Book Nook: Tinsel

Image from www.hankstuever.com

About a month ago, I requested that the San Antonio Public Library purchase a copy of Hank Stuever's new book Tinsel because I wanted to read it. I could have bought it myself, but wasn't sure if it was the kind of book I'd want to read and reread over and over again. (It isn't.) The nice librarians at the SAPL must have liked my suggestion because in just a few weeks they contacted me to let me know my book was ready to be picked up and borrowed!

It's a bit difficult to tell you what Tinsel is about. Tinsel is a book that seems to touch on everything in modern society. Ostensibly, it's about Christmas in America in the 21st century. Specifically, it focuses on Christmas in Frisco, Texas, in the years right before the current recession. Frisco is in some ways is like every other suburb of a major American city and other ways distinctly different. It's about suburbia, mega-churches, "keeping up with the Joneses," consumerism, "made in China," families, genuineness and finding meaning in a holiday that celebrates an event that may or may not have happened exactly as we have been taught to believe it did.

I loved the book. I would recommend it to anyone because it's about so many things, not just Christmas. Just as Christmas itself is never solely about the birth of baby Jesus. I learned so much.

I learned so many new things about shopping and the retail sector, some of which I wish I didn't know. I learned that even as we're herded into lines that snake around big box stores in the wee hours of Black Friday, there is joy and humor to be found among those who are there. We may be programmed, and not so subtly, to be there, but we can still enjoy it.

I learned that Americans invest so much emotional work and energy into "believing" at Christmastime. Believing that a miracle will happen for someone who needs one. Believing that Santa is real, or at least making him real for their children, even if they don't want to believe anymore. Believing that decorating for Christmas serves a higher purpose. Believing that all their spending and giving will make them feel better about themselves and others.

I learned that I'm glad that I don't live in Frisco. That surprised me. One word that kept popping up in my head as I read Stuever's descriptions of Frisco was 'sterile.' I may grumble about where I live now, but I don't know if I could handle the shiny newness and perfection of a community that grew up so quickly in the middle of nothing and nowhere. There's obviously some of that in any new community, but it seems even more intensified in Stuever's Frisco.

I laughed and even cried through Tinsel. There's just enough snark here and there to make you laugh out loud. (And Stuever does a masterful job of not turning his book into a total snark-fest given some of the stuff he witnessed for three years in a row.) There is also sadness, the kind that calls for a Christmas-sized miracle to make better.

I hope Stuever tackles something else about modern American life in his next book. I'll never think about Christmas the same way again and I'm glad for it.