Overview

David Giffels grew up fascinated by his father's dusty, tool-strewn workshop and the countless creations--both practical and fantastical--it inspired. So when he enlisted his eighty-one-year-old dad for the unusual project of building a casket, he thought of it mostly as a way to learn and to spend time together. Life had other plans. The unexpected death of his mother and, a year later, of his best friend, coupled with turning fifty and the growing realization that his father won't always be around for such offbeat adventures, leads to a harsh confrontation with mortality and loss. In this soulful, panoramic memoir and father-son story, Giffels confronts some of the hardest questions common people face with wisdom and humor, unraveling the absence and presence of the people who define us and taking a true measure of life. Furnishing Eternity is the story of a year brought down by loss, a family finding hope in its roots, and the unexpected epiphanies to be found in the things we build. Heartfelt, unvarnished, and piercing with insight, this powerful memoir is Giffels' most intimate exploration of the values and traditions that illuminate the Midwest.

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9781665140973

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A lifetime's worth of workbench philosophy in a heartfelt memoir about the connection between a father and son. -- Kirkus Reviews Tender, witty, and, like the woodworking it describes, painstakingly and subtly wrought. -- New York Times

"""A lifetime's worth of workbench philosophy in a heartfelt memoir about the connection between a father and son."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" ""Tender, witty, and, like the woodworking it describes, painstakingly and subtly wrought."" -- ""New York Times"""

Author Information

David Giffels is the author of The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches From the Rust Belt, nominated for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, the memoir All the Way Home, winner of the Ohioana Book Award, and Furnishing Eternity. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic.com, Parade, the Wall Street Journal, Esquire.com, Grantland.com, Redbook, and many other publications. He also was a writer for the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Akron, where he teaches creative nonfiction in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program. Eric Michael Summerer is a voice actor and producer who has narrated numerous audiobooks as well as countless instructional recordings and video games. His narrations have earned an Audie Award nomination and won an AudioFile Earphones Award. He also cohosts the popular board-game podcast The Dice Tower.

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