The Pitcher Shower - Hardcover

Harington, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1592641237 ISBN 13: 9781592641239

Publisher: Toby Pr, 2005

Synopsis

When Hoppy rolls into town in his horse-drawn truck, he is often met with anticipation and attention because he brings shoot-em-up pictures, but his predictable routine is disturbed when a teenager stows away in his truck, and together they set off on a series of adventures throughout the Ozarks.

About this title

About the Author

Donald Harington teaches the History of Art at the University of Arkansas.

Reviews

A lighthearted Ozark take on Shakespeare drives the latest whimsical installment of the Stay More series. Landon "Hoppy" Boyd is a Stay More native who roams the Arkansas countryside showing early westerns from a trailer mounted on his truck, providing weekend entertainment for the locals. Boyd has no shortage of fairer sex volunteers, but takes along "Carl" Whitlow—who quickly turns out to be Sharline Whitlow, a comely admirer in disguise. Their traveling show goes swimmingly until the pair meets one Emmett Binns, a preacher who wants to hector viewers after screenings about the evils of film. The two eventually shed the erratic, annoying Binns, but not before he steals virtually their entire film collection, forcing Hoppy and Sharline to show an early Hollywood Midsummer Night's Dream. Life soon imitates art as Sharline takes up with the classy, fast-talking Arlis Faught. Hoppy gets romantic revenge with Faught's erstwhile girlfriend before the book cuts to a formulaic happy ending. Harington (With) has tackled heavier themes in previous volumes, but sly narrative commentary and winning humor make this a welcome addition to the series. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In thirteen novels, Harington has created his own loopy Yoknapatawpha County in the fictional Ozark hamlet of Stay More. The hero of this installment, Landon (Hoppy) Boyd-the nickname is a nod to Hopalong Cassidy-travels from one rural town to another, showing movies to farm families who pay a dime or a dozen eggs for the privilege. Harington's stock-in-trade is a kind of fringe hayseed; he's Faulkner crossed with Tom Robbins (almost every female in the novel verges on nymphomania). His stories are best when they just jiggle along. When he tries to stop and infuse them with meaning ("It was starting to get dark, and the dark helped his illusions"), they falter.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

This sweet, lyrical tale of a late-blooming loner finds Harington circling back around the Ozarks town of Stay More, whose lives and times he's faithfully chronicled for a good many years now. Landon "Hoppy" Boyd is a young projectionist--or "pitcher shower," as he calls himself--and Stay More is both hometown and hub on his circuit of the pre-television era sticks. He calls himself Hoppy because he only shows Hopalong Cassidy features, plus a childhood accident left him with a limp. So he dons a 10-gallon hat and wows farm families with oaters that unspool like magic from the back of his white truck, Topper. This ultimate outsider's life changes both for better and worse when he picks up a stowaway and then loses his movies to a roving preacher. But this is a novel about the art of storytelling as much as it is about Hoppy himself. As his grandfather once told him, "They's not exactly any trick. But words is little miracles, don't ye know? If you use 'em right, you can do anything with 'em." Harington knows, and we're the luckier for it. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Toby Pr
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1592641237
• ISBN 13: 9781592641239
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 202