The Big Garage on Clear Shot: Growing Up, Growing Old, and Going Fishing at the End of the Road

Bodett, Alaskan humorist ( The End of the Road ), returns to the old garage in the small Alaskan town of End of the Road, a local landmark where the colorful characters in this miscellany gather to tell and retell their stories. The town has grown somewhat--now there's a town hall, a mayor and a few cafes--but the garage is still the place for gossip. We learn of the unlikely romance of some oldsters--the junkyard king and the town's confirmed spinster--and observe the puppy loves of younger generations. We follow the struggle of a couple trying to rebuild their house according to very different mental pictures. Sadness permeates the little community's rallying around a favorite son who loses his arm in a tractor accident. The stories, like the characters, are plain and simple, evocative of life in a frontier state. Readers will place Bodett, a radio personality, in the company of such commentators on Americana as Garrison Keillor. First serial to Redbook; author tour. (Oct.)