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The Bee-Loud Glade
Meet Finch, a corporate drone and blogger who invents words and imaginary lives, but none as surreal as the life he's about to lead as a decorative hermit. Meet Mr. Crane, an eccentric billionaire whose whims and moods change as often as the landscape outside his employee's cave. Join them both as they search for naturalistic serenity in a land of postmodern complexity. Like Mr. Crane, who possesses the resources to build his own river, shape its path, and control its flow, Himmer carefully constructs a wondrous setting and creates a magical allegory that playfully explores the meaning of society, wealth, and the nature of work, and the limits of solitude in a networked world.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 2011
5 people are currently reading
854 people want to read
About the author
Steve Himmer
10 books250 followersSteve Himmer is the author of the novels The Bee-Loud Glade, Fram, and Scratch (coming 2016). His short stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Millions, Ploughshares online, Post Road, Los Angeles Review, Hobart, and other anthologies and journals. He edits the webjournal
Necessary Fiction
teaches at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
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October 22, 2010I think it's pretty good, but I wrote it. I hope you'll enjoy it.
You can find links to some other reviews of the book at http://www.stevehimmer.com/beeloud.
You can find links to some other reviews of the book at http://www.stevehimmer.com/beeloud.
November 11, 2011
I have to be fairly moved by a book, be it good or bad or in some strange way, to write a review about it. Usually I don't write a review because there are already thousands of them written, many of them expressing my very same thoughts, and why bother to say what's already been said? This time though, I am writing because there aren't that many reviews out there and this is a book that I feel is being overlooked. I'm hoping more people will read this book because I feel it's a tale that has appeared with perfect timing and a crucial message about how we are living our lives. And it relays this message in a way that doesn't leave you with a horrible sense of foreboding or feeling like a naughty child who's been berated for behaving badly.
This book, this story, is what so many of us need to read right now. In the end, it's a story about slowing down, looking at your own life and surroundings and being present in what you have...about not being so caught up in what everyone else in society thinks we should be doing that we miss out on the joy that can be found in contemplating the minutiae of our everyday existence. Granted, the main character of this story gets there in a fantastical way, and everything about the beginning of his life as a hermit is fabricated, but that's what makes it fun. You can appreciate the quiet moments of the tale because the rest of it is pulling you along, needling your sense of curiosity and compelling you to read more as only the best stories will do.
I really, really enjoyed this book and wish I hadn't been so skeptical about picking it up sooner. I bought it on a whim this past summer because I had read a short review of it somewhere and it was the last signed copy at River Run bookstore, where I happened to be poking around. The book sat on my bookshelf for months, waiting for me to be in the right mood...little did I know that I had been looking for this exact type of reading experience for some time. I hope more people start reading this book, and if you do, whether you enjoy it as much as I did or not, please...share your thoughts!
This book, this story, is what so many of us need to read right now. In the end, it's a story about slowing down, looking at your own life and surroundings and being present in what you have...about not being so caught up in what everyone else in society thinks we should be doing that we miss out on the joy that can be found in contemplating the minutiae of our everyday existence. Granted, the main character of this story gets there in a fantastical way, and everything about the beginning of his life as a hermit is fabricated, but that's what makes it fun. You can appreciate the quiet moments of the tale because the rest of it is pulling you along, needling your sense of curiosity and compelling you to read more as only the best stories will do.
I really, really enjoyed this book and wish I hadn't been so skeptical about picking it up sooner. I bought it on a whim this past summer because I had read a short review of it somewhere and it was the last signed copy at River Run bookstore, where I happened to be poking around. The book sat on my bookshelf for months, waiting for me to be in the right mood...little did I know that I had been looking for this exact type of reading experience for some time. I hope more people start reading this book, and if you do, whether you enjoy it as much as I did or not, please...share your thoughts!
May 5, 2012
On September 11, 2001, my husband and I were camping on Dungeness Spit in Washington State when we heard the horrible news of the day. We felt lost and terrifyingly alone. We'd already been traveling for a couple of months and planned to keep traveling for a couple more but in those moments, nothing seemed more important than getting home. But we couldn't get home. Not easily. And so we did that which we found most comforting; we hiked.
We found some solace in the hike, but by late afternoon, we had still not seen the actual footage. It wasn't until we stood before a wall of televisions in Radio Shack where we'd gone to buy a radio for our camp that we saw the footage. I remember falling to my knees. I'm not sure if I actually did fall but I remember that I did.
I stayed up that night listening to the radio, bewildered people calling into talk radio. Everyone seeking a connection. The next morning, we decided to hike again. We hoped the hike would help us make our decision about whether to keep going on our trip or to head for home. As we were going up a beautiful trail in Olympic National Park, two young men were coming down. We stopped on the trail and chatted. They'd been camping in the backcountry for several days, they told us. Did you hear the news? We asked.
Yes, they said. They were almost blase about it. Not in a horrible way, but in a way I understood as not fully understanding the gravity of what they were about to witness once they made it back to reality. They had not yet heard the voices. They had not yet seen the images. They had been wrapped in the cocoon of nature. They had been safe. They had been innocent. I envied them their not knowing. I wanted to tell them to turn around and go back. Do not let yourself know this horrible thing.
I have wondered what it would be like to go back to that state of innocence when we don't yet know that a horrible act has occurred, when we are focus solely on feeding and housing ourselves. What would it be like to be alone in the woods? What would it like to be cocooned in nature? I think about this when I read the news--the atrocities. Children abused, starved. Bombs dropped on civilians. People murdered in their sleep. I want to unknow these things. I want to believe I am innocent and safe.
