Word: kidder
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...exerts a powerful attraction. Jonathan and Judith Souweine (pronounced Suh-wayne) succumbed three years ago. They bought part of an old hayfield on the outskirts of Amherst, Mass. "Look north and you see a hillside orchard topped with two giant maples locally known as Castor and Pollux," writes Tracy Kidder. "Look a little east and your view extends out over a broad valley, all the way to the Pelham Hills." The Souweines fit the profile of young New England professionals. He is a lawyer; she has a doctorate in education. Both have liberal opinions and conservative habits...
...Kidder simply told the story of Jonathan and Judith, House would be an update of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. But as he demonstrated in The Soul of a New Machine (1981), his Pulitzer-prizewinni ng book on the computer industry, the author is a virtuoso of lucid and compelling narrative. Here he gives equal time to client, architect and builders. The result is a three- dimensional view of an activity instinctive to the species, and a subtle examination of cultural and class differences. Architect Bill Rawn's resume, writes Kidder, suggests "the history of a Renaissance...
House's pleasing style owes much to Kidder's muted perceptions of how counterculture values adjust to the financial and emotional demands of running a business. Rawn is a "contextualist" who forsakes the intrusive shapes of modernism for structures that blend with a community's character and history. The Souweine house is Greek Revival accented with designer windows and a red roof. Kidder provides floor plans and a few sketches of detail, but no elevations that could show the reader the front, back and sides of the building. Yet the message is clear: the spacious, functional and comfortable place...
...Kidder also provides bonuses: vest-pocket essays on architecture and the lumber business; insights into bidding, building techniques and the pleasures of physical labor. His builders are a proud bunch not given to "cob jobs," carpenters' jargon for sloppy work. Their praise is dispensed with the left hand, as in "perfect enough" or "good enough for Amherst." By this standard, Tracy Kidder's book is not too cobby...
...Kidder Peabody...