A luminous, evocative memoir that explores the hope and struggle behind one family's search for a self-sufficient life, from a writer of power and ...
read full description
reviews
Dec 09, 2011
Katie
rated it: 
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir about homesteading in the 1960s-1970s, written by someone who was a child in the homesteading family. Even though homesteading and organic gardening are not particular interests of mine (although food "politics" is), I found this book completely engrossing. It was so lyrically and poetically written, especially for a non-fiction book. The writer has a real talent for gorgeous writing, and especially writing that evokes the feel of being out in nature. W
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 17, 2011
Anne
rated it:
I was telling my father-in-law's girlfriend about my current fascination with growing/gathering/raising one's own food (an idle fascination, since I am lazy and have no real desire to labor in a garden or chicken coop), and she told me I should read this book she'd just finished. So she sent it to me. But when I read the flap and realized that the book was also about the accidental death of a three-year-old, well--this mother of a three-year-old wasn't too enthusiastic about reading it. But even
More...
Oct 06, 2011
Ciara
rated it: 
this was recommended to me by a friend. it's a memoir by a woman who was raised on a back-to-the-land homestead in the 70s. her parents were followers of scott & helen nearing. the nearings sold her parents a parcel of land & her father, eliot coleman, became pretty well known in organic faming/gardening circles, apparently. but it was far from an idyllic life. eliot suffered from hyperthyroidism, which compromised his health in pretty significant ways & exacerbated his wife's depression. & when
More...
Sep 13, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
I loved Helen and Scott Nearing's Living the Good Life. This is a story of a family of their disciples, living off a small portion of the Nearing's land. Their story is fascinating, enlightening, and reads like a novel.
Many of this family's practices are fairly mainstream now, but in the 1970s they were really blazing a new trail. I was struck by the ways that, eventually, there were many concessions made to their Good Life Philosophy. Perhaps humans are just wired to be driven. More...
Many of this family's practices are fairly mainstream now, but in the 1970s they were really blazing a new trail. I was struck by the ways that, eventually, there were many concessions made to their Good Life Philosophy. Perhaps humans are just wired to be driven. More...
Sep 08, 2011
Scputval
rated it:
Knocked me out. May interest anyone who was involved in back-to-land movement,
or communes. Or currently committed to organic farming and eating, and interested
in its 1960-1970 manifestation. Very sad. Memoir of the daughter of homesteaders
turned commune turned tragedy. . The book's not perfect:
there are inconsistencies in the author's viewpoint (could this have happened to anyone,
or was it pre-destined?) and also didactic at times. Disagree with some reviewers More...
or communes. Or currently committed to organic farming and eating, and interested
in its 1960-1970 manifestation. Very sad. Memoir of the daughter of homesteaders
turned commune turned tragedy. . The book's not perfect:
there are inconsistencies in the author's viewpoint (could this have happened to anyone,
or was it pre-destined?) and also didactic at times. Disagree with some reviewers More...
Sep 05, 2011
Mariah
rated it:
This memoir of a girl growing up in the 70's to homesteading, hippie parents in Maine was well written and parts of it rang true (mostly the positive parts luckily!) with the semi-hippie parents I grew up with in rural Wisconsin. Her family had deeper issues, though, illness with her father, depression with her mother and a terrible accident that took their toll and eventually tore the family apart. I resent a bit that the fact that her family's dysfunctions were blamed on their lifestyle choi
More...
Aug 08, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
I have a distaste for “memoirs” which impute thoughts to other people, recite conversations the author could not have remembered or heard, etc.- I’d prefer it if it were called a fictionalized memoir or biography upfront. So that’s part of my problem here but I also found the writing unpolished and the theme shaky. It felt rather like Coleman was blaming her parents’ homesteading for their marital problems, her father’s hyperthyroidism, and the death of her sister, which was a bit much... yes, t
More...
