Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
397th out of 856 books
—
1,224 voters
Drinking the Rain: A Memoir
At fifty, Alix Kates Shulman left a city life dense with political activism, family, and literary community, and went to stay alone in a small cabin on an island off the Maine coast. Living without plumbing, electricity, or a telephone, she discovered in herself a new independence and a growing sense of oneness with the world that redefined her notions of waste, time, nece...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
July 5th 2004
by North Point Press
(first published 1994)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
550)
Easily one of this years favourites. I started out at only two pages a day as I wanted to enjoy the book as long as possible, yet soon squeezed in a few more pages every day. I liked the way the story built from experiencing the island and how to live on less and in solitude, to connecting those experiences to mainlandlife and it's noise and distraction, and in the third section to the world with it's waste and pollution, making it into a book in which all Shulman's feminist issues of years gone...more
When I read this book I was twenty years old and it had never occurred to me before but I realized it was quite true that I might live my whole life without ever being really on my own.
That year I drove south to Mexico and north to Idaho and then back home from Arizona to Boston - all three trips on my own (and very much over my father's objections) - and I was keenly aware of everything I had been taught to fear about being a woman alone in a strange place. Almost nothing happened to me that y...more
That year I drove south to Mexico and north to Idaho and then back home from Arizona to Boston - all three trips on my own (and very much over my father's objections) - and I was keenly aware of everything I had been taught to fear about being a woman alone in a strange place. Almost nothing happened to me that y...more
Wonderful magical memoir of a woman at age 50 who abandons her life as feminist activist in New York city to go live in a cabin on a point of land sticking into the ocean off the Maine coast, with no plumbing or electricity. She lives there 6 months of the year for ten years, learning to eat the local flora and fauna and live alone and conquer fears....
The writing is poetic and down to earth, the names of every plant and how it is cooked jumbled in with philosophy and self-discovery. I read it c...more
The writing is poetic and down to earth, the names of every plant and how it is cooked jumbled in with philosophy and self-discovery. I read it c...more
I have a pretty close connection to Long Island Maine and go there every summer. I know exactly the house she lived in and have stared at it from the beach below many an afternoon thinking two things: one, it had been abandoned and two who the hell would ever leave the most amazing and beautiful spot on earth or at least not spend every second of every summer there? My sister had told me about the writer that owned it- the story of her living in seclusion there and how she came to write "Drinkin...more
Keeping with my current "back to basics" theme, in books, I am reading this. The woman of privilege heads to Maine to live in a cabin alone. And finds her food on the ground and in the water. Okay, so there are flaws. But it's a placeholder, for when my hold books come in. Why do they torture me and make me wait? It is detestable.
Okay, so only the first third of this book is actually compelling. I enjoyed the writing about discovering that nature isn't so bad after all (I might be coming around...more
Okay, so only the first third of this book is actually compelling. I enjoyed the writing about discovering that nature isn't so bad after all (I might be coming around...more
Setting and description play a large part in Shulman's story; she's very, very good at that aspect. The latter part of the book focuses more on her personal life (going through an acrimonious divorce, etc.), and, unfortunately, I really struggled to identify with her there - target audience would be educated, professional (liberal) women over 60. As with other memoirs/autobios, I found her friend Margaret's observations (can you call a real person a "secondary character"?) as interesting as, if...more
This book doesn't inspire the reader very much; it's mostly self serving and superficial. Only the last few pages had any thing worthwhile to offer. I had trouble getting through the endless food reports, what she ate, how she prepared it, where the food came from, and on and on. (Why do women authors do this? Sorry, Ladies, but it's true. So many women authors feel the need to write about what everyone is eating and who spent how much time in the kitchen. Male authors focus on action, I guess,...more
Mar 08, 2009
Brita
added it
I've seen this book a hundred times without realizing that it takes place, in large part, on an island in my very own (adopted) Casco Bay. Shulman has some of the same activist post-mortem feelings that I had after leaving Smith (not that my activism held a candle to hers, or every could), so that aspect of the narrative was compelling. However, what I really loved was the food, whether foraged from the island (chapter two) or toured in Budapest (chapter nine). Hints of Michael Pollan, and Barba...more
Please read this book..especially if you love Barbara Kingsolver's books...specifically "Animal, Vegetable and Miracles". Where Kingsolver and her family lived off their own land for one year..Shulman dedicates her life (well after 50 that is...) to a life of "less is more..". Shulman shares her soul and painful personal details as she decides to live a more authentic, clutter-free life. I wish I were her friend and that she invited me out to her "nubble" out on a remote Island off the coast of...more
I loved this book. One woman's memoirs of going to live in a cabin on an island off the coast of Maine. She is searching for solitude and simplicity as she stands at a turning point in her life- turning 50, children have all left home, marriage dissolving, searching to redefine herself. It is well-written and thoughtful. She touches on the feminist movement, environmental issues, and an undefined mystical sense of her place in the world (especially as part of a larger web of life). At turns sobe...more
A memoir written by a woman seeking to make changes in her life now that she is fifty years old. Interesting—I didn’t find myself liking all the things that she did, as I viewed some of her actions as contradictory; i.e. early in the book she moans the disappearance of her beloved mussels and goes searching for them and once she finds them begins gorging on them, without any careful thought of why the mussels disappeared in the first place, and that maybe the excessive harvesting of the tiny cre...more
This book is about a woman who at the age of 50 decides to get away from her loveless marriage and spend a summer of self-discovery at her secluded Main cottage. She spends her time getting to know the land, herself and her future and most of the book is her musings on this process. Sometimes she gets a little preachy (there is no realistic way that I can eat entirely off the land at this point in my life) but her overall lesson is clear and she really reminded me of my Mom.
