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The Boatbuilder
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
7 posts | 7 read | 6 to read
At 28 years old, Eli "Berg" Koenigsberg has never encountered a challenge he couldn't push through, until a head injury leaves him with lingering headaches and a weakness for opiates. Berg moves to a remote Northern California town, seeking space and time to recover, but soon finds himself breaking into homes in search of pills. Addled by addiction and chronic pain, Berg meets Alejandro, a reclusive, master boatbuilder, and begins to see a path forward. Alejandro offers Berg honest labor, but more than this, he offers him a new approach to his suffering, a template for survival amid intense pain. Nurtured by his friendship with Alejandro and aided, too, by the comradeship of many in Talinas, Berg begins to return to himself. Written in gleaming prose, this is a story about resilience, community, and what it takes to win back your soul.
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Kshakal
Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 🛶💙 10mo
Eggs So pretty 🩷🚤 🌸 (edited) 10mo
37 likes2 comments
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Chris
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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review
Twocougs
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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Pickpick

Lovely, gentle, full of sorrow, difficult times, hope, and honest to goodness love. It certainly deserved its nomination.

35 likes2 stack adds
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DreesReads
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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Pickpick

I only heard of this because it was longlisted for the National Book Award. And it is excellent! It looks at Berg, mid-20s, who has an opioid problem since his first concussion. He leaves SF and heads north, settling in Talinas (a stand in for Bolinas?). The boatbuilder, Alejandro, teaches him about boats, meditation, and accepting what is. Berg is fitting in, making friends, and figuring things out. Mostly. #nationalbookawardlonglist

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tholmz
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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Pickpick

This was certainly not the most thrilling book, but I enjoyed the story and the characters and felt drawn to the texhnicalities of boatbuilding, which surprised me!

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Redwritinghood
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
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Mehso-so

This NBA longlisted title (did not make the shortlist) looks at how a young man struggles to overcome his opioid addiction. He does so primarily by running away from his life and studying boat building. Beyond this, though, the narrative felt rather empty. 3⭐️ ebook is on #Hoopla

Geeklet This sounded pretty interesting. Hate to hear that it didn‘t really live up to the hype. 6y
Redwritinghood @Geeklet Mainly, I just wanted more from this book. There were also a lot of side characters in the story that didn‘t add much. 6y
52 likes2 comments
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8little_paws
The Boatbuilder | Daniel Gumbiner
Mehso-so

This story of quarter-life mentorship has some good sections between our main character and his mentor, a boat builder, but I found the townie characters to really add nothing to the story and that didn't interest me.