Jul 25, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
On particularly smoggy LA days when it takes me over an hour to drive 17.5 miles, I sometimes dream about ditching the city and hauling ass to the country to live off the land. These daydreams take me to Sonoma, Napa - somewhere close enough to a big city where drinking a glass of wine at lunch with your garden salad is normal. Rarely, however, do my fantasies to farm take me to Maine. In This Life is in Your Hands, a couple, the author's parents, do just this.
Melissa Coleman writes ab More...
Melissa Coleman writes ab More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 15, 2011
McGuffy Ann
rated it: 
To say this book is a beautifully written memoir does not do it justice. Melissa Coleman tells the story of her parents and what moved them not to be hippies, but to be true back-to-nature farmers. They were not interested in the drug culture, altering their minds, or a commune way of life. They wanted only to provide a natural, simple, down to earth life for themselves and their family.
Following the example, of Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of Living the Good Life, Eliot More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jul 07, 2011
Nick
rated it:
The writing in this memoir of a childhood lived back-to-the-land in rural coastal Maine is mostly good, though some of the dialogue is impossibly hokey, but maybe that is what 1970s back-to-the-landers talk like? At times it is pretty impossible to believe that Coleman can actually remember most of what she recounts, largely because it occurred when she was very young. She even imputes thoughts to various people who were having them before she was born. But it's a compelling story of trial an
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 16, 2011
Marjorie
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 07, 2011
Laurie
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 19, 2011
willaful
rated it:
3.5 stars. I won this from GoodReads.
This memoir hit me in a personal way, because I also grew up in the 70's with parents living out of the mainstream; for years I've been hungry for real depiction of what it was like, as opposed to the stereotypes we see in t.v. and movies. This Life is in Your Hands rang very true for me: the sometimes reckless idealism, the lack of boundaries, the passionate following of leaders with feet of clay. I think it's a pretty balanced portrayal, with a More...
This memoir hit me in a personal way, because I also grew up in the 70's with parents living out of the mainstream; for years I've been hungry for real depiction of what it was like, as opposed to the stereotypes we see in t.v. and movies. This Life is in Your Hands rang very true for me: the sometimes reckless idealism, the lack of boundaries, the passionate following of leaders with feet of clay. I think it's a pretty balanced portrayal, with a More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 23, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
3.5 stars. If you’re going to read this, whatever you do, don’t read the jacket copy. I picked this up because of excellent reviews and for some reason, about halfway through, decided to check out the jacket. Whoever wrote it did the author and this book a huge disservice because there is a major spoiler. Based on the subtitle (“a family undone”) I figured this didn’t have a happy ending, but to have such a huge (and late-breaking) plot point on the cover copy was a big mistake. I hope they chan
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 08, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
wow! what a book. I mean to be honest it was heavy on farming but Coleman writes in such a way that it grabs you and you can't help but be interested. The author tells her own story of growing up in Maine with her parents who want the simple life. They buy 60 acres of land (at only 3$3 an acre) from a couple who wrote a book on living self sufficiently through organic gardening etc and so begins the challenges of living in a homeade house with no plumbing no electricity and no meat. They are st
More...
Jun 19, 2011
Natasha
rated it:
This book was of great interest to me because I was familiar with the author's father, Eliot Coleman, author of Four Season's Harvest and other organic gardening books, and her childhood neighbors, Helen and Scott Nearing, who wrote The Good Life, a back-to-the-land bible, first published in 1954. The Nearing's writing inspired thousands to journey to Maine to visit them and a few ended up staying. Eliot Coleman and his wife Sue bought neighboring acreage from the Nearnings and set up their ow
More...
Jun 13, 2011
Kate
rated it:
I was intrigued that the Colemans lived near and interacted with Scott and Helen Nearing, whose writings have been influential in my life. Without that connection, I probably wouldn't have read this book. I went to hear Ms. Coleman when she appeared at a local bookstore, which increased my interest in her story.
What a powerful memoir of idealism, hard work, misunderstanding, isolation, the rhythms of the seasons, and tragedy! Her writing style is excellent, better than I expected. Her More...
