Scan barcode
liberrydude's review
3.0
A love letter to New Mexico. Rural NM. Not just the land but the people. A Bostonian’s whimsical experiment in place morphs into his forever home. Like in religion when converts become zealous protectors so it is with transplants to New Mexico. They call it the Land of Enchantment for a good reason. I should know as I too like Bodio have been mesmerized by the place.
It’s not for everybody. Hunting. Cock fighting. At times his home reminded me of Farley Mowat’s writing with the menagerie- comical adventures with the animals. Any New Mexican will readily concur with his descriptions of the seasons and the topography. But this is a book that is a memoir too and it’s got plenty of vicissitudes. It was written in 1990 after the loss of a soulmate. In 2021 Bodio is still charging forward, still living in Magdalena, despite dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. Time to read his fiction book and maybe some of his books on birds.
It’s not for everybody. Hunting. Cock fighting. At times his home reminded me of Farley Mowat’s writing with the menagerie- comical adventures with the animals. Any New Mexican will readily concur with his descriptions of the seasons and the topography. But this is a book that is a memoir too and it’s got plenty of vicissitudes. It was written in 1990 after the loss of a soulmate. In 2021 Bodio is still charging forward, still living in Magdalena, despite dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. Time to read his fiction book and maybe some of his books on birds.
chrislatray's review
5.0
I've had this book for years and then apparently lost it, as I learned when my friend, the writer Malcolm Brooks, who provides the introduction to the edition I've just finished, was looking for a copy to send to someone else. Now, some weeks (or months, who can tell anymore) later, it appears at the used bookstore and I snap it up and read it. Everything I've heard about it is true: it is a beautiful work of nature writing, life writing, love writing.
I come away with this. Love the world and revel in it. Live in it. And if you love someone, or someone loves you, and you are a smoker ... please stop now, before it's too late.
I come away with this. Love the world and revel in it. Live in it. And if you love someone, or someone loves you, and you are a smoker ... please stop now, before it's too late.
More...