Tinkers

TINKERS

by Paul Harding

 

Award: Pulitzer Winner 2010


Nomination: LA Times Finalist 2009

 

Dates Read: June 24, 2010 & April 10, 2021

 

Tinkers is a beautiful, whisper of a book so good that I have read it twice. I find it even more enchanting the second time around. To me, at this stage in my life, Tinkers is about the beauty of the natural world and the humility of living every day with integrity, knowing full well the limits and vastness of the human experience.

 

So many quiet moments of grace abound here. Two generations of men, Howard already deceased and his son, George, on his death bed with mere hours to live. George experiences moments from his life and his story is interwoven with those of his father. Both are tinkers in a sense, Howard in a horse-drawn cart selling household items door-to-door is a capable tinker and makes minor repairs for the housewives he encounters. George tinkers with clocks, appreciating their reliability and complex moving parts.

 

Neither man ever achieves great riches. But even in their poverty, George recalls a time when their family simply sat on the porch, just letting life be, painting a picture of tranquility and aliveness that somehow seems lost in modern technology and the continual striving for more.

 

For all the transience of Howard’s life, he brushes up against fame in the guise of a hermit living in the woods who gifts Howard a first edition of The Scarlett Letter, affirming the folklore that the hermit was once a friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s. But what struck me most about this hermit is the way in which Howard never judges this man, but honors his personhood by continually and consistently meeting his basic needs.

 

And still, Howard’s integrity seems not questioned but confirmed when he abandons his family while George is at the tender age of 12. Howard realizes his need to move on and rather than deny that, he suddenly and calmly creates another life for himself out whole-cloth. While normally I would balk at this and talk about honor and duty, somehow this decision seems so life-affirming and understandable that one can overlook how wrong it would be in any other circumstance.

 

The words that come to mind for this work is gorgeous, muted, peaceful and exceptional.

 

Looking Forward: Enon

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