What a powerful memoir of idealism, hard work, misunderstanding, isolation, the rhythms of the seasons, and tragedy! Her writing style is excellent, better than I expected. Her More...
Jan 25, 2012
Happyreader
rated it:
Helen Nearing was right. The Colemans should not have had children before they realized the stress of homesteading. My God!! The eldest daughter of well-known organic farmer and author Eliot Coleman offers a surprisingly generous account of her early childhood as her parents attempted living off the land in 1970s Maine. An interesting portrait of the vanguard of the organic farming movement. Scott and Helen Nearing, pioneering back-to-the-landers, sell the Colemans the farm next door and se
More...
Jul 02, 2011
Vicki
rated it:
2.5 stars. Better than okay, but not quite ... well, just not quite. Firstly, I would hesitate to even call this a memoir. It affected the fiction of being from Melissa's POV throughout, but that was a very awkward fit for most of the book. Writing about how her mom's pupils contracted the first time she saw her dad? Recounting the Nearing's reactions to finding out that her mom was pregnant? And even later, when she actually existed in the timeline, it really didn't ring true. Was 4 year
More...
Oct 20, 2011
The back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s-70s left behind a tremendous amount of how-to literature, but not quite so much (as far as I've found) in the way of memoir or history. Which is to say, leafing through all the manifestos and gardening manuals from the period, it's clear to see what people were more or less expecting to find when they dropped out of consumer society and started growing their own turnips. As to why so many of them moved back to the cities or suburbs after a few years of
More...
Jul 04, 2011
Sri
rated it:
* contains spoiler *
A heartbreaking story. Apalagi bagi kaum ibu. Ibu-ibu yang bekerja keras. Menyusui anak yang masih bayi, menjaga kakak si bayi, mempersiapkan masakan buat keluarga, beres-beres rumah. Terdengar familiar? Yang dialami oleh Mama Lissie (Sue) jauh lebih berat.
Dengan prinsip hidup yang sudah dipilih oleh keluarga Eliot, Sue harus menggiling gandum sendiri, memerah susu sendiri, membuat yoghurt sendiri, membuat keju sendiri, membuat butter sendiri, mengangsu air, memas More...
A heartbreaking story. Apalagi bagi kaum ibu. Ibu-ibu yang bekerja keras. Menyusui anak yang masih bayi, menjaga kakak si bayi, mempersiapkan masakan buat keluarga, beres-beres rumah. Terdengar familiar? Yang dialami oleh Mama Lissie (Sue) jauh lebih berat.
Dengan prinsip hidup yang sudah dipilih oleh keluarga Eliot, Sue harus menggiling gandum sendiri, memerah susu sendiri, membuat yoghurt sendiri, membuat keju sendiri, membuat butter sendiri, mengangsu air, memas More...
Jun 01, 2011
Cathy
rated it:
What a great book! This is Melissa Coleman's real life memoir as she lived her childhood on a farm in Maine. Her parents decide to pack up and move to a 40 acre farm in Maine where they become involved in the growing of organic crops, tilling the soil and enduring all the hardships of what was a somewhat pioneer type existence, but was actually a hippy type commune in the 60's.
I was totally immersed in this book and thought the authors descriptions of all the beauty and wonder of childh More...
I was totally immersed in this book and thought the authors descriptions of all the beauty and wonder of childh More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 10, 2011
Jenny
rated it:
The concept intrigued me, the "return to nature" and how it can affect a family. Coleman's family were homesteaders in the 1970s, living in rural Maine with no electricity, telephone, toilets, and the other luxuries of life that we take for granted today. I would give this book 3.5 stars, but because it was absorbing, I err on the side of giving it four.
In the first chapter, you know what tragedy is going to unfold. And it was that first chapter that kept me reading, wantin More...
In the first chapter, you know what tragedy is going to unfold. And it was that first chapter that kept me reading, wantin More...
Jan 06, 2012
Lisa
rated it:
Interesting. Gave me insight and backstory to some of the people and places of my adopted home of coastal Maine. First book where I've known (or known of) so many people.
