Book: Plato for Plumbers by Francis Gideon
Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review
Publication: Available now
Description:
The week before an important philosophy conference, Kenneth is struggling to finish both the last chapter of his book and the paper he's writing for the event. His efforts are thwarted by a leaky faucet—and his life as a whole is turned upside down by the plumber who shows up to fix it.
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
This short story takes a look at a burned out Philosophy Professor who may have found inspiration from an unlikely source.
When 44 year old professor of Philosophy Doctor Kenneth McLaughlin sat down to write his paper for an upcoming conference, he couldn't concentrate. First, he was dealing with signs of being burned out and second, the constant dripping faucet in his bathroom was making it impossible to focus.
The faucet almost seemed like the perfect excuse for not being able to write especially since he has been stressed out and already off to a bad start trying to piece together his paper. But really his main problem was he didn't seem to be enjoying philosophy as much as he used to. Over the years, all he has done is invest his time into his career that now that he looked at his life it seemed a little empty despite all his accomplishments. In his pursuit of career advancement he has forgone social interaction and making new friends, love and romance and his passion for writing anything non-academic.
Not being able to take the dripping any longer he finally called a plumbing company and was told a plumber would stop by that day.
As he thought over a recent phone call he had with his former professor and now colleague, it had Ken thinking back to his time in grad school when his approach to philosophy was more enthusiastic. He was starting to feel like he was turning into one of those bitter professors he used to have when he was in school and that was something that he didn't want to become. But most importantly he seems to have lost his drive and passion.
When the plumber Mark showed up, he gave Ken an unexpectedly new look at philosophy. Mark had a great understanding of the subject which made for an easy conversation between the two. After the talk, Ken started to rethink his current take on how he viewed philosophy. It also didn't hurt that he had a bit of an attraction to Mark, how could he not the guy had brains and good looks.
I like that the story had a nice build up and even though there is a bit of insta-love in the story which is usually a pet peeve of mine but this time it didn't annoy me. I guess since the characters are a little older and have a better grasp on who they are, the some what rushed romance near the end didn't seem to be a problem.
Since I started reading Philosophy again (thanks to joining the Philosophy book club) I've really become fascinated by the subject and I thought the author did a great job of including it in the story. Plato for Plumbers although a short story has a full and interesting plot with very likeable characters.
This is a romance story but what I found interesting was that it didn't delve into the erotica or racy scenes but instead focused on the connection building between theses two characters. I also like how the story showed not to judge someone because although Mark didn't have a college degree he understood Philosophy better than most scholars.
I enjoyed this, it was a fun read and I thought the sample of that corny and cliché story that Ken was working on was actually really funny. It showed that Ken was finally starting to relax and get back into writing again even if his story wasn't the greatest.
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