Given the title and the general "theme" of the book, I was expecting, perhaps, a female version of Henry Beston -- or Thoreau.
Given, I appreciate and enjoy good food, but I am, by no means, a "foodie," so the laborious descriptions of the meals made me skim ahead.
I could have probably gotten over that more than the fact that this seemed less of a "get back to nature" kind of book than a feminist treatise.
One of the reasons I enjoy my times away is that they remind me of my insignificance when co...more
Given, I appreciate and enjoy good food, but I am, by no means, a "foodie," so the laborious descriptions of the meals made me skim ahead.
I could have probably gotten over that more than the fact that this seemed less of a "get back to nature" kind of book than a feminist treatise.
One of the reasons I enjoy my times away is that they remind me of my insignificance when co...more
During her marriage, they purchase a place 'on the nubble' off the coast of Maine - accessible only by ferry - following the raising of the kids and the distance in her marriage, she (a writer) goes there for months on end to finish a book. As it turns out, instead of writing she learns how to 'live off the plants, mussels,' and such to sustain her. Title comes from the cistern used for her water supply. (no electricity there either )
Ordinarily, I'm not into these kinds of menopausal re-awakening narratives about spending time in delicious solitude discovering the wisdom of nature, and I did, indeed, spend good portions of this book glazing over Shulman's ruminations about the transformative power of secluding oneself in a far-flung cottage. But I'm a sucker for descriptions of entire meals cooked with foraged wild greens and wild-caught mussels, so I slogged through this and was rewarded every ten pages or so with sumptuous...more
What an interesting book! At times (I hate to admit!) a bit too philosophical for me, it touches me in the author's earnestness to discover what she's really made of. Her desire to explore the world of solitude, and to do it in tune with discovering the nurturing of nature and the resourcefulness of her spirit are truly impressive and somewhat inspiring. I need more time at the beach!
I love books about women on solitary retreats, especially if the setting is the east coast or the mountains. Although there is much in Shulman's life with which I cannot identify, the setting -- a rustic isolated cabin off the coast of Maine -- calls to me, as does the desire for periodic solitude and reflection.
Pretty good book. I find memoirs to be my least favorite prose. I have to hand it to her though, living such a self sustaining life, totally on her own and learning so much about wild foods (even mushrooms). Can't really relate to her need to be so alone for such a length of time.
This is a beautiful coming-of-age (age 50, that is) memoir of a woman living on an inhabited Maine coastal island. Moving away from New York City for a while, Shulman learns to slow down, forage for mussels, and live life simply for a restorative spell.
I had a hard time relating to this woman -- and then at other moments -- I knew exactly what she meant. This is an interesting indulgent memoir of finding self through food and this wonderful world.
At the age of 50, the author leaves a city life and goes to stay alone in a small cabin on an island off the Maine coast. She discovers herself, self-reliance and self fulfillment.
i liked this memoir! brings home a lot of points i myself am learning. well written and descriptive. 2 different events going on in her life and both intertwined well.
I picked this up at a used bookstore on the Long Beach (WA) peninsula - fitting place to find a book about a woman's experience of solitude on a small island off Maine. I really appreciated this meditative book and I appreciated witnessing Shulman's journey and growth from a go-getter, city-woman activist to peaceful, solitary islander, to woman of the world who can maintain both aspects of herself.
Enjoyed the beginning - interesting story about a woman's search for independence on a small island off the coast of Maine. The end kind of wanders.
I read this quite a while ago, and loved the quietness of Shulman's life on the island. The language is beautiful and evocative.
Loved this book. Makes me want to move to the boonies again and live off the land. It is my dream. Sigh.............
Another in the genre of "Journal of a Solitude"....always best when the solitude is on the coast.
I really enjoyed this book. The whole time I was reading it was as if I was on sabbatical...
Always inspired by Alix Kates Shulman's writings, this "eco-feminist" memoir was no exception. Written in the mid-1990's this book explored the author's life during her 50's when she underwent a transformative experience moving away from NYC and spending part of each year on an island off Portland ME living a solitaire life with no modern amenities. As she scavenged food from the ocean and fields, she gained a new ecological awareness. At the same time her marriage of 30+ years dissolved, she be...more
While the world was on an Eat, Pray, Love craze I found this gem of a memoir in a small bookstore on Cape Cod. I have since lent it out to some of my favorite people and almost everyone has loved it. Although the author seems a bit self serving at times, and that can be a huge turn off, her story is fascinating and brave-and quite funny at times. This is a book that proves the power of overcoming your fears and flaws and learning to live again mid-life.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Alix attended public schools and planned to be a lawyer like her dad. But in college at Case Western Reserve University she was smitten by philosophy and upon graduation moved to New York City to study philosophy at Columbia grad school. After some years as an encyclopedia editor, she enrolled at New York University, where she took a degree in mathematics, and later, whi...more
More about Alix Kates Shulman...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Aug 21, 2012 08:13am