Autopsy of an Engine: and Other Stories from the Cadillac Plant
Just as Michael Moore's documentaryRoger and Meexposed the devastating effects of General Motors closing up shop in Flint, Michigan, Hernandez's short stories capture the effect on Detroit after Cadillac closed its plants there. Hernandez, who worked for Cadillac for 21 years, writes a tender tribute to the working-class people who made the auto industry thrive. The makeshift families that formed over the years in the factories are lovingly eulogized; one example is Henry, a break manager who dies on the job, and the isolated young man who breaks down thinking of the kindness Henry showed him. Each story is born of real-life blood and tears--you can hear the soothing and jangling rhythm of the machinery, smell the sweat and exhaust, and almost picture yourself on the assembly-line floor. The doors are shut and the pink layoff slips handed out, but these stories ask that we not forget those who lived, loved, breathed, and died serving the automobile, the embodiment of the American Dream.Misha StoneCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved