The Baker's Boy

By Barry Kitterman

Set in Central America and in middle Tennessee, Barry Kitterman s debut novel gives us two intertwined stories: In the first, Tanner Johnson, nearing midlife, has left his pregnant wife and taken a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870745204
• ISBN13: 9780870745201
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Southern Methodist Univ Pr
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

You won't regret buying this book!

I can't get these characters off my mind: Tanner, the bakery worker, who struggles to come to terms with frailties and his humanity; Albert and Junie, the boys of Belize, lost and forgotten, who need more from Tanner than he can give; Price and Ellie, the Peace Corps workers, trying deperately to do good in an indifferent world; Katherine and Stacen, the strong women who generously give Tanner space (and reason) to confront his demons. This book will take you on an emotional journey and, just when you least expect it, make you laugh out loud at some wry observation or incongruous event. In short, it's a wonderful read.

Frustratingly Real Characterizations...

Kitterman has written a character in Tanner Johnson that is very much like a real person - frustratingly real. There are many times throughout this book that I wanted to give him a stern talking-to at the least - and maybe shake him by the shoulders until he'd come to his senses. Circumstances in the story finally force him to wake up to his grandiosity and self-absorption. Gluttonous in his misery and confusion, Tanner is so locked in his past that he seems almost wholly unable to relate to people in the present. Kitterman has written a rambling story that bounces back and forth from the present to the past as quickly and erratically as Tanner's ability to stay in the present is easily distracted into fond reminiscing or dreaded remembrance. Overall this is a book that's hard to put down after the first few chapters have been absorbed - and one that gets under your skin as the tension builds. I won't say more because I don't want to give away too much - but enjoy the read!

Wow!

I was in the Peace Corps-Belize with Barry Kitterman. He completely captures the experience .... and the pain, anguish, remorse .... and good stuff we all left with when we went home in yhr 70's and tried to adjust to "real life." I was captivated by this book from beginning to end.

Must. For True.

This book is wonderful! I could not put it down! The writing is excellent. The story is smart and compelling. Well, the stories, really. There are many stories and there is one story. Like the summary says, there's the story of Tanner Johnson in Middle Tennessee, trying hard to avoid wondering whether or not he should straighten his life out, and there's the story of Tanner Johnson in Belize, trying hard to avoid wondering whether or not he should straighten his life out. Within these larger arcs are small moments of Tanner falling in love, learning how to be a teacher, being told by a beautiful woman that there are enough boys in the world and he should learn to be a man. You will laugh out loud. You will feel like you're going to cry, and then you might cry. You will want the story to keep going, want Tanner to keep talking because what he does best is tell a story, though he always doubts whether he's telling it right. And that's another story. The story about doubt and how it doesn't go away. How you have to feel it and be good anyway.