Carolyn Chute is well able to evoke a sense of place in which these Northeastern hillbillies live by describing the detritus of their yards as well as their lives. However, the story meanders--again, not unlike the aimless day-to-day existence of the characters she describes. Her characterization provides the Beans and their friends and neighbors with a rough dignity, although not enough to keep them from seeming pitiable to a "sophisticated" urban readership.