Fugitives and Refugees
Chuck Palahniuk (pronounced Paula-Nick, in case you were wondering, like I was)
2003
175 pages
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Purchased from my favorite bookstore in the world, Powell’s.
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Every once in awhile I mention that when I was a small soda I lived in Oregon. Specifically, outside of a little Podunk town by the name of Dufur. I like to bring this up because it’s rare that anyone has ever heard of Dufur, and I always get a small thrill when someone recognizes the town. And also, I have a thing for Oregon.
So imagine my surprise when I’m reading this book and I come across this:
In 1977, Bob and Charlee Moore were walking near Dufur, Oregon. “Down in this little draw,” Bob says, “was a little old building, and I told my wife, “That’s an old flour mill.”
It was the Dufur White Flour Mill, which operated from 1872 through the 1930s, using millstones that had come around the Cape of Good Hope in 1870. Today, those stones are grinding again, twenty-four hours a day. Turning at 125 rotations per minute, they chew up six hundred pounds of wheat per hour at Bob’s Red Mill Flour…
Besides the Dufur connection, what is truly amazing here is that the Moore’s were even near Dufur. Trust me when I say it’s not a hotbed of tourism.
Now, lest you think that this book only about grindstones from places no one except Softdrink (and Bob and Charlee Moore) have ever heard of, there is also plenty of information about where you can go to watch (and participate in) lewd movies (seriously people, there’s some weird shit happening in Portland), where to stay if you’d like to see a ghost, how to talk like a local, Santa hijinks, how to eat at the Apocalypse Café, and what Katherine Dunn (yes, the author of Geek Love) thinks of her fellow Portlanders (is that the right term?).
This book is filled with weirdness. Which makes it just perfect, since Palahniuk and Portland are poster children for weird.
That’s so awesome that Dufur is mentioned! It’s always thrilling for me to see mentions of small-towns from my childhood in books.
And I totally planned on picking this book up on payday this week!! Being a Palahniuk groupie I’ve read all his fiction, but it was just recently that I read Stranger Than Fiction, his other non-fic book, and it made me ♥ Chuck even more. His writing makes even the weirdest things fascinating.
Oh and just to blabber on some more, I looked up Dufur and read about the annual Dufur Threshing Bee festival thing — sounds kinda cool
.-= Joanne´s last blog ..Review ♦ Would You =-.
Dufur is very cool, in a hick kind of way.
I think you’ll like this book…I kept thinking “no way!” And then “cool!” And then “no way!”
We went on a road trip last summer and I remember passing by Dufur or seeing a sign for it. I’m sorry to say we chuckled a bit at the name! I loved being in Oregon and would love to live in such a beautiful place. Maybe I’ll have to experience it more through this book.
.-= Shelley´s last blog ..Leviathan =-.
Everyone chuckles at the name! When we lived there my grandmother named her dog Dufur.
Son of a monkey bucket! I have been wondering how to pronounce his name for like ever. I’ve been pronouncing it Puh-lah-nee-uck. Paula-Nick, Paula-Nick, Paula-Nick, must remember….
.-= Trisha´s last blog ..Birthday Books: Bad Trisha Busts BLoB Score =-.
Well, I don’t know what to think of the book even after reading your review. It sounds like something I need to experience for myself.
Weird, very, very, very weird…in true Pahlaniuk fashion.
Ooops…I seem to have forgotten how to spell Palahniuk.
Until now, I had never heard of Dufur.
I lived for a few years in the Adirondack Mountains. I read a YA novel awhile ago that was inspired by the Grace Brown murder (also the inspiration for An American Tragedy, which I abandoned). It was kind of exciting to see names in there that I recognized like Old Forge, Inlet, and Big Moose, which probably no one outside upstate New York has ever heard of.
.-= EL Fay´s last blog ..Anime Soundtracks! =-.
And you’ll probably never hear of Dufur again.
I love that sense of connection you get you run across obscure places in books.
How thrilling. I just got an invitation for a girls trip to some tipi village in Oregon and I’m thinking it sounds very fun.
.-= Care´s last blog ..Woman: An Intimate Geography =-.
Be sure to stop by Dufur.
Thank you for clarifying how to say his name. I had NO IDEA.
And I love love love Oregon. I went to college in Eugene (U of O) and loved it. I always planned to move back but then life got in the way and I never did. I never did hear of your town though!
.-= Jenners´s last blog ..Question of the Week: Acquiring Books =-.
A fellow Oregonian! Woo-hoo!
hey, isn’t this the ‘fight club’ author? i just saw this book somewhere else (of course, just where that is escapes me at the moment)! i’ve been to 45 of the 50 states–oregon is one i still have to get to–that and washington, alaska, hawaii, and nebraska!
Yep, that’s the dude.
And you’ve never been to Oregon?? You have to plan a trip so you can stop by Powells!
Count me as another one who has never heard of Dufur. To be fair though I am not that familiar with the west coast in general! And thank you for clearing up the pronunciation of Palahniuk’s name. I always wondered how to say it and I can promise you one thing–I was definitely pronouncing it incorrectly!
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..The Sunday Salon =-.
You should plan a road trip! (Except, you can skip Dufur…it’s certainly not easy to get to.)
I was wondering about the pronunciation of his last name! I have for years. Paula-Nick. That’s good to know.
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Milton in May: Week 1 =-.
Evidently, we all didn’t know how to pronounce his name.
I have had varying success with Palaniuk’s books, and for every one that I loved, there was one that I hated. I think that his writing can be very polarizing sometimes. That being said, I think it’s really very cool that your hometown was mentioned and focused on in this book. A rare coincidence, but really, really neat!
.-= zibilee´s last blog ..Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman – 368 pgs =-.
That sounds pretty interesting; I’m not a huge Palahniuk fan, but I do love Katherine Dunn, so I’m adding to to my to-read list. Thanks!
.-= atla´s last blog ..A Run of Stinkers =-.
Gosh, I lived in Oregon for two years and missed Dufur. Shoot. I am an off-and-on Palahniuk fan and will likely get to this one. I’ll think of you!
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Thursday Tea: The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano =-.
Glad you told us how to pronounce Palahniuk’s name. I think I might have googled this once but always forget.
Strange when something creeps up on you like reading about the small town where you’re from. I’ve only read one Palahniuk book (Choke) and am not sure if I’m aching to read more, but he is weird, huh?
.-= Trish´s last blog ..In the Garden – Spring 2010 =-.
LOL – I know EXACTLY where Dufur is. I actually grew up pretty near there (to the west – in the Gorge – it’s a whole lot prettier than Dufur). So funny. Every time we drive through Oregon, we snicker about another town – Condon. *giggles* C’mon, it’s pretty funny … ya know, if you replace the last “n” with an “m” … *snickers* *snorts* *giggles*
I just spent a little time in Portland thanks to the last book I read. Although, I admit, Dufur was not mentioned.
.-= Literary Feline´s last blog ..Spotlight Series Review: Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter =-.
Was just through Dufur last weekend. But how do you pronounce Dufur?
I mean, is the accent DOOfer of DooFUR?
DOOfer