Country People

Country People by Daniel Mason
7/7/26; 320 pages
Random House 

Country People by Daniel Mason is a highly recommended literary character-driven family saga that follows a family who move from California to spend a year in Greensbury, Vermont. This follows the familiar trope of a "fish out of water" as an urban family moves among the country folk but here there is the added bonuses of a plethora of literary references, new weather experiences, local colorful characters, and some incredible stories of local legends.

The Krzelewski-Petrosian family consists of Miles, who has been working on his Ph.D. dissertation on Russian folktales for over a decade, his wife Kate, an English professor who has been offered a one-year visiting professorship in Vermont and is a Milton and Blake specialist, their children, son Wesley, 12, and daughter Olive, 9, and their dog Giuseppe. While Kate teaches, Miles is supposed to be working on his dissertation while making sure the children get to school and keeping the household running. The family does experience a variety of events together. As for Miles, the dissertation falls to the side, he does care for the children, tells great bedtime stories, and meets a far-ranging cast of local characters. 

Although there are many humorous parts of this novel, they are more situational rather than slapstick, and are frequently embedded in interacting with local culture and Miles trying to understand "country people," who consist of a whole cast of colorful characters. He is also introduced to the legend of Jeremiah Wylkes, an early hollow earther, who claims to have discovered a cave leading to a kingdom below the earth’s surface. There are amusing excerpts from a local radio call in advice show called The Miscellaneous Minute, where the topics change daily and callers frequently derail the topic. 

While I enjoyed this extremely well-written, entertaining novel and the literary references and humor quite a bit, the plot does meander, seemingly aimlessly at times, between topics and enters into the realm of magical thinking. Part of my problem may be with Miles. While I appreciated his character's imagination and openness to new experiences, I wanted less passivity, some self-determination, and more acceptance of responsibilities, perhaps a job. As someone who has frequently moved to different areas of the country her whole life, Mason does capture the feeling when you first move to a new city and have to learn the local dialect and customs.

Country People is a great choice for anyone who enjoys literary character-driven novels with magic realism embedded in the story line. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.