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Title: The Ferryman
Subtitle: 8 Crossings to a Gentler Life
Author: Thomas William Simpson
Narrator: Kevin M. Connolly
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
Language: English
Release date: 10-07-14
Publisher: Simpson Books
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
This short tale about a man's desire to live a different kind of life unfolds during a single day. At the crack of dawn the ferryman opens his eyes to find an impatient businessman nudging him with his foot. The businessman demands they cross the river. Immediately. Right this second. Not a minute to spare.
The ferryman rises and offers tea and scones. The businessman says he has no time for tea and scones. He needs to reach the other side. Progress and profits depend on it.
The ferryman understands. Before becoming a simple ferryman he had been a striver bristling with ambition, always angling to close the next deal. He had manipulated and deceived to accomplish his aims. He had believed material wealth the only true measure of success.
But he cannot just yet haul the businessman across the river. He must wait for the old woman. The old woman is sick and needs to see the doctor on the other side.
The Ferryman is an amusing and tender tale that attempts to shine a wide light on what might actually matter in life. Yes, we have our necessities: food and shelter, security and transportation. But what beyond these basics truly has relevance?
Thomas William Simpson is the author of such diverse novels as The Immortal, Full Moon Over America, The Fingerprints of Armless Mike, This Way Madness Lies, and Annie's War.
His curiosity for the human condition, as evidenced in The Ferryman, knows no bounds.
Members Reviews:
This jewel of a book should come in a robins egg blue Tiffany box
After reading "The Ferryman", I found myself wishing Amazon had a 6th star to give out.
I'm 72 + years old and can't ever remember taking the time to write a review of anything I either bought or read. I didn't even bother to tell Nabokov, Dostoevsky or Gibran how much I enjoyed reading "Lolita", "Crime and Punishment" and "The Prophet" and the changes I would have made to their classics. Yes, Virginia, I am enjoying my later years and the reward of being an unrepentant lazy senior citizen. After all, we do get discounts, right?
After reading "The Ferryman" my chronic lethargy took a much needed time out. I felt obligated as a father and responsible adult to turn off the TV, get out of my Lazy Boy recliner and share my impressions of this wonderful little book with others.
The ferryman tells us about his " 8 Crossings to a Gentler Life" as he travels back and forth across a mythical river. His story of revelation is told in a simple, concise and thought provoking manner. To say that the writing and presentation of these 8 crossings is superb in it's power and clarity would be an understatement. I've bought my share of how to live your life books over the years, but none of them had the import and staying power of "The Ferryman".
Apparently, Mr. Simpson spent many years writing and condensing this book in his head. How else could any writer have taken what could have been 8 boring volumes of wisdom dealing with the lessons of life and condensed it into less than 150 can't put the book down pages? The less is more principle prevails throughout this remarkable little (in pages only) book.
Personally, "The Ferryman" took me longer to read than I had anticipated. This was because of the many times I set the book down to reflect on the wisdom the ferryman had gleaned from his earlier life.