THE CARPENTER AND THE APPRENTICE

A dispirited soldier learns lessons from a preternaturally wise carpenter in Zacaroli’s philosophical debut novel.

Danat, a young soldier haunted by his experiences during a war—one that destroyed his home and killed his entire family—wanders into a desert town and immediately spies a beautiful woman with a broken cart. Wanting to help her fix her cart but lacking the skills to do so, he finds the town carpenter and offers to sell the man his labor in exchange for him repairing the cart. The carpenter sees through the young man’s scheme, and though he refuses to help him seduce the woman, he does invite Danat to become his apprentice. The apprentice bristles at the carpenter’s oblique lessons, which seem to have little to do with his trade, but after Danat helps defend the town from a marauding army, the carpenter releases him from his service, asking him to help lead the townspeople to safety before a second attack arrives. It is on the final night before the apprentice and the townspeople leave that the carpenter—who cannot go with them—finally teaches Danat the lessons he needs to know. But will those lessons be enough to face the trials ahead of him as he seeks to be a leader in his newly chosen community? The novel recalls Coelho’s The Alchemist (1988) in its blend of folkloric elements—including a minimalist, expository narrative style—with long conversations informed by psychology and spirituality. “The fear that has tormented you most of your life is teaching you something very important,” the carpenter tells his apprentice. “When you learn what it is, the fear will subside like the floodwaters after a sudden downpour.” While Zacaroli does an admirable job keeping the plot moving, with a large cast of characters and sequences straight out of an action movie, the reader will nevertheless require a high tolerance for self-help speak to fully enjoy this novel.

An ambitious if didactic saga about overcoming one’s past in order to build a better future.