The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs by Janet Peery

Instead, I offer reading suggestions in which Midwestern writers, poets, and characters are unwilling to demur or make apologies to smooth over an issue for the sake of social grace. In the stretch of land from Kansas north to the Dakotas and Nebraska to Western Pennsylvania, we imagine a simplicity personified. One blogger said that they hoped the publisher would add some “humanity to her” before publication day.ĭo we need to be docile to be human? I hope not. It is rare to read such a consuming novel about a family that is almost beyond redemption yet not off-putting. Author Janet Peery’s creation of the Campbell clan is dazzling. Early Goodreads reviews of the novel, perhaps expecting something different based on the bright cover, bemoaned my “unlikeable” heroine. The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs is a story of the incredibly dysfunctional Campbell clan. I wanted to write a character who longed to immerse herself completely in her work, since I was so often drawn out of mine. While working on my debut novel, The Butterfly Effect, I wanted to create a strong Midwestern woman who didn’t really care for social niceties. By deliberately complicating societal expectation of a Midwestern main character, a writer can disrupt the narrative-and its reception by critics. Writing a book set in the Midwest, it’s impossible not to consider “niceness” as part of the equation. Performing “niceness” is nearly impossible to live up to when your rights, worldview, or livelihood are questioned. Wallace finds himself forever under the petty judgements of the predominantly white people around him. student from the south moves to a Midwestern university town. These stories will be compared with works by Barry Hannah and Denis Johnson. Take Real Life, by Brandon Taylor, in which a gay, black Ph.D. “Midwest niceness” is a convenient social salve, but it often favors and is most performed by those in the majority.

The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs by Janet Peery