Steve Himmer has not only wondered about returning to our state of innocence--returning to the allegorical garden before an original sin has occurred and before the birth of knowledge--he has recreated it in his beautiful novel, The Bee-Loud Glade, where his protagonist Finch accepts a job as a decorative hermit on the property of an impossibly wealthy and powerful man named Mr. Crane.
What follows is an allegory for our times, in which we have forsaken human contact and chosen, instead, to communicate without our true voices or with no voices at all. In which we ARE the avatars we create for ourselves. We have closed off our speech and allowed ourselves to be viewed by others, our privacy stripped away. We have been tempted to believe the beautiful people we see in movies are what we should desire and in desiring them, we recognize our own limitations--our all-too-human smells and unfortunate hairs and dimples.
Though Finch has left the world of technology behind him, he does not really leave it behind, until Mr. Crane loses everything he owns, leaving Finch truly alone for the first time. Then he relies on himself alone and finds that he can, in fact, be self-reliant. It is only when two hikers seek out and find the aged Finch that he realizes the true state of his existence:
I pretend my solitude is isolation, that I've erased myself from the world, but I'm more in it than I've ever been. Which is to say, not very much, no more and no less than anyone else--we may have a more lasting impact on the world when we break down into nutrients and raw material that nourish a whole chain of life, insects and earthworms and grass, than we ever have when we're alive. Perhaps that's the closest any one of us comes to knowing how things fit together.
Ultimately, Finch understands his purpose in the garden. He understands that we can't return to blissful ignorance. Once connected, we remain connected on this great big garden, planet Earth:
Maybe self-reliance was never what I was meant for, and sustainability was: can I build something and have it continue without me, can my good works outlast my good life?
This book will make you think. You will consider you reliance on social media, your inability to truly trust in the regenerative aspect of nature. You will see your own frailties and desires in Finch. Finally, you will see what Finch sees despite his failing eyes and that is that we are not often at our best when we are alone. We are social animals, after all, who need the warmth and love of others like us to help us reach true sustainability and self-worth.
It is a beautiful book. I hope you will read it.
We found some solace in the hike, but by late afternoon, we had still not seen the actual footage. It wasn't until we stood before a wall of televisions in Radio Shack where we'd gone to buy a radio for our camp that we saw the footage. I remember falling to my knees. I'm not sure if I actually did fall but I remember that I did.
I stayed up that night listening to the radio, bewildered people calling into talk radio. Everyone seeking a connection. The next morning, we decided to hike again. We hoped the hike would help us make our decision about whether to keep going on our trip or to head for home. As we were going up a beautiful trail in Olympic National Park, two young men were coming down. We stopped on the trail and chatted. They'd been camping in the backcountry for several days, they told us. Did you hear the news? We asked.
Yes, they said. They were almost blase about it. Not in a horrible way, but in a way I understood as not fully understanding the gravity of what they were about to witness once they made it back to reality. They had not yet heard the voices. They had not yet seen the images. They had been wrapped in the cocoon of nature. They had been safe. They had been innocent. I envied them their not knowing. I wanted to tell them to turn around and go back. Do not let yourself know this horrible thing.
I have wondered what it would be like to go back to that state of innocence when we don't yet know that a horrible act has occurred, when we are focus solely on feeding and housing ourselves. What would it be like to be alone in the woods? What would it like to be cocooned in nature? I think about this when I read the news--the atrocities. Children abused, starved. Bombs dropped on civilians. People murdered in their sleep. I want to unknow these things. I want to believe I am innocent and safe.
Steve Himmer has not only wondered about returning to our state of innocence--returning to the allegorical garden before an original sin has occurred and before the birth of knowledge--he has recreated it in his beautiful novel, The Bee-Loud Glade, where his protagonist Finch accepts a job as a decorative hermit on the property of an impossibly wealthy and powerful man named Mr. Crane.
What follows is an allegory for our times, in which we have forsaken human contact and chosen, instead, to communicate without our true voices or with no voices at all. In which we ARE the avatars we create for ourselves. We have closed off our speech and allowed ourselves to be viewed by others, our privacy stripped away. We have been tempted to believe the beautiful people we see in movies are what we should desire and in desiring them, we recognize our own limitations--our all-too-human smells and unfortunate hairs and dimples.
Though Finch has left the world of technology behind him, he does not really leave it behind, until Mr. Crane loses everything he owns, leaving Finch truly alone for the first time. Then he relies on himself alone and finds that he can, in fact, be self-reliant. It is only when two hikers seek out and find the aged Finch that he realizes the true state of his existence:
I pretend my solitude is isolation, that I've erased myself from the world, but I'm more in it than I've ever been. Which is to say, not very much, no more and no less than anyone else--we may have a more lasting impact on the world when we break down into nutrients and raw material that nourish a whole chain of life, insects and earthworms and grass, than we ever have when we're alive. Perhaps that's the closest any one of us comes to knowing how things fit together.
Ultimately, Finch understands his purpose in the garden. He understands that we can't return to blissful ignorance. Once connected, we remain connected on this great big garden, planet Earth:
Maybe self-reliance was never what I was meant for, and sustainability was: can I build something and have it continue without me, can my good works outlast my good life?
This book will make you think. You will consider you reliance on social media, your inability to truly trust in the regenerative aspect of nature. You will see your own frailties and desires in Finch. Finally, you will see what Finch sees despite his failing eyes and that is that we are not often at our best when we are alone. We are social animals, after all, who need the warmth and love of others like us to help us reach true sustainability and self-worth.
