The One-Room Schoolhouse: Stories about the Boys

by Jim Heynen

Book Overview

In more than one hundred perfectly pitched, sometimes perverse, and always surprising stories, Jim Heynen displays his mastery of country wisdom, speech, and behavior as he reveals life in a Midwest... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679747699
• ISBN13: 9780679747697
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended.

I probably can't describe this book any better than the above articles and reader reviews, one reason being that this book represents an example of truly original writing. Heynen's style is truly his own. (To compare his style to Ernest Hemingway's---as one newspaper review does above---is simply lazy and misleading.)His stories are spare but often very poetic. There are not a lot of details, but there is always the right detail, often presented in a way that will stay with you (I doubt I'll EVER forget the image from "Eye to Eye".) In short, a tremendous book.

Sit down and let the farm boy reminisce

I've been a fan of Jim Heyden ever since a friend introduced me to his The Man Who Kept Cigars In His Cap not long after it was published. He is a master of the one or two page sketch that illuminates a sliver of human behavior.In this collection, you feel as if you're listening to a keen observer, a quiet storyteller reminscing about childhood on a midwestern farm - corn, pigs, cows, chickens i.e. very diversified farming. The characters consistent primarily of the boys, the youngest boy, the men, with guest appearances of the preacher, town boys, and grandfather.Whether you're reading about the preacher who passed gass, the gypsies at the old school yard, grandfather teaching the boys to make firefly flashlights, the youngest boy hiding in a dip until a dandelion seemed to breath, hunting June bugs with old ping-pong paddles, you'll enjoy the honesty, earthiness, innocence, and style of these stories.Literature that will change the world? No. Literature that will be known in a century? Probably not. But for pure delight, especially if you were raised on a farm, this book is great fun.

What a marvellous collection of tales!

Heynen has been writing about "the boys" for years; this is a collection of the many stories he has written. "The boys" are an indeterminate number of boys growing up in the rural Midwest. In the course of their days, they find insight into many aspects of life, death, love, friendship, and an amusing number of encounters with animals and small town bureaucrats (if there is a distinction). Humor ranges from a chuckle to laughing out loud, and poignancy ranges from a knowing nod to fighting back tears. This is lovely writing.

*Should* be a cult classic.

I discovered this book while rummaging around in my high school library and fell in love wiht it almost instantly. Most of these stories are short enough to fit on a postcard, and I don't think there's a proper noun anywhere in the book. These characters are merely "the boys"--but they wouldn't even have to be *boys*, as far as I'm concerned. The stories are about tiny events - electric lights, rat-tails, the coming of spring - but Heynen, with just a few deft words, gets you to see and feel them, and opens up all kinds of wellsprings. But I'm babbling; the stories speak for themselves.