The $64 Tomato, by William Alexander
A tale of suburban gardening, full of drama amidst the weeds. It’s not until the final chapter does the titular tomato appear. The book is structured as loose anecdotes on a theme, ranging from pests, to garden layout, to “Christopher Walken, gardener.” The overall impression is that Alexander spends a lot of time in his garden, perhaps to his own detriment. What, indeed, does someone do with 2000 square feet of garden? That’s bigger than my house!
The book is decent enough, and captures the niche “writing about my gardening lifestyle” market that is so lucrative these days. But high drama it isn’t.
The sum up:
Meh. A little divorced from most of the American experience. The author is well off, and the things he has to worry about seem either silly, or creations of his own causing. Meh.