Visiting Tom
A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace
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Narrated by:
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Michael Perry
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By:
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Michael Perry
About this listen
What can we learn about life, love, and artillery from an 82-year-old man whose favorite hobby is firing his homemade cannons? Visit by visit - often with his young daughters in tow - author Michael Perry is about to find out.
Toiling in a shop Perry describes as "an antique store stocked by Rube Goldberg, curated by Hunter Thompson, and rearranged by a small earthquake", Tom Hartwig makes gag shovel handles, parts for quarter-million-dollar farm equipment, and - now and then - batches of potentially "extralegal" explosives. As he approaches his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife, Arlene, Tom, famous for driving a team of oxen in local parades, has an endless reservoir of stories dating back to days of his prize Model A, and an anti-authoritarian streak refreshed daily by the four-lane interstate that was shoved through his front yard in 1965 and now dumps over eight million vehicles past his kitchen window every year. And yet Visiting Tom is dominated by the elderly man's equanimity and ultimately - when he and Perry converse over the kitchen table as husbands and as the fathers of daughters - unvarnished tenderness.
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Unbelievable
- By pineapple67 on 11-08-19
By: Joan Samson
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Christmas with Tucker
- By: Greg Kincaid
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In this heartwarming novel, Greg Kincaid, the best-selling author of A Dog Named Christmas, revisits the early life of one of that book’s protagonists and brings us a holiday tale of redemption, hope, and forgiveness. It’s 1962, and as Christmas approaches so does one of the worst snow and ice storms in Kansas history. Without utilities and emergency services, it is a dangerous time for the residents of Cherokee County. For the McCray family, it is even worse.
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Snow Days on the Farm
- By Debbie on 12-02-14
By: Greg Kincaid
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Rain Dogs
- By: Sean Doolittle
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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It was one hell of an inheritance for former Chicago reporter Tom Coleman: a broken-down pickup truck, ramshackle campground, a canoe livery - and one pot-smoking, barely working employee he doesn’t need, doesn’t want, and can’t afford. But the truth is, after losing a child and a marriage, Tom doesn’t really care.
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Narration is awful
- By Karen Martin on 03-09-21
By: Sean Doolittle
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Deep Creek
- Finding Hope in the High Country
- By: Pam Houston
- Narrated by: Pam Houston
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Elk calves and bluebirds mark the changing seasons, winter temperatures drop to 35 below, and lightning sparks a 110,000-acre wildfire, threatening her century-old barn and all its inhabitants. Through her travels from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, she explores what ties her to the Earth, the ranch most of all.
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The most beautiful book I’ve ever read
- By KFratt on 04-26-19
By: Pam Houston
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The Grasshopper Trap
- By: Patrick McManus
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Often compared to Garrison Keillor and Mark Twain, Patrick F. McManus maintains just the right balance between baffled innocence and conspiratorial confidence. Since 1979, this humorist has been delighting readers with hilarious stories recounting his childhood in rural Idaho and relating his misadventures in the great outdoors. Whether you're a sportsman or a couch potato, he will have you laughing out loud at his escapades.
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Classic Pat McManus
- By Elizabeth on 06-13-17
By: Patrick McManus
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
- By: David Wroblewski
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Filled with breathtaking scenes, the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a meditation on the limits of language and what lies beyond, a brilliantly inventive retelling of an ancient story, and an epic tale of devotion, betrayal, and courage in the American heartland.
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Devastatingly Dark Story
- By Knitme23 on 02-07-15
By: David Wroblewski
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Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!
- By: Patrick McManus
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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You don't have to be a hunter or camper to enjoy this collection of hilarious stories by a writer who is often compared to Mark Twain and Garrison Keillor. In fact, the charm of Patrick F. McManus' work is that it provides plenty of reasons for staying indoors, surrounded by friendly appliances. You'll laugh aloud as McManus and his friends, including Rancid and Crazy Eddie, venture into the great outdoors to face formidable foes.