It is a beautiful book. I hope you will read it.
March 9, 2011
there's a feeling i get every time i start a book by philip k. dick-- this kind of gleeful levitating thing that happens in my chest-- when i realize not just that anything could happen, but that it is about to. this book did the same thing to me (though it's much more grounded and internal than pkd). it's a rare feeling and i quite enjoy it. read this book a month ago and still think about it every day.
August 28, 2011
The concept is what hooked me for this book. Who doesn't love to imagine living as a for-hire hermit in a rich man's garden? Easy reading. Not much exciting actually happens past the unique and slightly quirky concept, but still an enjoyable summer read.
April 22, 2011
Even the name Himmer reminds one of a sound one might hear in a bee-loud glen. Himmer the author leads us into a world we vaguely recognize (perhaps we are blind, too) as modern-day America: outside a large city sits a mansion on a hill. Just as in days of yore, when wealthy landowners changed the landscape to suit their tastes, a wealthy capitalist has modified his land holdings to create a lovely locale but bemoans the fact he has no time to enjoy it. So he hires a disaffected young man to live the life of a happy hermit in the environment he has created. Things go remarkably smoothly for a time.
**SPOILERS and Reading Group questions Ahead**
**SPOILERS and Reading Group questions Ahead**
July 26, 2011
I wish I had known about this book when Himmer appeared recently at our local bookstore (Bank Square Books). Having missed him, I picked the book up on my way out of town for vacation, intrigued, and it more than lived up to my expectations. The narrator, an unobtrusive, corner cubicle drone spends his days fabricating imaginary blogs, as well as the bloggers themselves, complete with back-stories. Suddenly it all comes crashing down and he is fired -- only to be rehired not long after by the mysterious and powerfully wealthy owner of the very company that just fired him. His new job ... to live as a hermit on the boss's huge, carefully gardened estate. As improbable as it all sounds, it somehow works, and we watch our narrator struggle, ruminate, contemplate and grow as he carries out his new job. And while there is plenty of philosophy, and a fairly slow storyline, it somehow remains engaging and yes, even funny. A book like this lives in severe danger of taking itself way too seriously (anyone remember Ishmael ?), but Himmer and his wisecracking, self-deprecating narrator have avoided that pitfall. Yet there's still plenty of serious material to think about and discuss. This would make an excellent book club title.
November 21, 2012
A strange little book about meditation and appreciating the quiet, small things in life.
Finch begins the story as an office drone who has a boring job and a boring, unsatisfying life. He eventually falls into the opportunity to become an estate hermit for an eccentric millionaire and over time he becomes a grizzled, skinny, nearly blind hermit who lives off the land in his bee-loud glade and finds that his spartan life is more valuable that money.
A book that highlights the beauty of meditation, nature, silence, and connections (however brief) with other people.
It's not a book for everybody, but if you've ever daydreamed about wandering around in the backcountry of our National Parks or retreating to Walden Pond, I think you'll enjoy it very much.
(I TOALLY want to be somebody's hermit now!)
Finch begins the story as an office drone who has a boring job and a boring, unsatisfying life. He eventually falls into the opportunity to become an estate hermit for an eccentric millionaire and over time he becomes a grizzled, skinny, nearly blind hermit who lives off the land in his bee-loud glade and finds that his spartan life is more valuable that money.
A book that highlights the beauty of meditation, nature, silence, and connections (however brief) with other people.
It's not a book for everybody, but if you've ever daydreamed about wandering around in the backcountry of our National Parks or retreating to Walden Pond, I think you'll enjoy it very much.
(I TOALLY want to be somebody's hermit now!)
April 13, 2011
I think the urge to compare this book to others comes from the fact that the concept is so strong and the writing is particularly fresh in the current scene--I know that seems contradictory, but broader categories don't cut it. So I'll chime in here with my own comparison--this book made me feel the way I did when I read Kosinski's Being There, and not just because of content. In The Bee-Loud Glade, Himmer takes a sort of euro-conceit and filters it through an american sense consumerism and ambition.
Read
May 21, 2011Read 5/11/11 - 5/18/11
4 Stars: Strongly Recommended
Pgs:212
What would you do for 5 million dollars? Would you give up life as you know it to live as a decorative hermit in some eccentric billionaire's backyard?
In Steve Himmer's The Bee-Loud Glade, that is exactly what our protagonist Mr. Finch does. Upon losing his position in Marketing as a blogger for Second Nature's hyper-efficient (read: fake, plastic, artificial) plants, Finch falls into a long, deep depression. His days and nights quickly become a blur as he lies around the house, unbathed in filthy clothes, flipping through nature shows and responding to spam email to pass the time.
Late one night, he types "yes" as a reply to a spam request for daydreaming nature enthusiasts looking for full time employment... a reply would change the direction of his life forever.
The very next day, Finch is whisked away in a limo to the secluded Crane Estate where he agrees to live in Crane's backyard garden for the next seven years. Crane agrees to pay him 5 million dollars at the end of a one year trial period, and asks that Finch refrain from speech for the entirety of his stay on the estate grounds.
Finch's new home - a handmade cave overseeing the many acres of land that he will now call home. Crane supplies him with a pallet to sleep on, a scratchy tunic to wear, food to eat, and leaves him little gifts and notes that instruct him on what to do while Crane monitors his movements and daily activities through strategically placed cameras, microphones and speakers.
