Another book that has been on my TBR for a long time! I was interested in it because as a child, we spent summers in northern Maine. I remember well the sulfur like smell that enveloped a mill town we sometimes drove through. I actually started this read a while ago but then got distracted.Somehow reading it now with all that is going on politically, it may be even more relevant than it was four years ago.

This well written nonfiction work is part memoir, part environmental expose part sociological study. The author grew up in a working class paper mill town in Maine where the residents were exposed to toxins and the cancer rates were high. That was the price they paid for steady jobs and a chance for their children to escape the mill life. As an adult, she goes back to investigate the various environmental hazards and political cover ups. She also explores her heritage, having been descended from the French Canadiens known as Acadians who were often discriminated against, called in an 1881 Labor report from Massachusetts, "a horde of industrial invaders”.

Winner of numerous prizes and accolades, this is very much an American story. There is a line that truly resonated with me “I simultaneously defend and disparage where I grew up, not because I’m nostalgic for the way things were; because I’m nostalgic for the way I thought they were.”

Don’t be put off by the exploration of Arsenault’s various ancestors, her personal experiences or some of the technical findings related to the environmental hazards.This book does go in different directions, but it is a worthwhile read and, as I said above, perhaps even more meaningful now than it was four years ago.

I loved the book and interviewed the author here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgBG5rzekg

Thanks for providing a galley!

I leapt at the chance to be an early reader of MILL TOWN, "a book of narrative nonfiction, investigative memoir, and cultural criticism that illuminates the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease with the central question; Who or what are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?"

Given the ways AMITY AND PROSPERITY and TOMS RIVER have stuck with me, I figured this would be an easy home run too. I was taken by the gorgeous preamble. And then I just... didn't get past the 10% mark for a year.

The narrative thread here is a meandering one, from Acadian history to analysis of the river water to a visit to Prince Edward Island and so on and so on. While this may keep a certain reader turning the pages, it felt more jarring to me -- I didn't know what topic or tone the story will take next, and changes often take place before I had a good understanding of the ground that's already been covered. My preference would have been for MILL TOWN to be more investigative journalism (or memoir or cultural criticism). I daresay housing it to a greater extent within a certain genre would have resulted in a stronger book.

I still think the story of the mill is an interesting one, and its impact absolutely needs study. I also think Kerri Arsenault can write a beautiful sentence. But I'm setting MILL TOWN down for now; DNF at 43%.

This book tells the story of a paper mill town in Maine, the environmental impact and the impact on the town as the mill has shut down due to global competition. An interesting, informative and devastating read. I highly recommend it.

Inhaled this! Mill Town was honest, and carefully researched. It told a story at the intersection of social class and the environment in way that we need right now.

Interesting story and I thoroughly enjoyed her deep exploration of her hometown but the book covered a lot and it all felt incomplete.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my DRC.

The 2020 book I couldn't review because I always end up screaming at my computer and kicking my laundry bag...it is that good, that real, that intense and necessary a read. Using her own hometown, and her entire youth there, as a lens to expose and excoriate corporate chicanery, Author Arsenault is taking no prisoners. Like her predecessors in expos&eacute;-dom Katherine Boo (<I>Behind the Beautiful Forevers</i>) and Rachel Carson (<I>Silent Spring</i>), she dug deep, interviewed widely, and concluded with a shout of outrage you really owe it to yourself to experience.

I tried listening to this audiobook but I am sorry to say I did not enjoy the narrator's voice, and gave up. I was bummed because I was excited to read this!

A look at the small town the author grew up.A town where the mill was a large emp,over.When the author comes back the Mill once the center of the town has shut down,We follow the effects on the town the people.Excellent writing told from an insifderfs point of view.#netgalley#milltown

Kerri Arsenault is one of the best writers I've ever read - hands down. Her prose is a pleasure to spend time with. Milltown presents an interesting subject matter of pollution in a small town and how it affected the residents. It did a good job relaying honest feelings about the bad (it could be dangerous) and the good (at least we have jobs that provide for a good living). She covered lots of ground about the history that was interesting and some that wasn't. (the history of her French Canadian heritage). I wish the story had kept to solely the focus of the book which was the mill to keep it shorter.

The writing is 5 star all the way, The mill story is 5 star too, but the way it was put together makes it only a 3 star for me. Anyone wanting lots of depth in this subject should be very happy with it.

Mill Town took me a while to unpack everything i have read. This book tells the story of a paper mill town in Maine, the environmental impact and the impact on the town as the mill has shut down capacity due to global competition. 
It's a devastating read but a pretty great read.

St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Kerri grew up in Mexico, Maine, a small town on the banks of the Androscoggin River. The paper mill provided the community with its livelihood, as most of the townspeople made their living by working for the company. Three generations of Arsenault's family alone worked for the mill, not realizing that their collective health was being influenced by the proximity to the mill. Little did Kerri know, but her idyllic childhood was actually rife with issues hiding just under the surface. The milling process, along with a lack of environmental concern, basically poisoned the land and the townspeople with it.

