Book review: “Trailer Park Rules” captures the spirit of the working class

Although the characters in Michelle Teheux’s 378-page Trailer Park Rules face various crises, the Loire Mobile Home Park isn’t exactly Dysfunction Junction. Seven of the eight people here are regular folks dealing with the usual hurdles of humanity.

MICHELL TEHEAUX

As ordinary working-class Americans, they defy false stereotypes without veering into the realm of fantasy. The obstacles are familiar, from unwanted pregnancies (in and out of marriage) to dealing with inadequate support from food stamps, Medicaid, etc. to corporate mergers affecting small-town pharmacies, local newspapers, and, yes, even trailer parks.

The people

Jonesy is a struggling newspaperman who deals with hedge fund bean counters and tries his hand at novel writing.

“Trailer Park Rules” by Michelle Teheux has a pleasantly unpredictable plot that makes for exciting reading: sometimes silly, sad or surprising and always captivating.

Angel is a single mother of a television-addicted teenager who responds to a failed relationship by turning to a narrow-minded version of faith.

The African-American Jackson family has twins and lives in dire circumstances: they have used up all their student grants and are struggling to pay their student loans and child care while working in a factory and having lousy health insurance.

Darren is an ex-rocker who is now unable to work, let alone play, due to back problems that require him to rely on painkillers.

Kaitlin is a kind-hearted but manipulative former stripper who works at a supermarket and pretends to be a “kept woman” thanks to a local businessman.

Her “sugar daddy” Nathan doesn’t live in a trailer park, but is an arrogant/ignorant and sex-obsessed corporate executive who takes Kaitlin for granted.

Shirley is an old widow whose husband, a pharmacist, died almost broke. She wonders how a wealthy wife and mother in her situation can maintain parts of her middle-class lifestyle.

Nancy is their manager: exploitative, vindictive and biased, a conceited and clueless gossip who preoccupies herself first with justifying her crappy job and then as a martyr to economic factors beyond her reach, desperately trying to avoid homelessness through telemarketing.

The book is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator and is divided into short chapters, each focusing on a tenant, his past and present, and the changing challenges he faces.

In addition to realistic yet colorful characters who could be neighbors, friends or family members, the novel’s plot is top-notch. The pleasantly unpredictable storyline is a lively read: sometimes silly, sad or surprising and always exciting.

Teheux is a gifted wordsmith and longtime writer who is also active online. She was a former reporter and editor at the Pekin Daily Times and has published several titles under pseudonyms. This is her first book in which she calls herself the author.

Some memorable lines stand out:

• “That’s how it was everywhere, isn’t it?” Jonesy thinks as he later drinks whiskey and cola, adding: “Every sip tasted of disappointment.”
• Kaitlin sums up her suffering as a “trinity: a promissory note, a spiral and a drunk driving incident.”
• “The belief that one is master of one’s own destiny is affirming for the rich, but demoralizing for the poor.”

Trailer Park Rules is available in paperback online and at Barnes & Noble, and an e-book was released in recent weeks. Teheux will be signing copies of her novel at Barnes & Noble in Peoria on Sunday, July 14, from 2 to 4 p.m.