A Far Piece to Canaan by Sam Halpern

A Far Piece to Canaan by Sam Halpern

Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0-06-223316-5

Trade paperback, $14.99, 384 pages

Sam Halpern is best known as Justin Halpern's dad from the Twitter handle S*@tMyDadSays. Justin posted funny things his dad said, it took off, and Justin got two very funny books and short-lived TV series out of it.

Though both books S*@T My Dad Says and I Suck at Girls are gut-busting hilarious, they also have a lot of heart, most of that coming from Justin's dad Sam. Yeah, he was pretty blunt with his son, but he also showed great love and affection, and that was my favorite part of both books.

Sam Halpern has written a novel, A Far Piece to Canaan, mostly set in the hills of Kentucky post -WWII. The cover reads 'a novel of friendship and redemption', and that gives the reader, along with the cover illustration of two tween boys sitting on a fence, a pretty good idea of what this book is all about.

We meet twelve-year-old Sam Zelinsky, who along with his family- Dad, Mom, and three older siblings- are sharecropping on a farm in Kentucky. Sharecropping is an incredibly tough life, and Halpern's writing really opened up my eyes to a world I did not know well. Not only are the sharecroppers dependent on the weather, like most farmers, they are also subject to the owners of the farms and their sometimes changing whims. The Zelinskys hope to make enough money to buy their own farm in Indiana.

Sam's best friend is Fred, whose family is struggling even more so than Sam's family. Fred's father saves every penny he makes to put toward buying mules and equipment, even if it means his family goes without food or decent clothing.

I enjoyed watching Sam and Fred's friendship develop. I live with my husband and two sons, and so that world of maleness fascinates me. Much like Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, it gave me great insight into how boys relate to each other.

The book moves back and forth between now and the years on the farm in Kentucky. Sam's beloved wife Nora told him before she died that he needed to go back to Kentucky to look for his friend Fred whom he hasn't seen in 60 years, even though Fred had tried to get in touch a few times over the years.

There is some action in the book as someone is savagely butchering livestock. Sam, Fred and two of their friends stumble upon where this crazed man is hiding, but they don't tell anyone because they fear that two of the boys' fathers will beat them for going somewhere they have been forbidden to go.

The boys decide to protect each other rather than tell the truth about what they know. Anyone who has dealt with young people has probably run across this. The young mind isn't mature enough to make a reasoned decision. It is more important to be loyal to a friend.

When the crazy man burns down a home and tries to kill Sam, they boys are forced to tell what they know. The scenes with the sheriff and the boys and their fathers as they first try to get the boys to tell the truth and then go after the man are crackling with tension.

The last few chapters tell Sam's story as he goes back to Kentucky to track down his friend Fred. His journey is moving as he tries to redeem himself. He moved away and left everything and everyone behind, and now he has regrets about not staying in touch.

Reading this did make me think about the journey we are on as we travel through life. We make friends at different stages, and this book will encourage you to be grateful for everyone you have loved, and to remember that they played a part in making you who you are.

My favorite line in the book is this one from the adult Sam:

"Being human is difficult", I said aloud. "Common decency is the greatest quality to which one can aspire and the hardest to practice."

Reading Justin's books, I always knew that his dad Sam had a big heart and I am glad to see that he gets to express his voice in this beautiful novel, which I suspect has much in common with Sam's own young years (and not just that he and his protagonist share a name).

The only criticism I have is that some of the descriptions of the Kentucky landscape went on a bit too long for me.

rating 4 of 5

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. More reviews of the book can be found below.

Sam’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, May 28th: Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World

Wednesday, May 29th: A Patchwork of Books

Thursday, May 30th: SusieBookworm

Monday, June 3rd: bookchickdi

Tuesday, June 4th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Wednesday, June 5th: A Bookworm’s World

Thursday, June 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Tuesday, June 11th: BookNAround

Monday, June 17th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf

Tuesday, June 18th: As I turn the pages

Author Sam Halpern

I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern

I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern
Published by ItBooks ISBN 9780062113375
Hardcover, $16.99

A few years ago, Justin Halpern rocked the book world with his best-selling book, Sh*t My Dad Says,  based on his Twitter feed where he just wrote hilarious stuff his cranky dad told him. The tweets turned into a book which turned into a TV show that did not do the book justice.

In my review of the book, I said that you could tell who in my family was reading the book by the burst of laughter coming from various rooms in the apartment. My adult sons and I loved the profane, funny and yes, touching book.

