STITCH IN TIME

by John Gould ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 29, 1985

More essays from Maine's main man--with the usual gripes, grumps, tall tales, nostalgic rememberings, and mild jocularity. There's lots of salty stuff about lobsters and lobstermen, holding silent harbor-side communion as to whether or not it's a ""haulin' day"": ""Well--I dunno."" And some minutes later: ""Well--I dunno."" Along with camp kitchen tales, there's a formidable recipe for pea soup, as well as a lament for the passing of the omnipresent can of lard, the empties of which were used to hold anything from lunch to well water. As expected, Gould ticks off Out-of-Staters like the Massachusetts vacationer, for whom the army of black flies waits, and of course New Yorkers paralyzed by a snow storm. (""I don't know why,"" posits one Maine neighbor, ""they don't just tread 'er down, same's I do."") Among the subjects: the joys of Latin, the inadequacies of the telephone company, the bygone Dories of stereopticans, soap shakers, and free seeds from congressmen. And there are, of course, anecdotes about eccentric oldsters, comical French Canadians, and laconic natives. (Gould claims the natives put on those ""Bert-and-I"" ayuh routines for tourists; but he himself seems to draw at the same well.) Though most of the pieces are only middling amusing, occasionally Gould lets out the stops--as when he berates a city slicker for describing the forest as ""silent,"" in spite of the mighty woodsy cacophony (from the ""treesqueak"" to loons berating one another ""in the manner of a heretic being boiled in oil""). For the following.

Pub Date: April 29, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION