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| All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House | 
 enlarge | Author: David Giffels
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $7.47
You Save: $18.48 (71%)
New (41) Used (16) from $3.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 199336
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061362867
Dewey Decimal Number: 643.7092
EAN: 9780061362866
ASIN: 0061362867
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A brand new, unread copy. Please compare our ratings and shop with confidence. Member, Antiquarian Book Dealers Association of South Carolina.
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| Customer Reviews:
 I loved every page! June 16, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
"All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House" is the true story of Akron resident and Beacon Journal writer David Giffels' attempt to restore an old house to its original beauty.
When Giffels' wife finds out she's expecting Baby No. 2, they go hunting for a larger home and find a big, run-down old mansion in Akron. Giffels admits that he loves restoring and reconstruction projects, but this fixer-upper needs an awesome amount of work. He is driven by a challenge, a "wholly impractical, mostly secret yearning to find peace through chaos," and he has just enough knowledge to be dangerous.
He gives us terrifying descriptions of the state of the house -- including smells so vivid that I needed some fresh air: "The ceiling drooped heavily and dripped with cobwebs and flaking paint and strange extensions that looked like stalactites made of dirt. The thick plaster on the walls was reduced to piles of horsehair-infused sand on the floor and the walls were stained and restained with rust streaks and calcified blotches where the leaky steam lines and water pipes had left their mark. The walls seemed poisonous. The whole basement smelled of something that had been soaked and dried and soaked and dried until its scent had texture in three dimensions: one old, one new, and one fermenting." Oh, dear Lord. There is so much wrong with the house, I'm amazed he didn't turn his back on it in the beginning: there's no running water; the roof, windows -- 733 panes of glass -- and drainpipes are compromised; the flooring and walls are warped and filled with holes; not to mention that raccoons and other critters have been or still are in residence.
But he's filled with an image of the house's former glory, and he's tantalized by the idea of "a life of butler's buttons and summer bedrooms" in a mansion a mile from Stan Hywet Hall. As we live through the renovations with the nice, self-effacing guy and his gentle wife and son, we see how all the work affects their lives, and he says that "as much as I was trying to change this house, it was changing me more."
This absolutely lovely book is an intimate, funny, heart-warming and heart-breaking memoir, with occasional commentary from Gina, the usually patient wife. This is so well written; it's a keeper.
Very thoughtful and engaging May 31, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was captured from the first page. David snags the reader in his world from the get-go, and the story unfolds like a mystery that held my attention until the end. He tells not just a story about the recovery of a house, but the building of a family. He honors the past, present and future of the families that lived in his house, as well his own family and that of his wife Gina.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves preserving history, but also anyone who loves family. It's not sappy at all, but a deeply emotional journey of a man who is capable of attempting to evict wild animals with an electric guitar and an amplifier.
My dad and my grandfather were men like David and his dad, and reading this story was both a joy and a sorrow. Dad and Grandpa are gone now, and I can imagine them reading this book together. I wish I could share my favorite parts with them.
Very well done!
Reality TV in Hardcover May 30, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I simply could not put this book down because it struck so close to home. In fact, I was so empathetically engrossed in their story that at times I actually had to fight the urge to grab my tool belt and rush over to lend a hand.
It's more than just a great home improvement war story. As a wanna-be handy man, I started reading this book because I was curious about someone else's fixer upper odyssey. I soon figured out that in addition to being the Mother-of-All-Home-Improvement-Adventures, ALL THE WAY HOME is a fascinating insight/self study for those of us who suffer from delusions of competence ("don't worry honey, how hard can it be?").
And if that weren't enough, Giffels managed to include as a backdrop the essence of what it means to be a family in the real world, which makes this an enticing story within a story. I was taken in by both.
Great story(ies) well told.
Giffels brings it home May 30, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I passed the house the other day, the house described so eloquently in Giffels' thoughtful story about a man and his quest to make a permanent home for his young family. The house is a magnificent structure among lesser architectural feats. Like the house, Giffels' story satisfies where others of a similar content fall short. Giffels' story is not just a great expression of "coming of age;" rather, Giffels writes about the struggles surrounding the difficult transition a man often faces in life--youthful idealism to overwhelming adult responsibilities. Giffels must realize his need to include a wife and child with each pounding of the hammer. As a man comes of age, so does a house.
A Fun Read and a Meaningful One May 31, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This terrific book is about building a life while saving a house that's worth saving. Along with the colorful characters the author and his family encounter along the way, Giffels and the people he writes about come to feel like people you know and want to know. More than that, the book's larger subject is about salvation of place that some might not think worth saving. By not trying to be fashionable, the book becomes wise. This is NOT just a book about flipping a house; it's a book about living a rich, meaningful life. Get and read your copy NOW.
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