book data
94 ratings,
3.97
average rating, 25 reviews
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published
July 5th 2004
(first published 1995)
by North Point Press
binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0865476977
(isbn13: 9780865476974)
description
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 o...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 148)
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5 stars (33)
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4 stars (35)
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3 stars (18)
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2 stars (6)
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1 star (2)
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avg 3.97
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in March, 2009
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...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...more
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03/04/09
Brita
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Read in March, 2009
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 Barb...more
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Read in January, 2005
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 tin...more
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Read in February, 2009
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 )
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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 sumptuou...more
Read in August, 2008
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.
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Nice, I guess...this doesn't really go anywhere, more like a wandering account of several years...read it for interesting ways to prepare wild food, and not for the frequent reminiscences of 60s feminism, which crop up every few pages for no apparent reason
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Read in January, 2005
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.
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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.
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Read in February, 2006
A wonderful, thought provoking memoir - read my complete review here: http://imponderabilia.blogspot.com/2006/...
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Read in February, 2009
Published in 1995 but still relevant to change in the world and change in the self. A women's book. Enjoy.
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 dissolv...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Nancy by:
Christie
This memoir was okay. I tired of hearing about the seaweed and sea grasses and mollusks, etc. that she was always gathering and preparing. And I always wondered how, with no electricity or running water, she prepared everything so easily. Her ego reminded me a bit of the Eat Pray Love author - a little too full of themselves?
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I love, love, love this book. It's a must-read for any woman contemplating or reflecting on her place in her family and society as a whole. This is a fine example of how beautiful and moving a memoir can be.
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Amazing memoir. One of my favorite books of all-time. Themes: solitude, nature, independence, zen-connectedness, and feminism
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Read in December, 1995
In the "Gift from the Sea" family. Exploring solitude and finding out what one thinks when one has the silence to listen.
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone who likes a philosophical view to life
Philosophical to the max. Good if you're into that deep stuff, but may be boring to you actionACTION-oriented characters.
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Living independently and solo - for some limited duration of time - is part of my fantasy life.
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I would read this book in tandem with Joan Anderson's "A Year at the Sea." Very good.
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