A Place in Time

Twenty Stories of the Port William Membership

By: Wendell Berry

Narrated by: Lyle Blaker

The story of the community of Port William is one of the great works in American literature. This collection, the tenth volume in the series, is the perfect occasion to celebrate Berry's huge achievement. It feels as if the entire membership—all the Catletts, Burley Coulter, Elton Penn, the Rowanberrys, Laura Milby, the preacher's wife, Kate Helen Branch, Andy's dog, Mike—nearly everyone returns with a story or two, to fill in the gaps in this long tale. Those just now joining the Membership will be charmed. Those who've attended before will be enriched.

For more than fifty years, Wendell Berry has been telling us stories about Port William, a mythical town on the banks of the Kentucky River, populated over the years by a cast of unforgettable characters living in a single place over a long time. In A Place in Time, the stories dates range from 1864, when Rebecca Dawe finds herself in her own reflection at the end of the Civil War, to one from 1991 when Grover Gibbs's widow, Beulah, attends the auction as her home place is offered for sale.

©2012 Wendell Berry (P)2024 eChristian

Flawlessly told stories

To date, I’ve only read novels and poems by Wendell Berry, but I think now that his short stories may be his very best work. His incredible ability to say things “just so” is spellbinding. I only wish the narrator came close to the mark warranted by such wonderful writing. His voice somehow doesn’t fit; the inflections are off the mark at times. But most irritatingly, parts of these stories were obviously patched and re-recorded, and it’s done poorly and distracts from the book. It’s a shame that the performance is sub-par, but the stories are so good that I will persist, or maybe I’ll just buy a paper copy.

Typical Berry

Seemed too disjointed but most of the stories were typical of the author’s work and enjoyable