A Place Called Wiregrass: Morris

Michael Morris's A Place Called Wiregrass

Apr 12, 2006 Leslie Poston

Review of A Place Called Wiregrass by Michael Morris, an absorbing tale of people trying to rise above the margins of their lives in the South.

Wiregrass, Alabama - an unlikely place for second chances. Erma Lee and Cher leave their troubles behind in Cross City, Louisiana looking for just that. Finally reaching her limit with her abusive drunk husband, Bozo, Erma Lee determines to give Cher the chance at life she wasn't able to giver her son and daughter, and dares to hope for a future for herself in the process.

Morris weaves a tale around the blue collar South, taking us into the inner workings of the marginal jobs and marginal people that live on the fringe, just under the radar of good fortune. With an unfinished education, stopping shy of her senior year, a bad marriage and no skills beyond the sewing factory she has worked at for years, Erma Lee makes an unexpected decision to uproot herself and seek something more.

Once in Wiregrass, Erma Lee takes another marginal job in a cafeteria, finds housing in a trailer park and settles Cher in school. In spite of her fears for herself and worry over Cher, a typical 13 year old, Erma Lee begins to live her new life. A simple twist of fate leads her to a second job with Miss Claudia, a feisty elderly lady with a sharp wit, shrewd eye and kind heart.

The longer Erma Lee and Cher live in Wiregrass, the more they find that everyone has their own cross to bear, be it family, money, illness, work issues or gossip hungry neighbors. When their own dysfunctional family comes back to haunt them after teenage angst and curiosity lead to a major misunderstanding, Erma Lee and Cher discover that friends and allies come in all shapes and sizes.

Morris' first novel, A Place Called Wiregrass manages to weave a completely absorbing tale that pulls the reader in to the lives of Erma Lee, Miss Claudia and Cher. By the end of the novel you find yourself rooting for them to succeed against the odds, offering advice to them as you read as if you were part of the story. Without preaching, Morris gets into the minds of his female characters and brings their tales of rising above abuse, poverty, ignorance and hate to the front of your mind, never once wavering in his tales lyrical Southern, blue collar lilting twang.

A Place Called Wiregrass is an outstanding debut novel. It accomplished several things: telling a series of hard stories from the hearts of its vivid characters, painting a picture of the colliding worlds of the blue collar and upper crust societies of the South, and leaving its readers with a feeling of hope and homecoming. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to feel like they are part of the novel they are reading.

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