Tinkers a debut novel by Paul Harding, is simple,
elegant, and beautifully written. It tells a lyrical tale observed through the
last eight days of the life of George Washington Crosby, but within the tale
are woven other stories of his father, mother, and others who were a part of
his life. This novel is within a tradition of the finest of American writing, and was the surprise winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. An Excerpt; “I remember that my
father had a birch canoe when he was very young. Indians made the canoe and my
father bought it from them. Every spring, when the ice went out, one of the
Indians would appear out of the woods one morning and restore the canoe for the
season. I never saw my father speak with the Indian and I do not know how
payment was made or collected or in what currency it was paid. After resewing
loose seams and inserting new bark where it was needed, the Indian simply
disappeared back into the trees. I remember squatting in the grass several
yards from where the Indian worked, trying to learn what I might, which was
nothing, but still something I felt compelled to do, as if my lesson was no
more than the effort I made. After glancing for a moment to look at the first
robin of spring, I looked back at the canoe and the Indian had vanished without
sound, without seemingly, even movement, but, rather, had been reabsorbed back
not only into trunk and root, stone and leaf but into light and shadow and
season and time itself.” Bellevue Literary Press, a small
non-profit publisher, published tinkers.
Comments