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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.54
EAN num: 9781555973698
ISBN number: 1555973698
Label: Graywolf Press
Manufacturer: Graywolf Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 200
Printing Date: October 01, 2002
Publishing house: Graywolf Press
Sale Popularity Level: 734520
Studio: Graywolf Press
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Product Description:
Paul Lisicky remembers being not much like other boys his age, but rather the awkward thirteen-year-old with 'arms thick as drinking straws,' who composes tunes in his head that he might later send to Folk Mass Today or to the producers of The Partridge Family. Born into a family whose incremental sucess bumps them up a notch from their immigrant upbringing and into suburban America, Paul puts his creative, undaunted energy into drawing intricate housing development plans and writing liturgical music.
In these lively, loving essays, Lisicky explores the constant impulse to rebuild the self. With gracious, thoughtful candor and pitch-perfect humor, he explores the very personal realms of childhood dreams and ambitions, adolescent sexual awakenings, and adult realities.
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Rated by buyers 
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If I press a book into your hand and beg you to read it, you will know that I am doing so because I love the book and I want to share that love with you. When you examine the beloved book, you will note how many pages I've dog eared. The more dog ears, the deeper my love.
Paul Lisicky's gorgeous, tender book of essays, Famous Builder, has a dog ear about every other page. I loved it that much.
If you start off your book, very very first thing, having to spell your name in a classroom--you've got me. Right there. Welcome to every very first day of my life.
But then if you carry on with wonderful, evocative, empathetic renderings of your family and childhood neighbors and relatives (Mrs. Fox! I picture her as Anne Bancroft playing Mrs. Robinson) and your own place within this world and your own childhood longings (to become a famous builder of all the wondrous and geeky things), you've got me even further.
Lisicky pages through his life and opens old wounds and examines them, but never once paints himself or his family the victim. His parents are human beings and he is a son who tries hard and sometimes fails and sometimes lets go. He is a son who yearns, just as they want him to yearn.
While this is partly a book of coming of age, mostly this is a book of home, and what Lisicky (and his brothers) knows is that home is moving away from you just as you know it is there--home could be a department store on its way out or waterfront homes built on dredge and fill or a hotel room.
Home is in the moment:
"I turn back toward the room. If it were mine to do such a thing, I'd secure this moment with the heaviest anchor: Arden taking up all the space he needs; Beau resting a thick paw on Mark's forearm; Mark touching my leg as I walk by, just to let me know he's thinking of me."
A beautiful, touching book. Read it.
Rated by buyers 
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This is one of those books that I wanted as a quick, uplifting, summer read and I have to be honest and say it was really excruciating to read. I don't like to give negative feedback, especially for authors whom I've enjoyed in the past. However, the positive reviews here, which influenced me to purchase it, need to be checked. I FORCED myself to finish this and it took months.
The book is about the author's childhood. It is so completely disjointed in it's characters, times and locations and rarely makes sense at all. There is absolutely no depth to or connections between any of the characters. It's all descriptive writing about locations, etc. and has little point or continuity. It really has nothing to do with being a builder, even thought that's what it seems the protagonist wanted to be in his early childhood. Later in the book, you find out he actually wanted to be something else (I can't even remember and i finished it this week) and mentions nothing about him wanting to be an author (which he ultimately is).
It would have helped if the author cut the descriptive text in half and delved into the relationships between the people in his life (not just describe their out of sequence comments). I was craving to know more about his father and him and his mother and him and his brother, neighbors, aunts, etc. but it just described a few of their comments and actions randomly in his life. The most character development is of a neighbor - "Mrs. Fox" who appears in one of his location changes - and that is purely descriptive as well.
I do not recommend this book to anyone - not even people who fondly remember the development communities of the 50's - today. Sorry Mr. Lisiki but i'm sure i'll give you a good review somewhere else.
The cover is very nice (and the velum insert) but here goes the clichet.... "Don't judge a book by it's cover" - or the Amazon reviews.
Rated by buyers -
Sweet. Irreverent. Warm. A little crazed. And still these adjectives don't do justice to the accomplishment of this lovely book.
Rated by buyers -
Every now and then I come across a book that occupies all my free time. This is one such book! The author has accomplished to portrait his journey from middle America childhood to adulthood with great observation, introspection, and delirious humor. I loved it!
Rated by buyers -
Every now and then I come across a book that takes hold of all my free time, that practically nothing gets accomplished until I reach the last page. This was one such book! The author has accomplished to portrait his journey from middle America youth to adulthood with great observation, introspection, and delirious humor. I loved it!
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