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Stone Reader is the story of film producer Mark Moskowitz's tenacious search for author Dow Mossman, who wrote The Stones of Summer. This film caught my attention because I've been searching for a childhood book for many years with no success. Moskowitz is one of the lucky ones, he actually found the author of his book. Stone Reader details how Moskowitz began the search and what happened along the way.

The Stones of Summer was published around 1972, but Mark Moskowitz got interested in reading his copy over 25 years later. Enthralled, he tried to get copies for friends only to find out that there were no copies available, no one had heard of the author Dow Mossman, and the author's name was almost invisible. Thus began a trek to find Dow Mossman. Moskowitz's verbal sleuthing takes him to college libraries (they all look alike); to a book reviewer who reviewed The Stones of Summer; to a retired college professor in Iowa Falls, Iowa, who mentored Mossman and helped proofread the book; to the author himself. All of this is done in over two hours but could have been accomplished in ninety minutes. There is only so much of the camera following Moskowitz going up and down stairs and in and out doors that one can take without saying, "GET ON WITH IT!" To add to the tedium, Moskowitz's friend Claire will only let her hands and feet be photographed.

I will add one thing: the photography of northern Iowa is spectacular. Please don't think Iowa is flat and riddled with cornfields; there are hills, rivers, sunsets, and cloud patterns to rival those anywhere else.

At last, in the northern reaches of Iowa, where accents take on a distinct flair, we meet Dow Mossman, resembling a young Wilfred Brimley. He is a divorced man, recently diagnosed with diabetes, who cared for his mother until her death. Here is a talkative soul who prefers privacy with writing acclaim that peaked in 1972. He shows Moskowitz boxes of his hand-written journals containing short stories and poetry. The accumulation of material that Mossman has left to libraries is enormous.

What emerges from Stone Reader is two stories. One is the search of a filmmaker for the author of a book and the _other is_ an author who decided he needed privacy after an emotional breakdown. There are revelations about what makes a dedicated writer and the cost to person, _friends,_ and family when the muse strikes. Writing is a lonely occupation, but, as one writer observed, it does become a friendship between the writer and the reader.

My take on the film is that Dow Mossman poured himself completely into writing The Stones of Summer and found himself emptied. Moskowitz is a man in search of something, but, surprisingly, he winds up the film in such a hurry that perhaps he is off on another search. The Stones of Summer has been described as being akin to Malcolm C. Lowry's single novel, Under the Volcano. I don't _know, since_ the essence of The Stones of Summer is not to be found in the film. This is strictly an author search, and if the book is nowhere to be found so today's audiences can't read it, a question mark hangs over the production. Why?

Copyright 2003 Marie Asner
Submitted 7/29/03