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Classic Pat McManus
- By Elizabeth on 10-27-17
By: Patrick McManus
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The Wettest County in the World, or Lawless
- A Novel Based on a True Story
- By: Matt Bondurant
- Narrated by: Erik Steele
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County during Prohibition and after. The brothers played a central role in a major conspiracy trial and its violent end. In 1935, Sherwood Anderson, working on a magazine story, finds himself driving along the dusty red roads trying to find the brothers and break the silence that shrouds Franklin County.
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Just outstanding!
- By Rich on 08-18-12
By: Matt Bondurant
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Zen and Now
- On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- By: Mark Richardson
- Narrated by: Buck Schirner
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1968, Robert Pirsig and his son, Chris, made the cross-country motorcycle trip that was the basis for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book that has inspired generations with its searching personal and philosophical narrative. After rereading the book at the onset of middle age, reporter Mark Richardson tuned up his old Suzuki dirt bike and became a "Pirsig Pilgrim".
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Wonderful
- By James on 04-17-09
By: Mark Richardson
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If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat?
- Misadventures in Hunting, Fishing, and the Wilds of Suburbia
- By: Bill Heavey
- Narrated by: Ian Patrick Williams
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether he is accidentally cooking his brain with hand warmers or yanking his lure away from a trophy fish just before it takes the bait, Bill Heavey can do no right. For almost a decade, he has chronicled his incompetence on the back page of Field & Stream, where his hilarious dispatches about life as a hapless outdoorsman who lives in suburbia have earned him legions of fans.
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Great book
- By Jon Hiltz on 07-21-18
By: Bill Heavey
What listeners say about Visiting Tom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- med1pilot
- 03-12-20
Michael Perry at his finest
Michael Perry has to be one of my all time favorite authors. No one can bring sights and sounds to words like he can.
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- J. W. Patchin
- 05-29-13
Excellent read, er listen!
Would you listen to Visiting Tom again? Why?
I have already started listening to it again because I loved it so much. The stories are humorous, as you would expect from Michael Perry, and I have found myself laughing even more the second time around.
What did you like best about this story?
Michael Perry has an amazing way of noticing and writing about everyday occurrences in a poetic way.
Any additional comments?
Previously I listened to Population 485 and after listening to Visiting Tom I went back in time a bit and read Truck. I'm on the road a lot myself so listening to the stories are a lot more convenient for me. And listening to him read the books himself is like listening to him tell you alone a story. I'll likely wait for Coop to come out in audio format so I can enjoy it where most appropriate: on a back-road somewhere in Wisconsin.
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- Rachel
- 09-15-13
Perry doesn't disappoint
Michael Perry is great. If you don't want to read this, go read any of his other books (including Coop, Population 485, Truck, Off Main Street).
This latest book, like all his books, focuses on life in small-town Wisconsin. It is helpful to his writing that Perry talks to interesting people, but more important is Perry's point of view. His writing is pleasant and funny and you appreciate his perspective and way of explaining the situation.
Though the story is ostensible about Perry's visits with Tom, my favorite parts were those where Perry talks about his own troubles with the roads commission and about his approach to parenting. There are the occasional sad or touching bits too, and that makes the books "human."
Perry narrates and this is reason enough to get the audiobook instead of the book, though I read all the other books on paper. Perry is able to perfectly nail the small-town Wisconsin accent and ways of speaking. You can "hear" this on paper, at least if you've lived in WI, but it's nice to hear it for real in the audiobook.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Richard A. Myers
- 06-18-15
I've listened to it four times!
It made me laugh, made me sigh and even.... well you get the picture. It's great.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-15-17
Makes me miss home
Was amazing, not just wisconsin small town life (which I am akin to, being from the same county) but small town in general, that any American, or someone wanting to know about small town America, should read. this is one of my favorite audio books, since Michael Perry narrated it too. all around must read
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- Robert Chesley
- 05-16-24
I made a mistake
This is the whole book, I read it years ago and had confused the order of events
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- J
- 05-20-19
Takes time to get into the book, ending was great.
A great story about life, real life in Wisconsin and a few of those gems that make it great. I had a tough time getting into the story at the beginning, but was glad I stayed with listening to it. The ending is well worth it.
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