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Top of the pile
75
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
74/100Critics
77/100Scholars
Author:
Trent Preszler
Publisher:
William Morrow
Date:
April 27, 2021
In this debut memoir, a gay Long Island vintner returns home to rural North Dakota to find his estranged father dying of cancer. Bequeathed a box of tools, Prezler goes about building a handmade canoe, grieving his father's death and reflecting on the complexities of inheritance and the healing power of creativity.
What The Reviewers Say
... [an] insightful, lyrical prodigal-son memoir.
Readers learn along with Preszler as he works; he thoughtfully doles out historical details over the course of the boat's construction, as he reveals the family's background. Insightful and humorous, Preszler's memoir is a deep dive to find the father he longed for and the confidence to be his own man..
The author writes with raw honesty about the closeness he shared with his father as a child, and how they became estranged over the years, moreseo after Preszler's college graduation.
His well-written story, which contains flashbacks to his youth, is low key but charming and not without some suspense (Will he finish in time?). Ultimately it’s a tale as well crafted as the beautiful canoe..
