Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play and Other Aspects of Country Life

by John Jerome

With grace, style, and gentle, self-deprecating wit, John Jerome describes the back-breaking but soul-mending task of building a stone wall on his New England farm. The job begins on a whim-he decides to move one from his woods for the sheer pleasure of seeing it from the house-and as the wall progresses, the physical occupation leads Jerome to philosophical preoccupation. Thus Stone Work, first published in 1989, becomes a discourse on the meaning of craft, the stolidness of work, the gifts of the seasons, and the complexities of being male and fifty-five.

Jerome finds something pure in the lugging and the struggling with the stones, a clarity that leads him to insights into family ties, the tenuousness of nature's beauty, and his ongoing quest for fixity in a world of flux. "Maybe gravity is all the alignment one ever gets," he thinks as he pushes a stone into place, "and therefore all I ought to need. What more could one want, anyway, than the sure sense-right there, at any given moment for the noticing-of a straight line pointing toward the center of the earth?" While his wall isn't a masterwork-isn't even finished-his hands-on labor allows Jerome to grasp some elemental truths; with him we come to see the "riches, riches, everywhere, just for the paying of attention."

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 1989

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have been doing 'stone work' myself for over 40 years, abusing wheelbarrows, my back and pickup trucks.

First, another poached and pasted review from Kirkus(*) "KIRKUS REVIEW"

"An easygoing meditation on what its urbanite author learned building a stone wall in the Berkshires. Aiming to take a page from Walden--and joining Annie Dillard's pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Tracy Kidder's House--Jerome makes a potentially ponderous subject a pretext for an illumination of human frailties and ambitions. Jerome is a 54-year-old former magazine writer and editor who has escaped permanently to his country place, which is littered with the ragged results of previous attempts at projects. Partially for aesthetic reasons, but mostly to try to come to grips with his Type A, explosive temperament, Jerome sets out to build a typical New England stone wall. But instead of giving us exhaustive histories and digressions on great walls through the ages, Jerome wisely makes this humble project a personal odyssey, retracing in brief his tangled relationships with the men who gave him his conflicting attitudes toward work in general--his father and stepfather. Jerome's past researches into athletic performance (Staying With It) and obsessions (Truck, his tale of rebuilding a 1950 pickup) lend what might have been just another wistful country essay a factual skeleton. A sturdy book that comes off better than it sounds, this should appeal to those who seek an escape--not just from urbanity and overcivilization, but from the limitations imposed by character and upbringing."
***
A book to reread. One that I enjoyed recommending to select library patrons.
***
Would like to converse with John Jerome. Like his perceptional range and focus. Stayed on his frequency while reading.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a scrapbook of unexplored ideas about the author's desire to be more of a romantic about nature. It is over-written and under-thought. Avoid at all costs.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

After thoroughly enjoying Jerome's Truck, I decided to take a look at Stone Work, and I was not disappointed. Though the focus was not as much on the ostensible project (in this case, a stone wall) as it was on the rebuilding of the old Dodge pickup in Truck I still found Stone Work to be a readable and engaging meditation on work and the value of physical labor in a world where much has become digital and fleeting. I appreciate that Jerome doesn't waste anyone's time by ascribing false romance to tasks that are dirty, challenging and can be monotonous, but seems to appreciate the value of tangible and immediate results for one's time and effort. There are also some great insights about the seasons and getting older--as a whole, Stone Work is much more a collection of related vignettes than anything else, and as such it succeeds. I recommend it to those who enjoy writers like Ed Abbey or perhaps Matthew Crawford.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me want to build a stone wall in my back yard. Jerome writes beautifully, on a wide range, and you get the feel of him in what he's doing.

[Will G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old guy cogitation about manual labor.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in 1995, and made some notes at the time.

Jerome spoke about a lot about this book in his book The Writing Trade, which I read a year or two earlier. It’s similar in feel to the other book, with that same reminiscing-cum-philosophizing approach; it obviously works, since I zipped through it, and enjoyed it, even though the topic was so different.

There’s something about the way he writes about his life and the particular place he inhabits that reaches across to the reader and becomes more than particular; it becomes something the reader can say, 'Yes, I don’t live where you live, yet I do – you’re talking about the same sort of planet, and the same kind of vibes.' He also has a good way of getting the character of different people across; they’re real for the reader, even though some barely appear for more than a few sentences.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stone Work: Reflections on Serious Play and Other Aspects of Country Life by John Jerome (University Press of New England 1989) (693.1).

This is a book by an author I last read over thirty years ago. I stumbled across this volume in a used book shop and immediately remembered how much I loved his writings.

In this volume, the author spends a year teaching himself to build a stone wall from the pieces of granite found in the woods and fields of his New England farm. For the author, his observations about nature during the changing seasons while outdoors working on the wall and his musings while undertaking such an autonomic task are what is of primary interest.

