Kemp, Kenny. Dad was a Carpenter: Blueprints for a Meaningful Life. HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins. 2001. c.128p. illus. LC 00-054096. ISBN 0-06-251763-5. $18.
Men, it is said, love to take things apart; the tricky part is putting them back together again. In this memoir the authors successfully disassembles and rebuilds his relationships with his fathers. Kemp’s is a brief but beautiful love letter to his deceased pops. Winner of the 1999 Writer’s Digest National Self-Published Book contest’s Grand Prize, this work recalls the author’s meaningful connections (e.g., “I had the best go-cart in the world and … [he] built it for me”) and chronicles parts of his dad’s life. Writing in a frankly inspirational style, Kemp, a Salt Lake City–based attorney, focuses on what his father taught him about life’s big lessons.
There is much accumulated wisdom here, and Kemp’s is an idealized account that will work well where inspirational titles for men are needed. Libraries might also consider Ted Solotaroff’s Truth Comes in Blows (LJ 11/1/98) and Hugh Howard’s House-Dreams (LJ 5/15/01). Appropriate for Father’s Day gifts and for public libraries.
This review appeared in Library Journal 126.10, June 1, 2001 on page 193. The galley was shredded January 13, 2012.