Over the years, Crane introduces fishing rods, gardening tools, paints and easels, and even a heavily medicated lion into Finch's world with the expectation that he adapts them into his daily routines.
The more I read, the more I came to think of Crane's Estate as the Garden of Eden. Crane would often call to Finch through the speaker system - in much the same way God would speak to Adam, a disembodied voice that would break through the hum of the bees and the quiet babbling of the brook - commanding Finch to perform some task. The garden - ever changing, ever developing under Cranes careful instigation and Finch's unsure but extremely capable hands. And in the absence of that voice, Finch soon found himself contemplating the motives of The Old Man, a god-like presence that he believed lived within the Garden, with whom he felt he had a strong connection with.
Though I was born with a "black thumb", I do realize that there is something very spiritual in creating something out of nothing; digging and planting, sculpting and beating back the land to mold it and shape it to your needs. Becoming one with the plants and animals, living off the land, enjoying the fruits of your labor...
Author Steve Himmer recently published an autobiographical essay outlining his backpacking adventures for The Millions.com. Reading this article while also knee-deep in his novel put a sharper focus on things for me. I now realize where Himmer's attention to detail in all that was happening around Finch has come from. The honesty and believability of Finch's situation is due in a large way to Himmer's experiences traveling abroad and alone. I can only imagine the places a mind will wander to when a person finds themselves alone, with minimal human contact, so far removed from all that you knew and found comfort in.
Could you live for countless years in a garden all alone, living like a pet to some rich old man who has nothing better to do than dictate your daily regime while observing your every move from afar? I am sure that over time, as it was for Finch, you would forget your current circumstance and live as though that lifestyle was normal... never batting an eye, or giving it another thought. Isn't that what we humans do best? Adapt to our situations? If for nothing else than to to simply preserve our sanity?
A big thank you to Atticus Books for reaching out and introducing me to a whole new slew of indie literature!
View the review on my blog to see the book trailer and access links to Steve Himmers website!
http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
4 Stars: Strongly Recommended
Pgs:212
What would you do for 5 million dollars? Would you give up life as you know it to live as a decorative hermit in some eccentric billionaire's backyard?
In Steve Himmer's The Bee-Loud Glade, that is exactly what our protagonist Mr. Finch does. Upon losing his position in Marketing as a blogger for Second Nature's hyper-efficient (read: fake, plastic, artificial) plants, Finch falls into a long, deep depression. His days and nights quickly become a blur as he lies around the house, unbathed in filthy clothes, flipping through nature shows and responding to spam email to pass the time.
Late one night, he types "yes" as a reply to a spam request for daydreaming nature enthusiasts looking for full time employment... a reply would change the direction of his life forever.
The very next day, Finch is whisked away in a limo to the secluded Crane Estate where he agrees to live in Crane's backyard garden for the next seven years. Crane agrees to pay him 5 million dollars at the end of a one year trial period, and asks that Finch refrain from speech for the entirety of his stay on the estate grounds.
Finch's new home - a handmade cave overseeing the many acres of land that he will now call home. Crane supplies him with a pallet to sleep on, a scratchy tunic to wear, food to eat, and leaves him little gifts and notes that instruct him on what to do while Crane monitors his movements and daily activities through strategically placed cameras, microphones and speakers.
Over the years, Crane introduces fishing rods, gardening tools, paints and easels, and even a heavily medicated lion into Finch's world with the expectation that he adapts them into his daily routines.
The more I read, the more I came to think of Crane's Estate as the Garden of Eden. Crane would often call to Finch through the speaker system - in much the same way God would speak to Adam, a disembodied voice that would break through the hum of the bees and the quiet babbling of the brook - commanding Finch to perform some task. The garden - ever changing, ever developing under Cranes careful instigation and Finch's unsure but extremely capable hands. And in the absence of that voice, Finch soon found himself contemplating the motives of The Old Man, a god-like presence that he believed lived within the Garden, with whom he felt he had a strong connection with.
Though I was born with a "black thumb", I do realize that there is something very spiritual in creating something out of nothing; digging and planting, sculpting and beating back the land to mold it and shape it to your needs. Becoming one with the plants and animals, living off the land, enjoying the fruits of your labor...
Author Steve Himmer recently published an autobiographical essay outlining his backpacking adventures for The Millions.com. Reading this article while also knee-deep in his novel put a sharper focus on things for me. I now realize where Himmer's attention to detail in all that was happening around Finch has come from. The honesty and believability of Finch's situation is due in a large way to Himmer's experiences traveling abroad and alone. I can only imagine the places a mind will wander to when a person finds themselves alone, with minimal human contact, so far removed from all that you knew and found comfort in.
Could you live for countless years in a garden all alone, living like a pet to some rich old man who has nothing better to do than dictate your daily regime while observing your every move from afar? I am sure that over time, as it was for Finch, you would forget your current circumstance and live as though that lifestyle was normal... never batting an eye, or giving it another thought. Isn't that what we humans do best? Adapt to our situations? If for nothing else than to to simply preserve our sanity?
A big thank you to Atticus Books for reaching out and introducing me to a whole new slew of indie literature!
View the review on my blog to see the book trailer and access links to Steve Himmers website!
http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
October 2, 2011
I don't know what to say to this book. It has left me with a lot of questions, but also a sense of peace mixed with peculiar nostalgia.
