Fiction | Book Chatter

Homecoming Book Cover

Homecoming
By Bernhard Schlink
Knopf Doubleday
January 2009 (reprint)
272pp

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

A child of World War II, Peter Debauer grew up with his mother and scant memories of his father, a victim of war. Now an adult, Peter embarks upon a search for the truth surrounding his mother’s unwavering—but shaky—history and the possibility of finding his missing father after all these years. The search takes him across Europe, to the United States, and back: finding witnesses, falling in and out of love, chasing fragments of a story and a person who may or may not exist. Within a maze of reinvented identities, Peter pieces together a portrait of a man who uses words as one might use a change of clothing, as he assumes a new guise in any given situation simply to stay alive.The chase leads Peter to New York City, where he hopes to find the real person behind the disguises.

The Short of It:

I liked it, but I didn’t like it and if this brief statement makes absolutely no sense to you, then read on.

The Rest of It:

Homecoming is one of those novels that is a story, within a story. I usually love these types of books. A book about a book? I’m there. BUT, this one promised to be an adventure and for me, it sort of petered out halfway through. As Peter heads out on his quest to find the truth, the story starts to get a bit muddy and then I started to skim, and then I was completely lost. By the end, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what happened, but after thinking about it for a day or two, I realize that I really have no clue.

To his credit, Schlink’s characters are lovely. I liked them very much and felt as if I really got to know them. If it weren’t for the strong characters I probably would have given up on the book because it just didn’t grab me as much as I expected it to. The ending was very strange too. Almost surreal at one point. It didn’t seem to fit the rest of the story.

Homecoming is my book club’s pick for this month so I’m hoping that the discussion on Thursday will shed some light on what exactly happened there at the end. Have any of you read it? If so, what did you think of it?

Source: Checked out from the library.

Tinkers Book Cover

Tinkers
By Paul Harding
Bellevue Literary Press
January 2009
192pp

The Short of It:

A tiny novel that packs an emotional punch.

The Rest of It:

An old man lies on his deathbed, and from it, reminisces about this childhood and his relationship with his father. Simple, yes?

Yes, but Tinkers is not an “in your face” type of story. George Washington Crosby lapses in and out of consciousness as his loved ones wait for the inevitable. His childhood memories come and go in fleeting, almost ethereal ways. Some memories are more structured than others, but nearly all center around his father Howard, who spent a good portion of his adult life struggling with Epilepsy, which back then, was not a disease that people were familiar with.

After a particularly bad episode, one which leaves George with a bitten hand, George’s mother seeks help in treating this disease. Except, the “treatment” for such a thing back in those days involved a trip to a mental institution. Something that Howard wants no part of since his own father was taken to one when he was just a young boy.

As a tinker, Howard is used to traveling from farm to farm, selling his wares. He is no stranger to travel. So, he loads up his cart and leaves his family, for good. What George recalls from his deathbed, are the tender moments between a father and his son, but also the darker moments of terror, not knowing or understanding what was happening to his father at the time.

This is a sad story. It has a heavy, weighty feel to it even though it’s such a short novel. Harding’s grasp of the father/son dynamic is gripping and unrelenting at times. The images he paints with words caused me to pause in thought numerous times and it’s left me mentally exhausted. That sounds like a negative comment but it’s really not. Death is an ordeal and losing a loved one certainly takes its toll and that is what it feels like. It’s as if I weathered a storm and now the clouds have passed. There is a moment of quiet wonder. That is what I am embracing right now.

As a book club book, I think there would be a lot to discuss as far as how Harding presents his ideas, and his writing style in general, but it’s a simple story at heart. Those looking for a book that is heavy on plot, won’t find that in Tinkers, but it’s a rewarding read nonetheless.

Tinkers won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and is Paul Harding’s first novel.

Source: Purchased

Chatting with friends about books and life…