Mill Town should have been a compelling read, especially given the fact that the area was so poisoned by the paper mill that it was dubbed Cancer Valley. The book itself was too clinical and textbook in its delivery. As a result, I did not feel the struggles of the people of Mexico, Maine as much as I should have. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend Mill Town to other readers.

Excellent research, reporting, and writing. Arsenault's story leaves you wondering which is harden to reconcile: family history, or corporate greed.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault. In Mill Town, Arsenault weaves a complex, but accessible, tale. I am especially impressed at the maturity in writing demonstrated in this inaugural work. Will certainly recommend broadly.

I found this book fascinating and informative, as I too, grew up in a paper "mill town".- and there are many similarities between her Mill town and mine. The sense of community among the workers, in the heyday of the mills was wonderful, now the rivers are polluted and the mills are out of business. They were dangerous places even during their times of operation, and there are lasting effects to the environment even today. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this fascinating book.

If you enjoy well written nonfiction pick up this winner of a book. You could see the endless and meticulous research that was done in preparation of this book. The writing is solid and flows seamlessly. Not to be missed. Happy reading!

Such a fascinating book!! Part history lesson, part Genealogy, part environmental study, part family, and part small town. The authors research in how the paper mill in her small town, affected not just the people that worked there but the river and the fish in it, the ash and how it coated everything was simply amazing! This book was mostly a memoir but I would also say it was an study on how greed, corruption, and the need for control can destroy a town. So many layers to this book and each one was told with such understanding and love. You just knew the author cared about her town and wanted to help. The environmental parts in this book are eye opening, and that is thanks to this authors exceptional research!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Kerri Arsenault for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a free electronic copy of this excellent personal history from Netgalley, Kerri Arsenault, and St. Martin's Press on August 13, 2020. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this history of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Kerry Arsenault writes a compelling, heartfelt personal history of generations of her family and friends that grew up in a northern Maine paper mill town.

Maine's infamous Cancer Valley includes the towns of Rumford and Mexico, Maine which were the single employers were major producers of paper and paper products. Unfortunately, the valley involved earned its nickname. Cancer diagnoses, treatments, and deaths are many times that of 'normal' residential areas - communities not reliant on single employer big business to survive. Paper mills were bad, as were chemical plants, mining concerns, even cloth manufacturing.

Arsenault shares with us her family history as it evolves around the side-effects of life surrounded by the constant side-effects of giants in the paper business in a world that had no thought or care for the future of the family or even the earth. The world was much smaller and more remote back in the day, and few if any towns were concerned with unchecked pollution of air and water and it's effects on employees and communities. This is a nightmare that is still happening in some areas. When is the cost of employment more important than that of health? How much must we sacrifice to bring home that paycheck? Ms. Arsenault shows us where we must in the future draw the line. If only we could see it through all the Corporate DoubleSpeak and BS...

Disclaimer: Didn’t finish.
I thought this book about the ravaged mill town where the author grew up would be like an Erin Brockovich story - investigating the havoc the paper mills have been inflicting on the small town nicknamed Cancer Valley - but it wasn’t. At least, not enough of it.
Parts of the book WERE good; pretty much anything focused on how the paper mills were affecting the people of the town. The problem was the author continually going off on these long tangents and history lessons about her family tree, travel experiences, town founders, etc. It got to where I was just turning pages until whatever lesson she was on was over so I could get back to reading what I actually signed up for.
At around 40%, when she in the middle of another lecture about someone else I didn’t care about, I reminded myself that I wasn’t getting paid to finish this book and I didn’t have to keep reading it.
I promptly closed it down, started another book and read happily ever after.
Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this ARC of #milltown in exchange for an honest opinion.

Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault is about a paper and pulp mill in Rumsfield/Mexico, Maine and effect it has had on her family over the years. The Arsenaults are an Acadian family who immigrated to Maine at the beginning of the 20th century. She relates the history of racism by the Yankee population and the effects it had on the Acadian’s lives. I come from Maine originally and remember the racism against “those French Catholics”. She goes into the history of the Acadians briefly. The main theme of the memoir is the factory and its influence on the citizens of Mexico. Once she leaves Mexico and settles down after her husband retires from the Coast Guard, she starts to investigate her family’s history. This leads her to discover these towns are located in Cancer Valley and she deviates to investigate the pollution which the factory has allowed. The book then discusses the effects these carcinogens have had on the townspeople and how the townspeople are in a bind as to whether or not to believe the experts. The story details the eventual demise of the logging and paper mills. Going to the university of Maine and living in Oldtown, I remember the awful smell and pollution of the paper mill. I found the book very interesting and disturbing how the various federal and state governments operate when it comes to pollution. While this could be considered a scholarly book, she includes enough family relationships and history to make it interesting. Very well researched.
L