Renovations: A Father and Son Rebuild a House and Rediscover Each Other

by John Marchese

The National Magazine Award-winning writer recalls the joy and confidence-building he experienced while helping his father renovate a house and describes how this home improvement project shaped and redefined the two men's understanding of and relationships with each other. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2001

Reviews

[Haley Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I own this book for many reasons. One being I think I will revisit this book year after year and also, I loved physically marking the many stories and moments that reminded me of my own dad and grandpa. I laughed and cried and laughed some more. I resonated with John who went from knowing nothing to being quite skilled. So much can be learned through the process of renovating. The relationship between John and 'Tully' was real and pulled at my heart strings on numerous occasions. Glad to have found this book!

[Otis Hanby · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this memoir might not be for everyone I did appreciate it. Having a background as a woodworker/cabinet maker of seven years I could relate to Tulley - Marchese's dad - and the great divide between his world of construction and the author's world of intellectualism. More than once I felt a little badly for John Marchese as he felt he wasn't his father's equal within the blue-collar world. Being a first-generation college graduate that eventually became a columnist and author he still felt inadequate when it came to his father's expectations. This was an enjoyable read although I'm sure the audience will remain small.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

With my love for a good narrative, this was the first book in the home improvement section that looked interesting to me when I was weeding it at work a few weeks ago. Marchese, a thoroughly urbanized writer, having spent a decade in New York, suddenly decides to buy a house in the country and work with his construction worker Dad to fix it up.

As you can imagine there's the classic theme of a blue collar father and white collar son trying to find common ground while learning a lot more about how the other lives. I love the honesty of non-fiction that makes this situation seem fresh even though it's a situation that plays out every day across the land of the American Dream. When a cliche is happening to you, it feels unique and that comes across in Marchese's story.

The sarcastic wit in the early chapters, when son is bristling at father's demanding instruction are entertaining enough to get you hooked to find out if the two ever work things out. It's not a Hollywood ending, but, again, that's the nice thing about non-fiction, you can still get something a little less than schmaltzy.

Another fun tidbit is his chapter about meeting Bob Vila a major icon, if not the founder of home improvement TV. As you can probably guess, the guy on TV is only somewhat related to the guy in real life.

Overall this was a solid, if understated, book. This is truly the stuff of everyday life, but told by somebody with a better vocabulary and ability to craft an engaging narrative.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

They say that doing a home remodeling project is a huge test of a marriage: if your relationship can survive that, it can survive anything. Of course, those projects are usually done in the early days of a marriage, when young couples can afford only a bare-bones house, and they take on the work themselves to save money. In the case of this book, it’s a long-standing relationship – father and son – that is tested by the pair of them taking on the work of gutting and redoing the first son the forty-year-old son has every owned. Dad, Tully, is a retired lath-and-plaster man, while the son (John, the author of the book) is a writer and musician who has never done much in the way of physical labor. That they will clash is to be expected. They are very different men, and not just because of what they do to earn a living. This memoir isn’t warm and fuzzy. John and Tully don’t have poignant conversations in the bar after a long day, or make grand emotional discoveries over piles of scrap lumber. It’s more about opening your eyes and heart to see what is already there, and about appreciating those qualities about each other.

[Douglas Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men, it is said, love to take things apart; the tricky part is putting them back together again. Marchese, a freelance writer, takes a more workman-like approach. He deconstructs the complex relationship that he shares with his former construction worker father and presents it as clearly as a blueprint. Their fizzled relationship is rekindled when the two renovate a house in Narrowsburg, NY. It helps that Dad has a lifetime's experience, because Marchese doesn't even know which end of a pry-bar to use. An epiphany near the end of Marchese's book speaks to everyone: "Like all sons, I am what I am both because of [my father] and despite him." A literate and forthright account with much accumulated wisdom; appropriate for Father's Day gifts.
Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.

[Frank Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Father Son relationship true story. The story makes you rethink your relationship with your father and throw's in some construction information too. It's a keeper. I will hand it down to my son when he is old enough.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone has daddy issues.