It's probably a fair amount of the worlds population that wishes removal from the world of noise and pollution to a land of simpleness, contemplation and peace. I certainly wouldn't mind it most days, confronted as I am with living inside an ancient monolith of a dirty city filled with so many rotten feelings. That's not to say that there aren't nice things to be found here... It just seems easier to love the purity and simpleness that are sunrises and gardens and wild forests and rivers. And that is what I wish for myself.
This novel, one that I've glanced at before but only chose to read now thanks to some sort of noise about it over in the Collage Students book group, is a strange conundrum. Finch is a man who doesn't want much, or need much from life. So when he gets fired and then lands the perfect job of solitude, introspection and laziness, all while being paid a hefty sum, it doesn't look like much of a tale. And yet there is an undercurrent of mystery to this tale. The novel jumps back and forth in time, trying to uncover the mystery for the reader slowly. I am *so* glad that the author decided to do away with all the annoyingness that is the abhorrent literary device of foreshadowing. Inferior (in my eyes anyway) authors love to look back in time and then spoil the whole story by saying *insert Jaws theme* but things were about to get much, much, MUCH worse! *dum dum dum* Himmer doesn't do this. Thank goodness. There is something along the lines of plot foreshadowing, except I'd rather call it plot uncovering. Just enough information for us to want to know more, but not so much that we're filled with a sense of dread and despair. It was lovely and refreshing to read a story written in this style! Would that more authors were influenced thusly!
Another thing I'd like to compare and contrast the writing with is that of Paul Auster's works. The whole idea of writing a story about not much at all seems also to be his specialty. But while the new York Trilogy frustrated me and made me violently angry with it's 'leading nowhere' type of approach, Himmler managed to have his story lead almost-nowhere. I won't give away endings, except to say that the lack of a very definite black/white was not a bad thing. The grey was a trifle annoying, but understandable.
In conclusion, I just want to say that this book doesn't deserve five stars. But it earned it. There is not much substance to the story (if you had to make one of those grade school plot analysis graphs, it'd be pretty boring, probably) and yet although I didn't learn anything precise, I still feel as though I gained something positive from this novel.
The only thing still really bugging me is how realistic this book is!
P. S. If I felt very livery I could start analyzing the recurring theme that is gardens and it's connection to Mr. Crane, Finch, their insides, the world at large and how we all need something like it, physically, spiritually, mentally, etc. But I'll leave that for another day, another read.
It's probably a fair amount of the worlds population that wishes removal from the world of noise and pollution to a land of simpleness, contemplation and peace. I certainly wouldn't mind it most days, confronted as I am with living inside an ancient monolith of a dirty city filled with so many rotten feelings. That's not to say that there aren't nice things to be found here... It just seems easier to love the purity and simpleness that are sunrises and gardens and wild forests and rivers. And that is what I wish for myself.
This novel, one that I've glanced at before but only chose to read now thanks to some sort of noise about it over in the Collage Students book group, is a strange conundrum. Finch is a man who doesn't want much, or need much from life. So when he gets fired and then lands the perfect job of solitude, introspection and laziness, all while being paid a hefty sum, it doesn't look like much of a tale. And yet there is an undercurrent of mystery to this tale. The novel jumps back and forth in time, trying to uncover the mystery for the reader slowly. I am *so* glad that the author decided to do away with all the annoyingness that is the abhorrent literary device of foreshadowing. Inferior (in my eyes anyway) authors love to look back in time and then spoil the whole story by saying *insert Jaws theme* but things were about to get much, much, MUCH worse! *dum dum dum* Himmer doesn't do this. Thank goodness. There is something along the lines of plot foreshadowing, except I'd rather call it plot uncovering. Just enough information for us to want to know more, but not so much that we're filled with a sense of dread and despair. It was lovely and refreshing to read a story written in this style! Would that more authors were influenced thusly!
Another thing I'd like to compare and contrast the writing with is that of Paul Auster's works. The whole idea of writing a story about not much at all seems also to be his specialty. But while the new York Trilogy frustrated me and made me violently angry with it's 'leading nowhere' type of approach, Himmler managed to have his story lead almost-nowhere. I won't give away endings, except to say that the lack of a very definite black/white was not a bad thing. The grey was a trifle annoying, but understandable.
In conclusion, I just want to say that this book doesn't deserve five stars. But it earned it. There is not much substance to the story (if you had to make one of those grade school plot analysis graphs, it'd be pretty boring, probably) and yet although I didn't learn anything precise, I still feel as though I gained something positive from this novel.
The only thing still really bugging me is how realistic this book is!
P. S. If I felt very livery I could start analyzing the recurring theme that is gardens and it's connection to Mr. Crane, Finch, their insides, the world at large and how we all need something like it, physically, spiritually, mentally, etc. But I'll leave that for another day, another read.
April 12, 2011
The Bee-Loud Glade boasts an intriguing premise: a faceless unemployed victim of corporate America gets offered his dream job. And is paid millions for it.
Finch is the poor soul whose job becomes jeopardized once a new boss asks what he did. Well, he developed fictive characters, bloggers really, who touted the faux plants and flowers manufactured by Second Nature. He also watched wild animal programs on the tube. A lot. After he’s axed, he holes up in his apartment and watches such programs even more often, until the day he’s whisked away like a Beirut hostage to a mansion on a hill. There Mr. Crane, who informs Finch he owned many of the companies Finch once worked for, hires him again. As a modern-day Georgian hermit, harking back to the estates of long ago in the old country. A sort of living breathing garden gnome, decoration for his grounds.
