Tinkers (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• George Washington Crosby: George Crosby is lying in a hospital bed in the middle of his living room waiting to die. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he revisits his childhood and, particularly, his memories of his father.
• Howard Aaron Crosby: George's father. Tinker.
• Kathleen: Howard's wife.
• Gilbert: A hermit to whom Howard takes supplies. He lived deep in the woods along the Penobscot River.
• Dr. Box: Local physician where George grows up.
• Joe: George's little brother. Mentally incompetent.
• Prince Edward: Howard's horse. Pulls his tinker's cart.
• Sam: One of George's grandsons.
• Darla: George's sister.
• Marjorie: George's asthmatic sister.
• Gramp: Name George's grandchildren call him.
• Betsy: One of George's daughter.
• Sabbatis: Local Indian guide where George grew up.
• Charlie: One of George's grandsons.
• Jimmy Drizos: Friend of Aaron (Howard's assumed name). Loans Aaron a car.
• Ray Morrell: George's childhood friend.
• Rafe: A local hunter
• Budden: A family that lived nearby during George's childhood.
• Megan: Aaron's wife.
• Margie: George's sister.
• Cullen: The agent who provided supplies for Howard's sales.
• Claire: One of George's daughter.
• Nana: George's wife, as called by grandchildren.
• Jack Levanseller: Howard's neighbor.

Quotes edit see section history

• “When his grandchildren had been little, they had asked if they could hide inside the clock. Now he wanted to gather them and open himself up and hide them among his ribs and faintly ticking heart.”

  George

• “Howard thought, Is it not true: A move of the head, a step to the left or right, and we change from wise, decent, loyal people to conceited fools? Light changes, our eyes blink and see the world from the slightest difference of perspective and our place in it has changed infinitelyy: Sun catches cheap plate flaking - I am a tinker; the moon is an egg glowing in its nest of leafless treees--I am a poet; a brochure for an asylum is on the dresser--I am an epileptic, insane; the house is behind me--I am a fugitive.”

  Howard

• “...and two of the pieces of whatever it is that this world is knit from had come loose from each other and there was maybe just a finger width's hole, which I was lucky enough to spot in the glittering leaves from this wagon of drawers and nimble enough to scale the silver trunk and brave enough to poke my finger into the tear, that might offer to the simple touch a measure of tranquility or reassurance.”

  Howard

• “he hated exercise, and once he took early retirement at sixty he never had his heart rate up again if he could help it, and even then only if it were to whack through some heavy brush to get to a good trout pool.”

  George

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it. And when you resent the ache in your heart, remember: You will be dead and buried soon enough.

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• Your cold mornings are filled with the heartache about the fact that although we are not at ease in this world, it is all we have, that it is ours but that it is full of strife, so that all we can call our own is strife; but even that is better than nothing at all, isn't it?

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• His despair came from the fact that his wife saw him as a fool, as a useless tinker, a copier of bad verse from two-penny religious magazines, an epileptic, and could find no reason to turn her head and see him as something better.

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• Everything is made to perish; the wonder of anything at all is that it has not already done so. No, he thought. The wonder of anything is that it was made in the first place. What persists beyond this cataclysm of making and unmaking?

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• He resented his resentment because it was a sign of his own limitations of spirit and humility, no matter that he understood that such was each man's burden. He resented the ache because it was uninvited, seemed imposed, a sentence, and, despite the encouragement he gave himself each morning, it baffled him because it was there whether the day was good or bad, whether he witnessed major kindness or minor transgression, suffered sourceless grief or spontaneous joy.

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• George Crosby remembered many things as he died, but in an order he could not control. To look at his life, to take the stock he always imagined a man would at his end, was to witness a shifting mass, the tiles of a mosaic spinning, swirling, reportraying, always in recognizable swaths of colors, familiar elements, molecular units, intimate currents, but also independent now of his will, showing him a different self every time he tried to make an assessment.

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• He tinkered. Tin pots, wrought iron. Solder melted and cupped in a clay dam. Quicksilver patchwork. Occasionally, a pot hammered back flat, the tinkle of tin sibilant, tiny beneath the lid of the boreal forest. Tinkerbird, coppersmith, but mostly a brush and mop drummer.

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• When his grandchildren had been little, they had asked if they could hide inside the clock. Now he wanted to gather them and open himself up and hide them among his ribs and faintly ticking heart. When he realized that the silence by which he had been confused was that of all of his clocks having been allowed to wind down, he understood that he was going to die in the bed where he lay.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• West Cove
• Pittsburgh
• New England

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• horology: Many details about clock parts, building, and repair are connected with plot elements. The structure of the story moves back and forth in time as if the writer is re-inventing or de-inventing traditional narrative chronology.
• Father-Son Relationships: Describe this theme.
• epilepsy

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Olive Kitteridge, and followed by A Visit From the Goon Squad.

Followed by The City & The City.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Paul Harding (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Pulitzer Prize (2010: Fiction)
• Amazon.com's Best Books (November 2009: Editors' Picks, #44)
• ALA Notable Book (2010: Fiction)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Complex relationships. Death and dying.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Psychological & Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history