Union Dues (1977) by John Sayles

 1001 Novels:  A Library of America

Union Dues (1977)

by John Sayles

Boston, Massachusetts

Massachusetts: 30/30

    That's it- the end of the Chapter 1- New England, 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.  It took forever to read this one because Amazon has some kind of Audible exclusive for it so you can't actually buy a physical copy on Amazon- bizarre!  I had to buy it from ABEbooks.com instead.   I like Sayles the film director- Matewan, Eight Man Out, and other movies.  Sayles was a writer before he was director and his early efforts include this novel, Union Dues.

  Like Vida, another book on the list about 70's era radicals in the Boston area, Union Dues suffers from a surfeit of political dialogue between 70's student radicals.  Holy cow, who gives a fuck. At times Union Dues felt like it was twice the actual length of its 370 pages.   There also ten page at a time depictions of life working at a meat factory in 70's Boston, and a couple of Police Officers who do everything but drop the N word in every other sentence.   Sayles actually writes out the Boston accents, so there are plenty of spelling oddities.  Other than that, I did enjoy the depictions of downtown 70's Boston- particularly the grittier parts.

    Glad to moving on from New England-  New York and New Jersey..