While the life of a recluse suits him, Finch needs to brush up as a survivalist. At first, much of what he needs is provided, or instructions are sent to help him adapt. Ultimately, prompted or not, Finch succeeds. He no longer appreciates nature vicariously, but first-hand. In ways his boss—who manufactures a beautiful river and delivers a lion for Finch’s (as well as his own) entertainment—could never do. He finds a harmony with nature and in doing so he comes to term with himself in an almost Buddhist sense.
Himmer’s prose is precise and the reader is embedded in Finch’s mind as he narrates, describing things often in painstaking detail. Such an approach grew on this reader as the narrative progressed. The prose, like Finch’s way of life, is almost meditative. And The Bee Loud Glade waxes subtly philosophical. It raises ideas and questions to ponder; ones, it could be argued, that are especially critical now as our culture becomes more corporatized and media and technology more ubiquitous.
Finch is the poor soul whose job becomes jeopardized once a new boss asks what he did. Well, he developed fictive characters, bloggers really, who touted the faux plants and flowers manufactured by Second Nature. He also watched wild animal programs on the tube. A lot. After he’s axed, he holes up in his apartment and watches such programs even more often, until the day he’s whisked away like a Beirut hostage to a mansion on a hill. There Mr. Crane, who informs Finch he owned many of the companies Finch once worked for, hires him again. As a modern-day Georgian hermit, harking back to the estates of long ago in the old country. A sort of living breathing garden gnome, decoration for his grounds.
While the life of a recluse suits him, Finch needs to brush up as a survivalist. At first, much of what he needs is provided, or instructions are sent to help him adapt. Ultimately, prompted or not, Finch succeeds. He no longer appreciates nature vicariously, but first-hand. In ways his boss—who manufactures a beautiful river and delivers a lion for Finch’s (as well as his own) entertainment—could never do. He finds a harmony with nature and in doing so he comes to term with himself in an almost Buddhist sense.
Himmer’s prose is precise and the reader is embedded in Finch’s mind as he narrates, describing things often in painstaking detail. Such an approach grew on this reader as the narrative progressed. The prose, like Finch’s way of life, is almost meditative. And The Bee Loud Glade waxes subtly philosophical. It raises ideas and questions to ponder; ones, it could be argued, that are especially critical now as our culture becomes more corporatized and media and technology more ubiquitous.
May 7, 2012
The Bee-Loud Glade is an invitation into the mind of a man, Mr. Finch, hired as a paid hermit. He is rescued from his post-firing depression by a wealthy eccentric to live on an estate in the garden cave, take a vow of silence and be watched. He fills his days with introspection: “I tied long chains of dandelions to wind around tree trunks and rocks for no other reason than I was there and so were they.” Occasionally, Finch’s quiet meditative journey is interrupted by the whims of employer: to play a flute, or meditate at sunrise.
This book is an honor to read. The prose is chisel-perfect, the humor hearty, the descriptions fresh. The characters and scenario are wholly unique. This book is not the regurgitation of an old story. Himmer’s book is new, witty, surprising, and wonderful. Like the ecstatic taste of Finch’s first vegetable grown in his own garden, the discovery of this book gives the same impression: how did I live this long without?
This book is an honor to read. The prose is chisel-perfect, the humor hearty, the descriptions fresh. The characters and scenario are wholly unique. This book is not the regurgitation of an old story. Himmer’s book is new, witty, surprising, and wonderful. Like the ecstatic taste of Finch’s first vegetable grown in his own garden, the discovery of this book gives the same impression: how did I live this long without?
March 4, 2011
I really liked this book, and since I've never read anything about a decorative hermit, it doesn't quite compare with anything else I've read. It quietly says a lot about modern society and about how some people live in it. Dare I admit I see much of myself in someone who needs to create intricate imaginary lives to find some work to do at work, or feel that the work has meaning? I was also struck by the parallels of doing nothing in the technological world and that of the natural world. And just how natural is a man-made garden, anyway? I don't claim to be a literary critic or scholar, but I think there is much to think about and discuss here, while at the same time being a perfect book to read on a winter vacation on the beach (which is where I read it).
July 5, 2011
Steve Himmer's debut novel, The Bee Loud Glade is a beautifully written story about a man who is hired to become a mute hermit while living among the flora and fauna of a private estate. Finch, who answers a spam email has been fired from his job which seemed to be a lot of energy spent doing nothing. He comes to embrace the outdoors and living alone with nature. This is a very peaceful read about a man discovering how to live a meaningful life and learning what skills and talents he may have been hiding, not only from others, but from himself. The story embraces other idea and themes and is very different from what I usually read. That said, I highly recommend it as a change of pace, especially for a lazy summer day.
September 25, 2012
This book has to have one of the most interesting premises I've seen in a while. In short, a guy gets fired from his job running multiple blogs for imaginary people in order to market fake plants gets fired and pretty much quits life only to get hired by some rich guy to live as a hermit in his garden. Himmer makes good use of the premise as well. The rich guy becomes a sort of god figure, though god seems to drift in to become the rich guy in a way at some point. It's strange, but delightful. It's a hell of an interesting meditation on modern life.
August 19, 2013
A fascinating contemporary tale about a cubicle worker that spent the last 10 years of his employment as a "brand recognition director" for an artificial plant company. He spent most of his time creating blogs for imaginary people, when suddenly his job was terminated. That was a start of his new life as a decorative hermit for an eccentric billionaire. It was a fun an amazing tale of discovery of the natural world and slowing down in a modern age when everything is hyper fast and urgent. I really enjoyed the journey and was sad when the book ended.
