{"product_id":"visiting-tom-a-man-a-highway-and-the-road-to-roughneck-grace-isbn-9780061894466","title":"Visiting Tom: A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Somewhere between Garrison Keillor’s idyllic-sweet Lake Wobegon and the narrow-mindedness of Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street lies the reality of small-town life. This is where Michael Perry lives.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cem\u003eSt. Paul Pioneer Press\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Perry can take comfort in the power of his writing, his ability to pull readers from all corners onto his Wisconsin spread, and make them feel right at home.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cem\u003eSeattle Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTuesdays with Morrie\u003c\/em\u003e meets Bill Bryson in \u003cem\u003eVisiting Tom\u003c\/em\u003e, another witty, poignant, and stylish paean to living in New Auburn, Wisconsin, from Michael Perry. The author of \u003cem\u003ePopulation: 485\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCoop\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eTruck: A Love Story\u003c\/em\u003e, Perry takes us along on his uplifting visits with his octogenarian neighbor one valley over—and celebrates the wisdom, heart, and sass of a vanishing generation that embodies the indomitable spirit of small-town America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of Coop and Population: 485 comes a portrait of a unique individual and a dedicated way of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat can we learn about life, love, and artillery from an eighty-two-year-old man whose favorite hobby is firing his homemade cannons? Visit by visit—often with his young daughters in tow—author Michael Perry finds out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToiling in his shop, Tom Hartwig makes gag shovel handles, parts for quarter-million-dollar farm equipment, and—now and then—batches of potentially “extralegal” explosives. Tom, who is approaching his sixtieth wedding anniversary with his wife, Arlene, and is famous for driving a team of oxen in local parades, has stories dating back to the days of his prize Model A and an antiauthoritarian streak refreshed daily by the interstate that was shoved through his front yard in 1965 and now dumps more than eight million vehicles past his kitchen window every year. And yet \u003cem\u003eVisiting Tom\u003c\/em\u003e is dominated by the elderly man’s equanimity and ultimately—when he and Perry converse as husbands and the fathers of daughters—unvarnished tenderness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“PERRY’S the real thing.” —USA Today\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Blending his own autobiography into Tom’s profile, Perry plunges into the soul of the American heartland. While Foxfire fans will relish the emphasis on forgotten crafts and tools, others will appreciate Perry’s gift as a bucolic wordsmith, etching a sensitive portrait of vanishing country life where ‘the light of a firefly is the size of a teardrop.’” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Warmhearted….engaging….down-to-earth and genuine.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Drop whatever you are doing and sit down to read Michael Perry’s Visiting Tom….Perry is a craftsman of the highest order….When you go back to doing what you were doing when you picked up this book, you might just see your world with a broader, more humane perspective.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Journal of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s part memoir, part character piece. There’s a bit of the poetic to it. It’s about fighting bureaucracy, Foxfire-ish self-sustenance, life the ‘old timer’s’ way, and male-bonding foolishness. It’s about fatherhood, marriage and love. And it’s just about one of the sweetest books you’ll ever read.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Sparks Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Charming and humorous.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Funnier than Keillor.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinnPost\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eVisiting Tom\u003c\/i\u003e is more than just a whimsical portrait of a unique character. It’s a meditation on modernity and self-reliance that sneaks up on you with its unexpected depth.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCapital Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Michael Perry writes the words that create the memoirs that make so many of us want to raise chickens and pigs, plant a few rows of corn or otherwise just make hay. Mostly, though, he makes us want to get to know our neighbors better - no matter where we live.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eExperience Wisconsin Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The portrait Mr. Perry paints...is of a place and a life that is worth noting….His writing is beautiful and immediate and elegant.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Perry] is a sharp and empathetic observer.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJournal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eVisiting Tom\u003c\/i\u003e, a story that melds Perry’s unique humor with notes of Garrison Keillor and Billy Bryson, the elderly man’s tenderness and character jump off the page as he shares his thoughts on life and love.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eExpress Milwaukee\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888409506021,"sku":"NP9780061894466","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061894466.jpg?v=1730229032","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/visiting-tom-a-man-a-highway-and-the-road-to-roughneck-grace-isbn-9780061894466","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}