The Glory of Living at Drake University

Authors

• Rebecca Gilman

Empty beer bottles. Crumpled-up potato chip bags. A sweaty, soiled clump of sheets. The TV blares. The Glory of Living follows the story of Lisa, a girl who leaves her trailer home and prostitute mother to join Clint, a man who loves her very much. The two take off and travel through the rural south of our not-too-distant-past, living in motel rooms, paid for with cash from minor theft. As their crimes turn from petty to depraved we are confronted with a portrait of America that no one wants to call home, an America slipped-through-the-cracks of nameless victims and their equally nameless perpetrators. A handcuff. A jacked car. A ride through the woods. A distant gunshot. The TV blares.