May 18, 2022
Really different and kept me guessing throughout. A man loses his job and because a recluse in his apartment, not shaving, showering or paying his bills for month. His previous job required sending e-mails, so when he gets an enticing e-mail he applies for and subsequently is hired to be a hermit on a rich man's property. Very interesting to watch the character development.
May 5, 2013
Steve Himmer's novel breaks buckets of rules. The best stories are about people who make choices? His Finch makes next to none. And yet we are taken on a deeply interesting, contemplative journey through (no spoiler here!) solitude. Charming, and funny -- yes, laugh out loud funny -- I highly recommend this one.
March 21, 2011
A book in which nothing lt all happens, which I was unable to put down. A heroic journey inwards, from alienation In mainstream urbania to innocence and integration in solitude. Shimmering with almost-allegory, gentle and warm and funny. I never re-read anything but I will reread this.
Read
April 4, 2012Weird, wonderful, and impossible not to recommend.
abandoned
April 15, 2018Bailing around page 100. Interesting premise, but underwhelming in its execution.
March 25, 2018
Sometimes when I sat in my cubicle feeling like this:
"My cube was in a far corner of the department, near some filing cabinets to which the keys had been lost, so apart from occasional walks to the bathroom and my twice-daily route between front door and desk, I was easy to miss."
I would dream of a life like this:
"Berries were scattered all over the ground, slipping and squishing between my bare toes as I circled the potatoes and carrots and beans with the stoop and squint it takes me to get a good view... I pulled a bright yellow squash from its vine, washed it off on the wet grass, and crunched through its crisp skin..."
But while reading this book, I had more fun with the parts about Mr. Finch's office job.
"Second Nature had experimented with an indoor orchard once; it was expensive, but the price included a service in which Orch-ease crop technicians... would come to the client's chosen location throughout the season to hang plastic leaves and then blossoms, returning to replace them with plastic apples in advancing stages of color, then to pick the whole yield and haul them to storage along with the leaves until next year's cycle of seasons began."
"My cube was in a far corner of the department, near some filing cabinets to which the keys had been lost, so apart from occasional walks to the bathroom and my twice-daily route between front door and desk, I was easy to miss."
I would dream of a life like this:
"Berries were scattered all over the ground, slipping and squishing between my bare toes as I circled the potatoes and carrots and beans with the stoop and squint it takes me to get a good view... I pulled a bright yellow squash from its vine, washed it off on the wet grass, and crunched through its crisp skin..."
But while reading this book, I had more fun with the parts about Mr. Finch's office job.
"Second Nature had experimented with an indoor orchard once; it was expensive, but the price included a service in which Orch-ease crop technicians... would come to the client's chosen location throughout the season to hang plastic leaves and then blossoms, returning to replace them with plastic apples in advancing stages of color, then to pick the whole yield and haul them to storage along with the leaves until next year's cycle of seasons began."
June 20, 2017
First off, I am glad that the book didn't push the notion of Capitalist bad or Thoreauean thoughts. I read it for what it was, not looking for any deeper meaning.
Finch was an inept man, not bright, but a willing follower. He struggled to try the different crafts that Mr Crane suggested and accomplished a few. Finch didn't have aspirations and was humbled even more by his environment. He realized how small he was in the scheme of things. It was evident in the way that he participated in Mr Crane's dreams that he had no ego and only wanted to be obedient to his employer. There wasn't a trace of rebelliousness in him and it seemed that he enjoyed being told what to do.
Solitude embraced him. I think he found peace in the garden, away from the world. He was disturbed by outside intrusions. It was HIS garden and HIS environment. When he reached the end of his contract
Finch was an inept man, not bright, but a willing follower. He struggled to try the different crafts that Mr Crane suggested and accomplished a few. Finch didn't have aspirations and was humbled even more by his environment. He realized how small he was in the scheme of things. It was evident in the way that he participated in Mr Crane's dreams that he had no ego and only wanted to be obedient to his employer. There wasn't a trace of rebelliousness in him and it seemed that he enjoyed being told what to do.
Solitude embraced him. I think he found peace in the garden, away from the world. He was disturbed by outside intrusions. It was HIS garden and HIS environment. When he reached the end of his contract
October 28, 2021
This book had been on my "to read" list for years. I'd forgotten why it was even there. It took some time to find it, but I eventually did in a used book store across the country.
In some ways this was as expected, but in some ways it was not. The commentary wasn't preachy but came off as natural thoughts of the character.
I liked the way the whole thing unfolded. I was worried that the back and forth in the timeline would be distracting, but it wasn't.
I can foresee myself reading this one more than once.
In some ways this was as expected, but in some ways it was not. The commentary wasn't preachy but came off as natural thoughts of the character.
I liked the way the whole thing unfolded. I was worried that the back and forth in the timeline would be distracting, but it wasn't.
I can foresee myself reading this one more than once.
June 22, 2024
I often read just before bed, to shift my mind away from the turmoil and tasks of the day and relax my consciousness into a state where sleep might be possible. The challenge with this method of unwinding is to find the right type of book; well-written enough to be enjoyable, but not so engrossing or stimulating that I can't put it down. This book was a perfect "wind-down" choice. A sweetly beautiful tale, with descriptions that draw the reader in like a soft and lovely watercolour painting. To read (or listen to) this book is to be carried along on a softly swaying, rhythmic night train.
August 25, 2020
This was a different sort of book entirely. Partly creepy and partly sedate. Not a lot happens in the book.
