A piercing look at the fates of ordinary people in a company town when the company pulls up stakes.
Gordie Murtro had always played by the rules. He got a job right out of high school, worked hard to improve himself, got married, had kids, and saved enough to finally buy a house. To him, the American dream was more the American bargain - live honorably and the system would grant you a secure and peaceful future. But a bargain must have two participants and in western Massachusetts in 1990, Beloit Industries, the town's largest employer, struck a bargain only with its stock price. When Beloit decides to outsource thousands of jobs to save on labor costs, Gordie is cut adrift. As he struggles to find work, any work, in a job market that seems to shrink by the day, Gordie is forced to confront not only unemployment, but also the destruction of the values on which he has based his entire life.
The impact of the cutbacks radiates far beyond the factory doors. Caught in the whirlpool are everyone from Gordie's wife and children, to a mayor elected to deal only with prosperity, to the investment banker who made millions on Beloit's move, to the warehouse retailer who comes to town to pick the bones of consumers who can no longer afford to patronize the shops they grew up in. As a once-pulsating, picturebook American city sinks into despair, its only hero is the mysterious thief who is burglarizing the wealthy second-home owners who populate the surrounding villages. When the victim is a glamorous actress, Gordie's son is accused and must prove his innocence in a trial in which the very soul of the city is on trial.
Written with compassion and biting wit, Murtro's Niche has been compared to the work of Richard Russo, Russell Banks, and Tawni O'Dell.
Gordie Murtro had always played by the rules. He got a job right out of high school, worked hard to improve himself, got married, had kids, and saved enough to finally buy a house. To him, the American dream was more the American bargain - live honorably and the system would grant you a secure and peaceful future. But a bargain must have two participants and in western Massachusetts in 1990, Beloit Industries, the town's largest employer, struck a bargain only with its stock price. When Beloit decides to outsource thousands of jobs to save on labor costs, Gordie is cut adrift. As he struggles to find work, any work, in a job market that seems to shrink by the day, Gordie is forced to confront not only unemployment, but also the destruction of the values on which he has based his entire life.
The impact of the cutbacks radiates far beyond the factory doors. Caught in the whirlpool are everyone from Gordie's wife and children, to a mayor elected to deal only with prosperity, to the investment banker who made millions on Beloit's move, to the warehouse retailer who comes to town to pick the bones of consumers who can no longer afford to patronize the shops they grew up in. As a once-pulsating, picturebook American city sinks into despair, its only hero is the mysterious thief who is burglarizing the wealthy second-home owners who populate the surrounding villages. When the victim is a glamorous actress, Gordie's son is accused and must prove his innocence in a trial in which the very soul of the city is on trial.
Written with compassion and biting wit, Murtro's Niche has been compared to the work of Richard Russo, Russell Banks, and Tawni O'Dell.
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