Tinkers

I finally finished this book of 190 pages. Seems like it took me a while. When I finished the last page a couple of nights ago, I kind of furled my brow, puckered my lips, and thought "hmmmm did I miss something?" Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed reading this book, but in the end when I tried to summarize it in my head, I had to think about it for a long while.

Reading reviews on the book, some people are simply blown away by it. Perhaps the majority since it won a Pulitzer. However, there seem to be a good handful of people who found it to be a complete snooze too. I can actually agree with points made from both perspectives.

This was a book I had to read without distraction. A few times I would find myself re-reading a few pages and still feeling like I only comprehended about 70% of what I read. haha That's kinda of how I felt reading chemistry. This would sometimes lead to a feeling like I was at the end of a 2001 A space Odyssey and sleep would overcome me.

Several portions of the book however, just blew me away in the amount of detail conveyed, the poetic use of language, and the economy of description. Reading the page was like running downhill with the words flowing out so fast that your tongue could crash at any moment. It's the verbal equivalent to the pictures you would see in National Geographic. It's HD language. As Papa Dragon would say, "It's a Potent Mix!"

But I also agree with the negative opinions that the plot line is maybe too free flowing. It works for some, but others like myself can get lost and feel disconnected. The way the story is told with little dialogue leaves most of the characters hard to grasp maybe.

I had my strongest connection with Howard as a boy. At one point in the book, he goes into the woods looking for his father, trying to find his bones inside logs and other body parts hidden away in the forest. He goes into a pond and stays there submerged up to his head, not moving for hours until night falls. In the darkness he sees a set of eyes upon him. He talks about the legends surrounding local Native Americans and how they seemingly slip in and out of our existence like ghosts. Then this other head with eyes in the water opens its mouth so big that he can hear water draining into it when suddenly a fish jumps into the mouth and disappears without struggle. The whole scene just creeped me out! It's a dark and surreal vision that will stay with me for a long time.

Tinkers is about dying any way you look at it though. I was hoping it would be an uplifting book that showed me that the universe is warm and our energies are kept sacred. Not the case though. I think Tinkers conveys a sense of a larger mystery, like seeing the entire universe as one whole thing that works in an amazing way. The workings are cold though, they are beautiful to behold, but do as they do regardless of you or me.