Halpern is back with another gem of a book, I Suck at Girls, about his (mis)adventures with the fairer sex. Once again there is plenty of wit and wisdom from his father, but also lots of heart. As the only women in a family of men, I found that this book gave me a window into the world of what boys and men really think and feel about women.

Halpern is a shy guy, and to his utter dismay, still a virgin at the age of twenty. His recounting of his prom night is a sad one, but I bet it's probably closer to many people's experiences than we are willing to admit.  High school wasn't a happy time for him, so he was thrilled to be attending San Diego State University ("Harvard, without the smart people", as his dad called it), where he hoped to get a fresh start.

About a fifth of his high school graduating class was going to SDSU, so his hope that no one would know him was dashed when he was referred to as "the guy who wears sweatpants to school sometimes." Halpern writes "Ideally, I'd like to be known as something other than that."

He and his friend Ryan work hard all summer and saved their money to go to Europe, where they had heard that the girls all want to have sex. They decide to go to Ibiza because Ryan read in a guide book that the parties there are crazy. Along the way they meet a great character, Vietnam Joe, who doesn't speak much English, but manages to get a pretty Mexican girl.

Halpern and his buddy get jobs washing dishes at Hooters, and he finally gets a girlfriend. He gets dumped and gets a job at another restaurant and dates another waitress, who is a bit crazy. Finally he meets a woman whom he think she could have a long term relationship with, but she lives in San Francisco.

I Suck at Girls is the kind of book that appeals to men and women. Men will read it and relate to Halpern's life. Women should read it to learn about the interior life of men; if you think they are all dogs, you would be well served to read it to learn about just how insecure men are and how much courage it takes to approach a woman.

And I love his dad even more after reading this book.

I have to give this book a rating of 5 of 5 because any book that makes me laugh that hard and then want to give the poor guy a hug deserves it.

Word for Word Author Series at Bryant Park

Sara Barron, Ali Wentworth, Justin Halpern at Bryant Park 

I love when the warmer weather is here because that means the return of Bryant Park's Word for Word Author Series on Wednesday afternoons. This year's kickoff was May 16th with author Sara Barron (People Are Unappealing: Even Me) interviewing author/actress Ali Wentworth (Ali in Wonderland and Other Tall Tales) and author Justin Halpern (S&*t My Dad Says and I Suck at Girls).


All three are funny people and Sara's questions were well crafted, (except for one that lost the audience and the authors). She asked the authors to describe themselves and Ali said "I'm a very elegant lady and I feel for the underdog. I can see I have my hands full with you two."

Justin said of himself, "I'm going for nebbishy Jew" to which Sara replied "Mission accomplished."

All three agreed with Sara's assertion that "writing is romanticized" as a profession, and if they are to  be believed, it's a lot of sitting around, fooling around on the internet and finally, at the end of the day, writing one good line. It must take them forever to finish a book.

Describing a "day in the life of a writer", Ali said that she gets up at 6 (her husband Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopolis wakes at 3am), gets her kids up and takes them to school, comes home and drinks lots of English tea, paces a lot, shops online, looks up plastic surgery websites, writes a line and then picks up her kids from school.

Justin says he just follows his dad around with a pencil. He "eats breakfast, farts around on the internet, writes a line, hates it, more internet" and the day is done. He wrote for sitcoms and said that "95% of the time in the writers room is wasted", so either way, he wastes a lot of time.

Sara asked what they would consider a good day of writing, and Ali said "if I don't fall asleep" it's a good day. Justin said if his wife laughs at his stuff, he knows it's good.

Sara asked about pet peeves, and Ali relates that her husband is the serious one, so when he reads something of hers and says "that's funny, but you know what would be funnier?", it makes her crazy. (She talks about that in her funny book.)

Both of their books are about their parents to great extent, and Sara asked how their parents felt about the books. Ali said that her mother "was on the brink of a breakdown" and was afraid that Ali was writing a Patti Davis or Mommy Dearest type book, and even enlisted Ali's siblings to contact anyone they knew at HarperCollins to stop the book. (It wasn't necessary, the book is really a love letter to her mother.)

Justin's dad made him sit next to him while he read the book, which was excruciating. His dad said "Page 86- when have I ever hopped into a car? I don't 'hop' into anything."

I like this series because instead of just a reading, the authors discuss their process and craft of writing. It's always an enlightening afternoon, plus it's outside and a sunny day, it's just beautiful.

The Word for Word series schedule can be found here.
I reviewed Ali's book Ali in Wonderland on the blog here.
Ali Wentworth has a web show, The Daily Shot, on yahoo that is very funny.
Sara Barron's website is here.
Justin Halpern, who owes everything to Twitter and his dad, can be found on Tumblr.