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Harvest Son

Planting Roots in American Soil

by David M. Masumoto


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Available editions of Harvest Son

9780393319743 9780393319743, Paperback, W W Norton & Co Inc, 1999

$2.96 (Very Good)

Other copies of 9780393319743
   
9780393046731 9780393046731, Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc, 1998

$1.00 (Near Fine)

Other copies of 9780393046731
   

Publisher Notes

A Japanese-American farmer's tribute to family, farm, and community. Epitaph for a Peach-David Mas Masumoto's successful and critically acclaimed first book-grew out of his attempt to save his orchard of old-fashioned juicy peaches from replacement by a more commercially viable brand. His glorious new book, Harvest Son, is about taking over and renewing the family farm. In prose of zen-like calm and clarity, Masumoto relates how he learned to prune vines and survive a storm; to value the knowledge of old farmers and the rusty tools forgotten in the shed; and to take on a leadership role in his Buddhist community. He also shares life vividly in the present: how it feels really to sweat while you work; the way dust cakes on your neck when you're driving a tractor; the pleasure of rinsing off under a cold faucet; a grandmother's joy at hearing that her grandson will visit her birthplace; the way grapes are dried into raisins; and the way a family works together in the fields. Masumoto celebrates the continuity in which he harvests grapes from the vines that his grandfather planted. He also mourns the losses suffered during the Japanese-American internment before he was born. But by knitting together past and future, he holds on to what matters, despite the pressures of change.

Media Reviews

"In lyrical essays that explore themes of family, tradition and heritage, this philosopher-farmer dignifies the most tedious farm tasks. Pruning a peach tree connects him to past and future Masumotos. Digging up vines with his indomitable 80-year-old grandmother, whose flexed biceps look like eggs, he feels the redemptive power of labor."

Excerpt

I immerse my arms under the faucet and dip my shoulders into the stream, watching a brown muddy column run off my skin. With my parched mouth so close, I'll quickly turn my head sideways, cupping my lips below the faucet to gulp the liquid and wastefully let it dribble over my cheek in a satisfying moment of decadence. Then I immerse my face and feel the heat drain from my cheeks and swirl downward with the water and dust. I blink and stare through the water; only my forehead and eyes are enveloped, yet my mouth opens and closes like a fish's with each breath.

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