Having spent her twenties at a desk while working for a Boston newspaper, the author yearns to do something different. She quits her job...and then figures out what that might be.Several jobless months later she answers an ad on Craigslist from someone looking for a "Carpenter's Assistant: Women strongly encouraged to apply." After an application process which included a one-day tryout (where she was forced to admit how little she knew about carpentry) she got the job and found herself working for and with Mary.
From dealing with commas and periods, she finds herself working with wood and tools, developing muscles she didn't know she had and learning more than she thought possible. Oh and making mistakes. Many mistakes. But under the careful tutelage of Mary she falls in love with the physical work and the joy of making something out of nothing.
I grew up in a family of builders. At times over the years all of us worked with wood and tools. And also at times I have contemplated what might have been. Reading this book gave me an idea of what that might have looked like.
I enjoyed this book from the explanations and histories of the tools she uses in her work, to the frustrations not being able to get something completely right on the first attempt, to her fear of lasting side effects from all the dust and carcinogens she was breathing in. It was fun and uplifting at the same time.
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