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    The Poet of Tolstoy Park
    The Poet of Tolstoy Park
    The Poet of Tolstoy Park
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Poet of Tolstoy Park

    Written by Sonny Brewer

    Narrated by Sonny Brewer and Rick Bragg

    5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This book is based on the true life of Henry Stuart. When the 67-year-old former professor finds out he is dying of tuberculosis, he vows to "learn in solitude how to save myself." He sets off for Fairhope, Alabama, with only the writings of his beloved Tolstoy for company. There, the barefoot poet builds himself a small hut and slowly becomes an inspiration for the rest of the utopian town. When his last few months become his last few years, Henry's attempt to understand death becomes a lesson on life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 28, 2011
    ISBN9781461800255
    The Poet of Tolstoy Park

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    Reviews for The Poet of Tolstoy Park

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It makes me want to visit Fairhope, Alabama.
    • 5/5
      An older "Thoreau" faces mortality. Sonny Brewer's book is a puzzle to me. It's a book which moves slowly and inexorably, yet most pleasurably towards its inevitable end. I was initially put off by all the minute detail, which seemed unnecessary, given the everyday nature of what was being described. Here's an example: "Henry was washing his breakfast bowl in a white porcelain-coated metal bucket ... Henry lifted the bowl from the water in the bucket and slung droplets from it onto the ground. He reached a small white cotton towel down from where it hung on a holly branch near the well, dried the bowl, and returned the towel. He took the clean spoon from his pants pocket and placed it inside the bowl and was taking steps toward the barn to put the dish away ..." There's a lot of this kind of picture-making detail in the book, but you kind of get used to it after a bit and fall willingly into the slow cadences and rhythms of a timeless tale about life, death, relationships. Henry Stuart knows he's dying. He just doesn't know when. And of course no one does, and therein lies the unifying theme, I think. It's not about how long we live or when we die, it's about how we spend our time while we're still here. At first Henry thinks he needs to be alone - and perhaps he does - but then he realizes that other people are important too, and ends up becoming an important and integral part of the Fairhope and Montrose community. I thought of Thoreau and Walden while reading this book, of course, but I also thought of the southern novelist, Reynolds Price, whose dignified and stately style Brewer's gentle story brings to mind. So yeah, I enjoyed the story. On a more irreverent note, I was kinda wishing, waaay in the back of my mind, that maybe ol' Henry and Kate (some thirty years younger)would get together a la "Murphy's Romance." (Remember James Garner and Sally Field?) But I suppose that woulda spoiled the dignified and artistic tone of the book. But who knows? Maybe Hollywood will add that twist by the time it gets to the screen. Great story, Sonny. You have a voice that deserves to find an audience.