in my case, Maine in hers), so this was a must-read. Beautiful writing that hand-holds you through the unrelentingly tough content. I loved her personal reflections the most, but her analysis of industrial impacts on health and culture were powerful, and I really appreciated learning more about Acadian ethnic identity and history

SamAnne I so want to read this. I grew up in a western OR mill and logging town. Thanks for your review and the reminder. I may need to buy it! 3y
Christine @SamAnne I hope you do! 3y
47 likes2 comments
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Rhondareads
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Milo Town is getting rave reviews.The author goes home to her small town where the economy is based on the paper mill.The town the people the mill.Sounds so Fascinating to me,

SamAnne Grew up in a small mill town and this is definitely on my TBR list now! 4y
Rhondareads I grew up in Brooklyn New York so small town life is the opposite of my growing up. 4y
11 likes1 stack add2 comments