Would you accept a job to be a hermit that is watched constantly? I'm fairly sure I would not, where is the privacy? Yet this job seemed to have some freedom for Finch. At least he found it better than the desk cubicle job.
Would you accept a job to be a hermit that is watched constantly? I'm fairly sure I would not, where is the privacy? Yet this job seemed to have some freedom for Finch. At least he found it better than the desk cubicle job.
July 11, 2022
The Bee-Loud Glade is an enjoyable, interesting look at simple and solitary living. It strikes a good balance between humor and meditative reflection, and is so well written that I am eager to explore Himmer’s other works. There are more than a few quotable, philosophical gems scattered throughout the novel.
July 27, 2022
Sometimes I’m amazed that I sit through hours of a story. I kept thinking about turning this on off but I wanted to see how it would end. I should have turned it off at the beginning.
June 10, 2011
I read the Bee-Loud Glade in about three or four days. I'm a very slow reader. The book is a kind of high-concept book that falls right at the edge of naturalism and somethingess, much like Robert J. Lennon's novel The Castle. Both books are avery similar in that the bizarre concept in both books is plausible enough that I suspect some people might be confused about the intent of the book. Is this supposed to be real? In this book, an unemployed named named Finch, who works as kind of social media marketing blogger that becomes possessed by the simulation of other people's lives, is hired by a rich man (Mr. Crane) in the vein of the Randolph and Mortimer Duke in the movie Trading Places. Finch's job is to be a hermit in Crane's garden, and then to follow Crane's various whims. Crane wants his hermit to perform a morning meditation, to not speak, and eventually to grow and survive on the output for the garden. The novel follows Finch's gradual assimilation into the rich man's garden.
The style of the book also reminds of Robert J. Lennon and also Patrick Summerville. It is a contemporary novel that refuses to engage in the kind of linguistic execution of a prose style to support the themes of the book. I think this is a great way of handling a narrative like this, and I admire Himmer, Summerville, and Lennon's ability to write a clearly contemporary and fluid prose that doesn't really interfere or draw attention to itself. There seems a competing impulse in many very contemporary books where the writing -- each sentence -- has been molded and crafted like a kind of mosaic made of custom built parts. That kind of book has its own pleasure, but this tact seems just as useful to me, and also then works to support the friction between naturalism and something else (surrealism, expressionism, allegory, or whatever.)
Didn't realize my note would turn into a review: Here is the obligatory "on the other hand" part of the review: My only nit with the book was that I wish the narrative tension has been more tightly drawn. It was present. There is a mild drama in the collapse of Mr. Crane's empire. There is a the mild drama of Finch's relationship with Mrs. Crane, and more, Finche's learning how to live as a hermit. He has several "gates" set my Mr. Crane that could have been exploited easily to introduce a degree of "and what happens next" and instead the book I think takes the tact of telling the story from the POV of Finche's timeless hermit perspective. This lack in the sense of time removed any urgency from the book. It makes sense for the concept of the book, hence this is "a nit," and besides this is the spot in a review where the reviewer needs to say something negative.
There are a allegorical elements at play in the book, but I didn't bother to figure them out. It was enough for me to contemplate the fact that many, many professions in the emerging whateveryouwanttocallit-ism (globalism, post-capitalism, whatever) are created by the whims of the super-wealthy. To be a teacher of creative writing, a pilates instructor, or hermit are similar in their degree of abstraction from performing what have historically been very basic human activities: getting and eating food and making babies. And of course the irony is that the Finch the hermit, despite a massive salary, ends up nearly naked, in the dirt, foraging for food as if civilization has never existed.
The style of the book also reminds of Robert J. Lennon and also Patrick Summerville. It is a contemporary novel that refuses to engage in the kind of linguistic execution of a prose style to support the themes of the book. I think this is a great way of handling a narrative like this, and I admire Himmer, Summerville, and Lennon's ability to write a clearly contemporary and fluid prose that doesn't really interfere or draw attention to itself. There seems a competing impulse in many very contemporary books where the writing -- each sentence -- has been molded and crafted like a kind of mosaic made of custom built parts. That kind of book has its own pleasure, but this tact seems just as useful to me, and also then works to support the friction between naturalism and something else (surrealism, expressionism, allegory, or whatever.)
Didn't realize my note would turn into a review: Here is the obligatory "on the other hand" part of the review: My only nit with the book was that I wish the narrative tension has been more tightly drawn. It was present. There is a mild drama in the collapse of Mr. Crane's empire. There is a the mild drama of Finch's relationship with Mrs. Crane, and more, Finche's learning how to live as a hermit. He has several "gates" set my Mr. Crane that could have been exploited easily to introduce a degree of "and what happens next" and instead the book I think takes the tact of telling the story from the POV of Finche's timeless hermit perspective. This lack in the sense of time removed any urgency from the book. It makes sense for the concept of the book, hence this is "a nit," and besides this is the spot in a review where the reviewer needs to say something negative.
There are a allegorical elements at play in the book, but I didn't bother to figure them out. It was enough for me to contemplate the fact that many, many professions in the emerging whateveryouwanttocallit-ism (globalism, post-capitalism, whatever) are created by the whims of the super-wealthy. To be a teacher of creative writing, a pilates instructor, or hermit are similar in their degree of abstraction from performing what have historically been very basic human activities: getting and eating food and making babies. And of course the irony is that the Finch the hermit, despite a massive salary, ends up nearly naked, in the dirt, foraging for food as if civilization has never existed.
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