Jayber Crow

&#147;This is a book about Heaven&#148; says Jayber Crow &#147;but I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell.&#148; It is 1932 and he has returned to his native Port William to become the town's barber.<br><br>Orphaned at age ten Jayber Crow&#146;s acquaintance with loneliness and want have made him a patient observer of the human animal in both its goodness and frailty.<br><br>He began his search as a &#147;pre&#150;ministerial student&#148; 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 &#147;Old Grit&#148; his profound professor of New Testament Greek. <br><br>&#147;You have been given questions to which you cannot be <i>given</i> answers. You will have to live them out&#151;perhaps a little at a time.&#148;<br><br> &#147;And how long is that going to take?&#148;<br><br> &#147;I don't know. As long as you live perhaps.&#148;<br><br> &#147;That could be a long time.&#148;<br><br> &#147;I will tell you a further mystery&#148; he said. &#147;It may take longer.&#148;<br><br>Wendell Berry&#146;s clear&#150;sighted depiction of humanity&#146;s gifts&#151;love and loss joy and despair&#151;is seen though his intimate knowledge of the Port William Membership.