As a West Coast transplant, I wasn't as familiar with the back to the land/homesteading movement that triggered so much growth here in Maine. I grew up in California where if you weren't from there, you moved there.
The trust funds and the families from which the wealth came is an interesting animal on it ow More...
As a West Coast transplant, I wasn't as familiar with the back to the land/homesteading movement that triggered so much growth here in Maine. I grew up in California where if you weren't from there, you moved there.
The trust funds and the families from which the wealth came is an interesting animal on it ow More...
May 30, 2011
Waven
rated it:
Melissa Coleman's memoir of growing up in the unusual setting of a back-to-the-land homesteading family in coastal Maine is an interesting read. Its pages are peopled with fascinating characters, from neighbors on a watch-list of potential national security threats to farming interns with a penchant for working in the nude. Much of the story pre-dates Melissa's memories - how her parents met, the road that led them to Maine - which I found a bit confused at first, but all is vital to her own s
More...
Aug 24, 2011
Barbara A
rated it:
Rather than reviewing this book, I would prefer to offer my admiration to Ms. Coleman for putting her life in her own hands, and for examining her lifelines so fastidiously. It's clear that she has contemplated both the noble and the foolish parts of her parents grand experiment, and she seems to be an articulate, attractive woman of tremendous compassion and understanding.
I am intrigued by the hand imagery that Melissa Coleman has used. Annie Dillard, the very great naturalist, me More...
I am intrigued by the hand imagery that Melissa Coleman has used. Annie Dillard, the very great naturalist, me More...
May 23, 2011
Amy
rated it:
Thanks to the Firstreads program on Goodreads for the opportunity to own and read this book.
Having grown up with grandparents who knew the Nearings during their Vermont days, I was immediately drawn in by the proximity of the author's family to the Nearing's Maine Farm. I am amazed by the spare, yet whole existence these farmers/this family managed and, much like my experience reading Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", I feel compelled to re-examine my own life More...
Having grown up with grandparents who knew the Nearings during their Vermont days, I was immediately drawn in by the proximity of the author's family to the Nearing's Maine Farm. I am amazed by the spare, yet whole existence these farmers/this family managed and, much like my experience reading Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", I feel compelled to re-examine my own life More...
May 24, 2011
Sharee
rated it:
3.5 stars, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. :) .5 star deducted for the jacket spoiler. I won this as a first-read.
I really enjoyed this memoir. The author had a very descriptive lyrical nature to her writing. I could smell the earth and feel the grass under my feet as I read it. I couldn't quite picture myself naked pulling weeds, but maybe that’s me. :) I was drawn into the book and felt for the characters. While I don’t agree with her parents parenting styles, I could More...
I really enjoyed this memoir. The author had a very descriptive lyrical nature to her writing. I could smell the earth and feel the grass under my feet as I read it. I couldn't quite picture myself naked pulling weeds, but maybe that’s me. :) I was drawn into the book and felt for the characters. While I don’t agree with her parents parenting styles, I could More...
May 29, 2011
Jereme
rated it:
I thoroughly enjoy this stle of more literary non-fiction. I'm not sure if anywhere in the press surrounding this book it was expressedly deemed a memoir but it seems to me that it's more a prose reconstruction of a life story. Some quotes peppered throughout the book from popular media sources of the time give a sort of factual backbone to what otherwise could be a well written novel. Heartbreaking however that everything in it is true. Good tension building leading up to a bone rattling life e
More...
Apr 25, 2011
Amy
rated it:
This Life Is In Your Hands is an engrossing memoir about homesteading in the 1970s and its effects on one young family. Home-birthed and raised on 60 acres in rural Maine, Melissa Coleman certainly had a unique childhood. Her parents embraced organic farming and living off the land in what was then a exotic, hippie-ish phenomenon to outsiders. She ran around barefoot, picked berries by the handful and gorged on them until she felt sick, listened to stories on the radio [while her peers watched t
More...
