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    The Beans of Egypt, Maine
    The Beans of Egypt, Maine
    The Beans of Egypt, Maine
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Beans of Egypt, Maine

    Written by Carolyn Chute

    Narrated by Joyce Bean and William Dufris

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    Upon its initial publication, The Beans of Egypt, Maine became a beloved national bestseller, launching Carolyn Chute’s literary career and clinching her reputation as the preeminent voice of America’s working poor. Hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “startling and original,” The Beans of Egypt, Maine introduced the world to the notorious, unforgettable Bean clan of small town Egypt, Maine—from wild man Reuben, an alcoholic who can’t seem to keep himself out of jail; to his cousins, the perpetually pregnant Roberta, and Beal, a man gentle by temperament but violent in defeat who marries his pious neighbor Earlene Pomerleau before poverty kills him.

    As the Beans struggled with their inner demons to survive against hardship and societal ignorance, Chute emerged as a writer of immense humanity and unparalleled insight into a world most of us knew little of—if we’d recognized it at all.

    “Chute’s novel pulses with kinetic energy. It seizes the reader on its opening page with a rhythm, a language, a knock-about country humor unmistakably its own.” —Newsweek

    “Like Flannery O’Connor, Chute has a gift for expressing the true spirit of a culture but with more subtlety and without overt symbolism. She simply becomes what and whom she sees.” —San Francisco Chronicle

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateNov 1, 2008
    ISBN9781423374541
    Author

    Carolyn Chute

    Carolyn Chute is the author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine; Letourneau’s Used Auto Parts; Snow Man; and Merry Men, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Thorton Wilder Fellowship. She currently lives in Maine with her husband.

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    Reviews for The Beans of Egypt, Maine

    3.5/5

    232 ratings14 reviews

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    • 3/5
      On the surface, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, is a story of two poverty-stricken families trying to get by the best they can. Earlene Pomerleau has been brought up by her father and is heavily influenced by her god-fearing grandmother. Earlene, who is essentially motherless, spends much of her childhood alone.Across the right of way lives Roberta Bean who, although unmarried, is almost always pregnant. She is constantly surrounded by a gaggle of her "babies" as she works in her garden or tends to her chores. The Bean men, who are known to drink too much and to have bad tempers, work as loggers. Rueben is the meanest of the bunch, and Beal may be the kindest.These families are what are known as the working poor. They have jobs, but many don't have electricity, indoor plumbing, or access to healthcare. Their houses are falling apart, their cars are rusty, their clothes are dirty, and most can barely read.Chute introduces us to a life we may not want to face. How can there be people who are forced to live like the Beans in the United States of late twentieth century? But in exposing us to this rural and poor world, Chute also shows us the individuals who live within those run-down shacks, and we see that we actually have much in common with the Beans. We try to help our families, we try to feed our children, and we do what we have to find some love and safety.The Beans of Egypt, Maine, is written almost as if it were a series of interlinked short stories. We advance through time in spurts rather than in a slow progression. The story is told alternately from Earlene's perspective and from an anonymous observer and focuses on Earlene and Beal. The characters and their world become very real, and I would not be surprised to run into a Bean someday in Maine.The book does suffer from one bothersome flaw, however. As I understand it, Chute reworked the novel after it had already been published. I read the second, or so-called finished, version. At the end of the novel we find an author's note that explains why she rewrote the book. That would be okay, except she then goes on to tell us the proper interpretation of several scenes. I found this to be somewhat annoying. As a reader, I should be left alone to interpret the story in whatever manner I want to. Furthermore, if Chute was unsure that she was getting her point across, she should have reworked those scenes when the book was republished rather than explain them in the backmatter.The novel is not action driven, and it reminds the reader of the more unsavory parts of life in America. But if you like a character study and want to learn more about people who may be different from you, then I recommend the novel. I have continued to think about the characters and the setting. You will likely be too curious to skip the author's note, but don't say I didn't warn you. I also advise you to avoid reading the publisher summary of the novel, because it contains several major spoilers.Carolyn Chute does not have a website. For more insight into that choice, see the Wikipedia article about the author. Chute wrote two other novels that are set in Egypt, Maine.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the oddest books I've ever read As another reviewer mentioned, the characters are almost uniformly unlikable; the setting, in an extreme povery zone in Maine, is off-putting; the plotline is minimal. Nevertheless, Chute manages to hold your interest and somehow makes you care about the characters. The book abounds in grotesque scenes and ugly actions. Still, you feel that the book somehow presents a true picture of what life is like on the underside of the American dream.I was not happy with the author's afterword to this edition, and it's quite apparent that she has a considerable axe to grind. Even so, this book is well worth a read; it's sort of like a post-modern "Grapes of Wrath" without the redemption factor.
    • 2/5
      What a horribly depressing book. The characters were vile and disgusting. Their lives were violent, bleak and empty. Not one character had any redeeming quality. I struggled to read the book, as each chapter saw the characters falling deeper and deeper into hopelessness and living as though dead. Glad I'm done with it.
    • 3/5
      Back in the mid-1980s The Beans of Egypt, Maine was a very popular book, but since that time it seems to have faded from view. Decades later, I have finally gotten around to reading it. This collection of interrelated short stories about the hardscrabble lives of the redoubtable Bean clan is filled with fantastical elements such as creepy skin conditions, hissing babies, and unusual eye colors, as well as much more standard plot points like poverty and incest, to make for a very strange reading experience. The writing is striking in places; however, I found the large cast of characters confusing. I have no immediate plan to read the sequels.
    • 3/5
      I felt compelled to finish this book even though I wasn't really enjoying it. I am not a fan of the author's writing style; to choppy for my taste. The story is about the Bean family and the extreme poverty they live with. There are so many questionable sexual relationships in this story, the author states it's not incest, but I'm not sure what else to call it. I was trying to find a redeeming quality in just one of the characters in the novel, but, alas, that was not to be. I have Chute's other two books in my library and now I wonder if I will take the plunge and read those.
    • 4/5
      Slowly rotting mobile homes. A yard full of broken down machinery being sold for parts. The stench of old cigarettes and motor oil. Illegal hunting out of season. Gum disease. Jail time. Illiteracy. Unwanted pregnancies. Developmental problems. Physical and mental abuse. Children who go to bed hungry. Praise Jesus!

