Country People: A GMA Book Club Pick

Fun little literary comedy. It didn’t sweep me up and away, and I doubt that it will haunt any of my future days, but I found it genuinely delightful.It starts out dry and a tad annoying (ugh, California folks prattling on about “country people” this and “country people” that), but Miles’s character arc spans growth, self-discovery, and an enormous cast of entertaining characters. Beautifully written, funny, cozy.Thank you to Random House, Daniel Mason, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

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.

Spend a year in the life of Miles Krzelewski, his wife Kate, their two children Olive and Wesley, and dog Giuseppe as they move from sunny California to Vermont for Kate’s new teaching job at a prestigious college. For the family, Vermont is the unknown, a wilderness and a chance for the urban, city folks to get to know the country people. Miles is the epitome of a family man- devoted to his wife and children. Kate is essentially the breadwinner, a much loved and successful English professor who takes a job at a college in southern Vermont.The story is mainly centered around Miles, a middle aged man who is stuck. His dissertation on Russian literature has languished for 12 years and he has lost any true desire to finish it. What is worse is that he feels that he is largely a disappointment to his family, particularly his wife.Essentially, Country People is a character study or rather several character studies. While at first Miles struggles to find his footing in this new environment- the children make friends at school and Kate is busy at teaching- he finds himself entangled with incredibly quirky Greenbury, Vermont residents. The motley crew of locals include a photographer of snowflakes who drives a repurposed ambulance, a former biochemist who is attempting to farm the land, conspiracy theorists, Olive's teacher who is obsessed with gaining back the land that Massachusetts has taken from Vermont... to just name a few. The inclusion of these wacky, but loveable characters might lead the reader to think, “Could people like this all exist in one town?” to which I say, “Does it matter?”Whether we are reading about Miles listening to the talk show "The Miscellaneous Minute" (which is really an hour), where the abrasive, but wacky host takes callers on various inane topics or we are experiencing Miles' first meeting with a secret society who is looking for a hidden world, we are entranced and engaged in whimsy and wonder. Miles is searching for connection and acceptance and he finds it with his new community of caring and loyal people.Country People is beautifully written, clever and humorous, a true literary work of art. Mason's writing is evocative, sprawling and descriptive in ways that stay with the reader. At times, Miles veers off into side stories that may initially distract the reader, but for the most part those wanderings are indicative of the story teller that Miles is and the side stories do generally play into the larger picture of the narrative.Country People is a look at the complexities of marriage and parenthood, the ways that stories shape our understanding and the ways in which we can redefine ourselves no matter how old.

“Country People”, the new novel by Daniel Mason, is a departure for this brilliant writer and I’m all in for it! (Frankly, this guy is incapable of writing a bad book.)This family saga is immediately immersive! Meet the Krzelewski-Petrosian family: father and perpetual Ph.D. candidate Miles, mother English professor Kate, son Wesley, daughter Olive, and dog Giuseppe. They have relocated from California to Vermont for Kate to take a one-year professorship at a small Liberal Arts college in Edenic rural Vermont.That’s the set-up; what follows is a hilarious fish-out-of-water, country people vs city folk, gentle satire that is thoroughly rewarding. Miles is the protagonist, but our storyteller/author is also a wonderful shadow Prepare to be delighted!!“Country People”, the new novel by Daniel Mason, is a departure for this brilliant writer and I’m all in for it! (Frankly, this guy is incapable of writing a bad book.)This family saga is immediately immersive! Meet the Krzelewski-Petrosian family: father and perpetual Ph.D. candidate Miles, mother English professor Kate, son Wesley, daughter Olive, and dog Giuseppe. They have relocated from California to Vermont for Kate to take a one-year professorship at a small Liberal Arts college in Edenic rural Vermont.That’s the set-up; what follows is a hilarious fish-out-of-water, country people vs city folk, gentle satire that is thoroughly rewarding. Miles is the protagonist, but our storyteller/author is also a wonderful shadow character.Some characters we meet (and love):A former academic who finds his life’s work, and true calling is in scything his yard.Olive’s third grade teacher who’s an inappropriate over-sharer.Don, a local talk show radio host who is deliciously politically incorrect, and his frequent callers who may or may not be crazy.Hugh, a nature hike guide full of celebrity gossip who subscribes to the “Earth is hollow” belief.An extremely kind man who claims to have been benignly possessed by the spirit of Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley! (I predict you, too, will fall down an interesting internet rabbit hole all about the real Snowflake Bentley! Enjoy!)When Miles is invited into a secret society dedicated to a bizzarro 19th century folk story about the existence of a fantastical subterranean paradise accessed through a cave in the local woods, will this finally be the thing that ignites his energy to complete his Ph. D.?And why is Guisseppe (and ALL the dogs in town) trying to dig to China?“Country People” is going on my Top Ten Best Reads for 2026, and I know I’ll be reading this wonderful story again - it’s too much fun to only read once!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House for the ARC of Country People by Daniel Mason.What an absolute five star read. Hilarious, slice-of-life, thought provoking prose and wit. Everything that made North Woods great but with more humor, and hope and levity. I can't say enough great things about this novel. I'm shocked to see that Daniel Mason is from California and lives in California because man, as a born and raised New Englander, he really captures the essence of New England, and may be one of its best promoters in the 21st century.The first two parts of the book are meandering takes on rural life in Vermont, the characters you meet in town, and Miles' building reckoning with his thesis and what his true aims in life are. The third part just packs an absolute wallop of mystery, comedy, betrayal, loss, and everything else all rolled into one and all wonderfully tied together with a bow in the second epilogue. It is unpredictable, even though the stepping stones seem to exist when you reflect on the way the story arcs, and it shows you the best of human nature, even when people seem, at surface level, to be nonsensical.What I love about Mason's writing in this is that he does flashbacks and recall of other memories so seamlessly as he tells the overall story. He'll begin one section on a day in Vermont, but he'll pause to give you 10 pages on another historical building block of the family in other times to get to the significance of the present moment. And he does it with such lyricism and faultless transitions that the timelines layer over each other into the present beautifully and with such thoughtful and charming detail.He also keeps the book accessible for more levels of reader -- some of the Milton and Blake references were above me, even with an English degree, but he doesn't hover at that level the entire story, even though he is clearly capable of doing so. The novel is more middlebrow while still being very literary and very smart. It keeps you engrossed and entertained and it can challenge you to learn more about the references he's making instead of getting lost within them.In a time when a lot of literary fiction is a bit darker or drier, this book is such a refreshing, positive, funny take on the slice-of-life of one man's adventures in rural Vermont. It's a reminder of how we roll with the punches of every day life and how we persevere with a community, and it's just an absolutely lovely read.