Here are some good quote selections from Stone Work: “It’s all chemicals, says the biochemistry text. Chlorophylls keep the leaves green while they are green, carotenoids – as in butter, corn, canary feathers – turn them yellow when the chlorophyll goes. Tannin adds the browns, the bronzes; something called anthocyanin turns leaves red if the sap of the plant is acidic, blue or purple if it is alkaline. Color is a substance, says the chemist.” – John Jerome, Stone Work, p. 140.

“On the solstice: “The tilting of the earth may very well have stopped at the winter solstice, creaking to a halt and starting back the other way, but I was down in the basement at the time, running a power saw, and didn’t hear a thing.”- John Jerome, Stone Work.

“[A]s my breath begins to quiet in the silent woods, I pick up a squeaking, creaking sound, growing steadily louder, that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I snap my head up and overhead, oh my God, here comes three hundred, five hundred, a thousand Canada geese, maybe fifteen hundred, stretching across the sky in a succession of vees. Largest flight I’ve ever seen. Underlit from reflection off the snow, a skyful of silver arrowheads, bound due north for the summer to come. A skyful of physiology, riding the physics of the air toward the pole. Riches, riches, everywhere, just for the paying of attention.” - John Jerome, Stone Work.

I think the author got it just right!

I purchased a used PB copy in like-new condition from McKay’s Books on 6/1/20 for $1.50.

My rating: 7.5/10, finished 8/27/13.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Ross Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It sounds a bit corny, but this book is precious. It's not a page turner but rather a page savour-er. I read this by taking on a page or two at night, right before bed. Jerome reminds us that whatever we are doing - work, stone wall building, etc. - can take on a different meaning when reflected against the vast, cyclical turns of nature and the universe. There is so much to see if we are able to be aware. I share Jerome's love of being outside, and like he does I wish the weather were better at times. But he goes with the flow and reminds us that we can be grumpy about a cold, windy day yet still find richness in it. I expect I'll begin reading this again, soon.

Enjoyed this section:

My stepfather, Ott, worked terribly hard all the time, twelve- and fourteen-hour days, and then came home and sat at his drafting board, designing more things to build. (I showed no interest in the drawings; he never showed them to me.) He probably had a satisfactory and interesting life, but I never was aware of him enjoying a day of it.

My stepfather taught me that work was what you did to hold back the tide, to keep from being swept under. He was—to me, anyway —unlovable and cold, and I never caught on to the fact that he was working for pleasure. Never saw that he was getting what he needed from that, in his stolid, silent way, and didn't need us, or social contact, or much else. (In fact he was conspicuously ill at ease in social situations.) Both men, it amuses me now to think, lived in hot climates: Ralph had a hammock under a shade tree, and used it now and then; I doubt Ott could have conceived of owning a hammock. (I have a hammock and never use it.) Of the two men, Ott was the stabler, productive one, who never hurt anybody—although he never comforted anyone much either-but whom I could not understand.

[Steve Voiles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice book for meditative reflection. I read it years ago and recently reread it in little bites in the middle of the night when I had trouble sleeping. It was perfect for the purpose because I could read a paragraph or two and get me thoughts involved in his musing in a way that did not prevent drifting off.
He writes of building a no-mortar stone wall and the use of tools, including his own body and simple tools like levers and blocks to move heavy stones and place them in ways that hold the wall together. Gravity and physics, visualization and all the private thoughts that such efforts inspire... It works well to foster meditation and further musing of a person interested in nature and tools and a relationship to nature. His reflections on perception, nature and human nature are worth the journey. JMy second time through and I enjoyed it even more that when I read it more that thirty years ago.

[Carl Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that will stay with you for a long time. It's about rebuilding a stone wall, but only in the way that Moby Dick is about a whale. It's about learning how to balance, picking things up and putting them down in another place, feeling the heft and shape and slip of things until one day your hand reaches out for them and without thinking, you'll know where they go. A wonderful, peaceful book as balanced as the stone work it's almost about.

[Henry Le Nav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a very long time ago and can't remember enough of the book to give an adequate review. That said, it was for me one of those books that provide some course corrections in my life. Stop and smell the roses sort of thing and gain a better appreciation for nature. Highly Recommended.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that keeps me grounded. Because it chronicles observations about life throughout one year, I find myself re-reading it throughout the year, following along with the seasons as they are depicted. A wonderful collection of simple ideas from an overlooked master of prose.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"two on one, one on two" -- life lesson learned from reading this book years ago.

[Betsy Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, feel-good book. 50something man escapes his NYC life and moves to rural New England where he takes up building stone walls. Wonderful exploration of what makes a person "tick."

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtitle says it all. This book is a sort of grandchild of Thoreau's "Walden." Philosophical. Insightful. Witty. Provocative. Challenging.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great meditative work.

[Richard Kravitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read--very deep. Still I don't remember much.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted something to listen to while I did some cleaning.