Dad Was a Carpenter: A Father, a Son, and the Blueprints for a Meaningful Life

by Kenny Kemp

Book Overview

On the day before Christmas, Kenny Kemp raised his father's heavy garage door and began going through 40 years of accumulated materials and belongings. It was four months after his father's death from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062517635
• ISBN13: 9780062517630
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Perfect for gifts

I have tears running down my face after reading the end, but this book also made me laugh. I'll be ordering an extra copy for my son-in-law as he and my daughter await the birth of their first child. This moving story would make a perfect Christmas or Father's Day gift.

Read it twice, cried both times...

This amazingly restrained, small book of remembrances and lessons learned from a "greatest generation" dad was as beautiful and authentic as any book I've ever read honoring one's father. Like other recent bestselling books, specifically, Tuesdays with Morrie and The Greatest Generation, and perhaps, All I Needed to Know...I Learned in Kindergarden, the reader comes away from this book with a profound appreciation for the wisdom, humility and sacrifice of a loving parent/teacher. Do yourself a favor, read Dad Was A Carpenter and then give a copy to someone you care about. Reading Mr. Kemp's book is like saying four of the hardest words to say in the English language, "I love you Dad."

Could be me, could be you

It would be hard to imagine anyone reading, "Dad was a Carpenter" without taking his, or her, own trip down memory lane. A quick and easy read, this book is a must for anyone who needs to do some closet cleaning to rid some old heartaches and get on with life.Let's face it, being a kid can be as bitter sweet as life in general. In the end, most of us survive even our teenage years, though not enough of us reflect on the experiences and lessons of our fathers and mothers that molded us into what we ultimately became. For some, those memories are too painful to recall. But like Kenny Kemp, some of us are able to look back and see that our parents were really all that we hope to be with our kids; loving, well meaning, imperfect, but basically decent and good. Kemp's account about life with his dad written years after the funeral is a healing balm for the resentments built up during our teenage years and for too many us, carried on far too long and far to deeply into our adult lives. Through Kenny's eyes we learn that O.C. Kemp was probably much like our dad, a regular guy who loved his family and did his best to provide as well as he knew how. A great book for sons, fathers, mothers and daughters alike. Inspiring, easy to complete in an hour if one can only read through the inevitable tears and many pauses for personal reflection. If O.C. Kemp had read this book before his death it would have been as close as any man would ever come to what Jimmy Stewart saw in his own "Wonderful Life."

Very highly recommended

Writer and filmmaker Kenny Kemp won the Grand Prize in the prestigious Writer's Digest National Self-Published Book Awards for his memoir DAD WAS A CARPENTER: BLUEPRINTS FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE, beating thousands of competing entries. The judges ruled well, for this beautifully written story of father, a son, and the meaning of life is must read.Kemp begins his memoir with the words, "I lied--Dad was not really a carpenter. He didn't work in the trades at all. He was a pharmacist--an ordinary man with poor eyesight, gapped teeth, and no hearing in one ear..." Yet Kemp doesn't lie at all. For concealed beneath the ordinary veneer is an extraordinary father whose talented hands and imagination could see possibilities in the rejected, the mundane, and the discarded. Out of cast-off patent-room lamps, he created a chandelier. From equally simple materials, he created a go-cart. Out of an accident, he inspired a son to pay for damages and make the repairs himself. And the ability to see beyond the broken, the cracked and faded inspired a son's imagination with words and with film.DAD WAS A CARPENTER: BLUEPRINTS FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE will only take an hour or two to read, but the subtle life lessons shared within will remain with the reader for a lifetime. The son who learned the value of straightening nails has shared a profound philosophical view of life in the telling of his story. Indeed, the simple carpenter that lay beneath the skin of pharmacist will touch the heart of any that reads DAD WAS A CARPENTER: BLUEPRINTS FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE. I very highly recommend it.

A must read - you can't read this book just once OR twice!

Dad was a Carpenter was written in a simple yet imaginative style. It is such an easy and pleasant reading experience. Kemp paints a picture of his father that is real-life. There is nothing flashy - but there is substance to this man. As I read, I could see the parallels between their relationship and that of myself and my own father. The world is full of "non-hero" type fathers who teach their children and just survive life and yet make it so full of memories for their families. When you have finished the book, you feel as if you personally know O.C. Kemp (the father) and have traveled through life with the Kemp family and have become a part of their family. As you read of the experiences in each chapter - you find yourself comparing your life's experiences with that of the author and his father and saying to yourself - "Hey, that's me and my Dad." Reading this book will make you want to share it with everyone. My wife and I have already decided what to give everyone for Christmas this year - "Dad was Carpenter."