Scan barcode
bluelilyblue's review against another edition
5.0
I can't remember the last time a book felt like coming home from a day-long walk with a friend. Annie Dillard sees the intricacy of the world in her backyard, turns over a river rock and uncovers a new conception of the Divine, senses the gravity of the seemingly ordinary. She walks, waits, sees, and shows how something so uncomplicated can ground one into one's place in a world of strange and beautiful things. I enjoyed the way that the theological wonderings arising from observations of animals, plants, and landscapes echo the Romantics' approach to the sublime--accepting the interweaved beauty and horror of the living world and learning the love of what would instinctually be repulsive or frightening; awfulness, both in the new and the old sense of the word. Annie Dillard is knowledgeable and spiritual in a wholly unpretentious way, guiding the reader through the quiet rituals of paying attention and being open to the nonhuman world with such tenderness. I might have fallen in love with her and with her wonderful nature journal/ philosophical inquiry/ cabinet of curiosities.
suebrownreads's review against another edition
3.0
Some of this book I really enjoyed. Some was hard to get through. It almost seemed like a collection of essays. Many paragraphs within chapters seemed completely unrelated, and I mean completely unrelated. There was no real common thread to tie the whole book together. As a lover of nature and someone who has spent much time in the outdoors, I did enjoy many of her scientific examinations and explanations. I did have a hard time making myself finish the book, which is why it took me more than a a year to read. I am sure this book is meant to be artistic, philosophical, and revolutionary, but I prefer something more direct with a better flow of subject and character. Yes, I am aware that she won a Pulitzer prize for this book. So who am I to criticize, but I am not the only one. Some of the top reviewers of the time criticized her for the same things, and I have to agree. Did I say that some of this book I found beautiful? Well, some of it was just beautiful!
radagast_the_brown's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5
the afterward sections make this book — the context helps me see what she was seeing. definitely dated, but still setting the stage for the future nature writing to come.
gwoo's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
My favorite book
biomimic's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
grayjay's review against another edition
4.0
In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard describes her observations of plants, insects, and animals and waxes poetic about their meaning.
Her observations are compared to quotations by other nature writers and the texts of various religions. She has a fluid, poetic style of verse, that ranges into mystical and ecstatic.
Sections that stood out to me were her observations of the mantis egg sack, her discovery of the frog on the riverbank, sucked hollow by a giant water bug, and her intense stalking of muskrats.
There is a general focus on violence and destruction in nature, from the musings on locust swarms, to her tomcat slashing her chest to ribbons, to the long section on the lives of parasitic insects.
Her observations are compared to quotations by other nature writers and the texts of various religions. She has a fluid, poetic style of verse, that ranges into mystical and ecstatic.
Sections that stood out to me were her observations of the mantis egg sack, her discovery of the frog on the riverbank, sucked hollow by a giant water bug, and her intense stalking of muskrats.
There is a general focus on violence and destruction in nature, from the musings on locust swarms, to her tomcat slashing her chest to ribbons, to the long section on the lives of parasitic insects.
mlm7's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
3.5
Some parts were really beautiful, but the metaphysical parts and the constant quoting sometimes lost me
mtnlaurel's review against another edition
5.0
Probably gonna re-read this book at least once a year for the rest of my life
nbynw's review against another edition
5.0
Written at age 27. wow. I wish I had even a small amount of her observational skills. That and I wish I lived closer to nature, or could see the world that I do live near in a whole new way.