      This book is a brutally honest depiction of grinding rural poverty presented in a matter-of-fact voice. If you want a hopeful story with plot resolution, look elsewhere. This book doesn’t end, it just stops.

      I’m afraid modern urbanites will think these vignettes of a multi-generational tribe of hillbillies in rural Maine are exaggerated… but believe me, they are spot on. These are my people. My dad “got out”.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my all time favorite books!! I can't tell you how many times I have re-read it.
    • 2/5
      My reaction to this book was strange. For almost the entire duration of the novel, I didn't like it. At times I HATED this book. I'm having a hard time remembering now, it was either the last sentence, or last paragraph, last page maybe? that neutralized the dislike a bit. But I couldn't stop thinking about the book. I still think about it. I'm no longer sure that I didn't like it. Part of me wants to read it again. I know that the idea of Carolyn Chute drives me nuts. But maybe I like her book okay.
    • 4/5
      I was struck by this blackly humorous, northern counterpart to Dorothy Allison's 'Bastard Out of Carolina.' Rough-hewn, hopeless and fatalistic, "The Beans of Egypt Maine" underscores a truism: that a culture of poverty and ignorance is self-perpetuating, that people born into such a world have very few options other than what their families give them. Family is both curse and blessing here, for out of it comes not only one's limiting world view, but also a fierce independence that prepares one to cope with it. Chute's writing is fresh and on-target. The book jacket mentions her closeness to that lifestyle while growing up, and this believability certainly comes through. The humor is pure comic relief for what, to our eyes, must feel like a world of chaos and desperation. But there is another truism here: people are usually doing the best they can under their circumstances. Being from rural Virginia, I have known (of) families like the Beans here in the South, as well. The brutal effect of poverty is everywhere the same, and it is often countered by an enviable toughness. If there be live counterparts to the Beans, I might shrink from an invitation to meet them. But that does not prevent me from carrying a respect for the particular path they are fated to walk: in which just getting by is its own brand of heroism.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the oddest books I've ever read As another reviewer mentioned, the characters are almost uniformly unlikable; the setting, in an extreme povery zone in Maine, is off-putting; the plotline is minimal. Nevertheless, Chute manages to hold your interest and somehow makes you care about the characters. The book abounds in grotesque scenes and ugly actions. Still, you feel that the book somehow presents a true picture of what life is like on the underside of the American dream.I was not happy with the author's afterword to this edition, and it's quite apparent that she has a considerable axe to grind. Even so, this book is well worth a read; it's sort of like a post-modern "Grapes of Wrath" without the redemption factor.
    • 3/5
      Easy to see why this book was in the Not My Cuppa Tea Bookbox. Very hard to read this bleak look at the Bean family of Egypt, Maine. Nevertheless, the book has an authentic feel, capturing the awful hopelessness of life for some.
    • 3/5
      I read this book years before visiting Maine. When I vacationed there, I vividly remembered this publication and the depiction of poverty in rural America. At times I laughed and then I cried.
    • 5/5
      Chute's first book, and a true masterpiece. You will hate the heroes, the action, the plot-- just about everything about this book is unpleasant, but it's so true there's no way to argue with it. It's a love story that doesn't make you feel good.
    • 4/5
      story of a woman growing up in rural maine. not nearly as good as bastard out of carolina, but good.