American Rust: A Novel

Poe’s 1973 Camaro, a distinctly American model with its “punched-out 350, Weld rims, new paint” (94), represents Poe’s belief in American exceptionalism. When he races another boy’s Subaru, the race takes on a greater significance. It is not just about two cars but two countries—United States versus Japan, a global competition that Japan seemed to be winning in the 1980s with its smaller, better-built Toyotas and Hondas. For Poe, however, it’s all about the speed, and although he “smokes” the Subaru in the first race, the second round costs him his transmission, and he leaves the car in a roadside ditch. Poe reluctantly admits that the United States is falling behind, and signs of that decline are everywhere. Once, American-made muscle cars—Camaros, Ford Mustangs, Pontiac GTOs—ruled the market, but nothing is permanent, and when gas prices rose and mileage and durability became primary concerns, those once proud beasts of the American highway became dinosaurs. There was no small amount of hubris behind the belief in America’s automotive—and political—exceptionalism.

When Isaac ventures into the wild on his own, he packs the stolen cash and a knife, imagining it will come in handy at some point. Isaac, however, is not a hunter like Poe, and his relationship with the knife is theoretical rather than practical.