Among Men

An intermittently brilliant but uneven series of 36 mini-meditations on boyhood, manhood, and fatherhood. Siebers, an English professor at the University of Michigan, explores his own experiences to provide both comical and profound insights about manhood. His essay about the role of the hardware store as a male mecca, for instance, introduces us to Mike, the local hardware guru whom Siebers visits whenever he's faced with a home repair crisis. Mike always come through, offering the right part or the right advice: ""The hardware man is man at his finest. All that matters to him is that you're trying to fix something. That's enough to make you a member of his club."" Siebers bemoans the coming of the home repair superstore, where the staff get their product knowledge by reading the label. In a hilarious essay about front yards, Siebers rivals Dave Barry in capturing the comic absurdity of suburban males, who view the condition of their lawns as a primitive proving ground for manhood. Siebers deftly evokes the wordless significance of male rites of passage--dealing with bullies, his father's teaching him how to shave, the passing down of tools. He writes about playing catch with his own son, describing the game as ""a conversation without words"" that brings them closer together. At times, Siebers's prose attains the richly textured lyricism of poetry. That said, some of these pieces fall flat or seem disconnected from the rest, especially the final three. It's as if Siebers runs out of steam after blazing through the book's first half. Although frustratingly inconsistent, Siebers provides moments of dazzling insight conveyed in lustrous prose; such moments, mostly in the book's first half, make this a worthwhile read.