Jayber Crow

In his latest story about the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky, Berry introduces readers to Jayber Crow, his love for his community, and his abiding and unrequited love for one special woman. nThis is a book about Heaven, says Jayber Crow, but I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell. It is 1932 and he has returned to his native Port William to become the town's barber. nOrphaned at age ten, Jayber Crow's acquaintance with loneliness and want have made him a patient observer of the human animal, in both its goodness and frailty. n nHe began his search as a pre-ministerial student at Pigeonville College. There, freedom met with new burdens and a young man needed more than a mirror to find himself. But the beginning of that finding was a short conversation with Old Grit, his profound professor of New Testament Greek. n nYou have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out--perhaps a little at a time. n n And how long is that going to take? n n I don't know. As long as you live, perhaps. n n That could be a long time. n n I will tell you a further mystery, he said. It may take longer. n nWendell Berry's clear-sighted depiction of humanity's gifts--love and loss, joy and despair--is seen though his intimate knowledge of the Port William Membership.n