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Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life
Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life
Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life
Audiobook7 hours

Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life

Written by John Jerome

Narrated by Ed Sala

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

In Stone Work, critically-acclaimed author John Jerome describes the back-breaking but soul-strengthening task of building a stone wall on his New England farm. Equipped only with gloves, elemental tools, and the sense to get out of the way of rolling boulders, Jerome tries to reconstruct a wall in a year. The job begins on a whim-he decides to move a stone wall hidden in the woods on his property for the sheer pleasure of seeing it from his house. While wrangling, lugging, rolling, and carting an entity that responds only to gravity and leverage, Jerome grasps the gifts of the seasons and the complexities of being a middle-aged male. Philosophical, yet almost giddy with the excitement of doing something extraordinary, Stone Work is a delight. Narrator Ed Sala's gifted storytelling enhances Jerome's graceful prose, and lends vibrant voice to the gentle humor and self-effacing ruminations of a man of letters confronted with lugging tons of rock.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 24, 2011
ISBN9781456124076
Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I first read John Jerome probably fifteen or more years ago when I picked up his book, ON TURNING SIXTY-FIVE. I wasn't that old yet, but I could relate to much of what he had to say about ageing and diminished powers. In fact, a few of my friends read the book then too. Sadly, Jerome died just a couple years after publishing that book. Since then I've read his marvelous little book, TRUCK, about fixing and restoring an old pickup truck. And now here is STONE WORK, which will, of course, make you think of Frost's "Mending Wall," which is fine, because Jerome is a fan of Frost, as well as Thoreau and other types who like to futz about in the great outdoors. I found myself skimming and skipping around in this year-long seasonal journal Jerome kept, a tale held together with continued references to the stone wall he was building, with some help from family and friends, but mostly by himself, as well as other manual tasks undertaken around his rural Massachusetts home. I'm afraid I didn't find it quite as compelling as the other two books, but there's plenty of food for thought here, nonetheless. I think what I like most about Jerome's writing is the way he never really takes himself all that seriously, and his dry wit and self-deprecating sense of humor. If you've never read John Jerome's stuff, STONE WORK is probably a pretty good intro, but ON TURNING SIXTY-FIVE is, I think, his best book - a worthy swan song for a fine writer.