If there’s anything that can get me out of a reading slump, it’s a good book of essays. I have to thank Bev for mentioning Sean Dietrich’s new book, Tomato Sandwiches are Eaten Over the Sink. Everything she said last Thursday about this book is correct. The collection of essays about people and life in Alabama, some inspirational, and all of them short, was just perfect for me. The book is a keeper.
Although the essays are all short, a maximum of three pages, this isn’t an easy book to read because life isn’t easy. In fact, I found myself tearing up after reading every three or four essays. Dietrich’s own life wasn’t easy. His father killed himself when Dietrich was young, and he dropped out of school to go to work. Fathers are an important part of some of the essays. Dietrich eventually got his GED, and went to community college, and he gives his wife credit for making him the man and writer he is.
Sean Dietrich comes across as an ordinary person any of us could meet at the convenience store or local restaurant. And, those are the people he writes about. He tells about the people he saw in hospital parking lots, gas stations, any small town. He tells about people who take the “Pass It On” concept seriously. And, because he himself lost his father, he writes about foster children, orphans, lost children, ones who find a way out of their past. He writes about Christmases, and people who know how to show love.
Dietrich quietly observes the people that most of us overlook everyday. It’s a book filled with love for the places he knows, and the people who write to him, as well as the people he meets. Looking for a moving collection of essays, a collection that points out ordinary life continues despite national politics and all the loud news on TV. Tomato Sandwiches are Eaten Over the Sink is just the book I needed this year.
Note: I read this book on what would have been my father’s 93rd birthday. He’s been gone for over thirty years, but so many of these essays about fathers brought him back. This book touched my heart.
Tomato Sandwiches are Eaten Over the Sink by Sean Dietrich. 2024. ISBN 9788345197523 (paperback), 227p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I bought a copy of the book.
