#91 Wendell Berry

I just finished reading one of the better books I have read called Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. It's a story about a barber who lives alone in a small town in Kentucky. While it's fiction Wendell Berry still adds commentary on community, love, war, religion, the economy, the environment and politics. His questions and feelings on these topics match up with mine and a lot of my friend's. His writing makes ordinary life, death and sorrow somehow beautiful. I would suggest giving it a read.

"Here, Berry tells the story of Jonah (later Jayber) Crow. Orphaned as a young boy, Jayber makes his way through life from orphanage to seminary, and finally back to his roots, returning in 1937 to serve as barber in the community of Port William where he was born. Community is at the center of these stories. Berry is a passionate believer in the importance of belonging to a community and in the importance of community in the survival of our society. The characters here are clearly depicted, with all of their faults, but they are all the more real for those faults. Berry deftly captures the concerns, the loves, and the passions of his characters. Jayber’s unspoken love for Mattie Keith is the underlying foundation for the story. From the time he first sees her, through her difficult marriage to a local farmer with aspirations to achieve financial success, Jayber makes it his responsibility to assist her as best he can. Berry’s writing has something for everyone: powerful stories, beautifully described settings, and fully-realized characters. Jayber Crow is a gem among Berry’s fine novels."
- bfgb.wordpress.com

A couple people suggested Wendell Berry to me earlier this year so I thought I would give him a try. I picked up a book called Nathan Coulter earlier in the summer and loved it. I immediately fell in love with his style of writing, probably because the characters in his novels remind me of my family in Kentucky. Most of his books are set in a fictional town called Port Willaim, and a lot of the characters reoccur in the different stories.


It turns out that he is from the same county as my grandma, and my cousin actually is pretty good friends of his family. I would love to get to meet him, maybe I can talk my cousin into introducing me someday. Yeah right.

If you want to read his bio you can click here.