A Heaven in the Eye

by Clyde Rice

The eighty-one-year-old author, in his first book, recalls his early life in Oregon and San Francisco, his varied occupations, and the joys of western America in the twenties and thirties

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Karen Charbonneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

First I read Clyde Rice's Night Freight - such a remarkable book. Then I read Heaven in the Eye (really 4 1/2 stars). Another hard-to-put down memoir of the author and his first wife in Portland, Oregon and the San Francisco area in the 1920s and '30s. Living literally on a dime. Rice wrote his memoirs late in life. He looks back at himself with amusement, affection and criticism. He writes of some events in his life you'd probably keep to yourself. He was unfaithful, naive, and couldn't support his wife and child adequately during the Great Depression. Additionally, he was a dreamer and a failure. He either lost jobs and failed in attempts to start his own businesses or, if he became successful,such as on the San Francisco ferries before the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (an in-depth description any ferry buff will treasure),he quit. You will love his wife Nordi as he did. And you might wonder as I did, whether he suffered from some type of personality disorder. But his writing is beautiful. I looked forward to following his and his wife's lives at the end of each day. And when I finished it, I wanted to know what happened after he and his family moved back to Oregon in 1937. And that is continued in Nordi's Gift.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the pivotal books I've ever read. Took me right along with it. Left me wishing for a simpler life and missing my grandparents even more than I knew.

[Janet]

Egotist's autobiography, part 1. Strangely compelling.

[Marianne Dugan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rollicking, well written, great memoir of living artistic and poor in Oregon and the San Francisco Bay Area 100 years ago or so.

[River James · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful and authentic and true.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clyde Rice, brings himself through life on the road, as a 'hippie' or Hoover Ville
resident with his wife of many years. He has more ideas that do not 'make it', but he
gets on at jobs on the ferry, etc. He is really an artist at heart, and drags, rocks dreams
all over Marin County and south. It's a book of antidotes, that are linked together by this
ever delving individual and adventures. It's good to lay it down once in a while but pick it back up.