Hometown Brew

by Ellen Akins

From a writer whose work Robert Coover has described as "subtle, wise, intricate, innovative," a rich novel of family rivalries, corporate maneuvers, and sexual intrigue--set in a small Wisconsin beer... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679447954
• ISBN13: 9780679447955
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A COMPELLING PORTRAIT OF SMALL TOWN LIFE

As in two of her previous novels World Like A Knife and Home Movie gifted author Ellen Akins again examines a world of uncertainties inhabited by the bruised and fallible. Once more her characters suffer from an inability to communicate with one another, struggling to understand and comprehend behind self-imposed boundaries of silence. Set in a small mid Wisconsin beer town Hometown Brew is a complex, sometimes fragmented, tale of family rivalry, corporate machinations, and sexual liaisons. Offspring of a Germanic father and Spanish mother, Melissa and Frank Johnson have inherited the family brewery, Gutenbier. Melissa, a single mother of an 11-year-old son, was left the lion's share of stock. Brother and sister are a study in contrasts. Less exotic in taste and temperament than her south European mother, Melissa had her mother's "misleading" look, while Frank "seemed to harbor the passion of their mother's nature...secret and banked, only scintillating now and then in the fierceness of its restraint." Rather than open conflicts, their disparate personalities result in cold war skirmishes around the brewery's conference table. A new brewery employee, Alice Rinehart, "...at seventeen had posed for some pictures that made their way into a men's magazine." "A shy and serious girl," the posing made her feel "admired by a whole anonymous audience of men who wouldn't normally have noticed her, and this secret power thrilled her..." Fleeing from a failed marriage, Alice is one of the lost. After she reports being sexually harassed by fellow employees, her home is vandalized, and she is the victim of a retaliatory bottle rape. This scene, mind-numbing in its horror, underscores the unflinching honesty with which Ms. Akins surveys brutality. At times, Alice's plight tends to overpower the story of Melissa vs. Frank as they clash over a proposed ad campaign and disagree on possible company financing in their ongoing struggle for control of the brewery. While the two tales do eventually converge, herein lies an unwieldiness of story line as issues are raised and left unresolved. Did the brewery's working environment allow sexual harassment to take place? What happened to the men who raped Alice? Did Melissa's son ever find the father he sought? Were it not for Ms. Akins's fluidly subtle probing of her character's thought processes and life's exigencies, Home Brew might begin to sound alarmingly like a hastily made for television movie. Much of the author's strength is found in her delicately mined observations, such as a young boy's response to his grandfather's death: "...Jesse hadn't lived long enough to suspect that the best was already past, or to learn that mourning might open the way to all manner of human sadness too deep and abstract for its own occasion." Ms. Akins's work has been called "A kind of extended meditation on the dialectic of stripping and covering up..." That is apt description of her latest offering. Rather li

Home HomeBrew is captivating prose with a dash of mystery.

I have been following Ellen Akins work for several years. For me, "Home Brew" was her most reachable work to date. In "Home Movie" and "Little Woman", Akins presented intense characters whose life issues were often personal and internal. In her collection of short stories, "World Like A Knife", these characters verged on disturbing, but with an ever present clarity and sense of drama. I have found that Akins artfully descriptive prose engage the reader, connecting you to the characters of the story. In "Home Brew", she has outdone herself. I was captivated by the two lead female characters, who portrayed a balance of strength and vulnerability which is so often a reality of human nature. Akins books often seem to preceed current events - and she has again shown her uncanny ability in this regard. While I would not categorize her as an issue or feminist writer, she has frequently selected topics which are pertinent to our times, and perhaps give us pause for thought. But mostly, I read Ellen Akins books for the enjoyment of her beautifully created prose. In Home Brew - she has blended her literary style with zest, humor and a touch of suspense. I could not put this one down and read it cover to cover in one sitting!

a rich, complex tale about sexual politics.

this is a rich, complex story about sexual politics--between a brother and sister, between coworkers, between a father and his children. set in wisconsin, the book is about the fight for control of the family brewery between a brother and sister. the questions of sexual harrasment mirror the famous Stroh's Brewery case of a few years ago. the book starts slow but builds in drama and momentum, becoming, at the end, a real page-turner. absolutely recommended.