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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Beston writes with a passion matched only by his respect for nature; for every beauty there is a struggle, a tragedy. His celebration of a year on Cape Cod includes weather, seasons, ornithology, the townsfolk and Coast Guard employees, reveling in the strengths and pride in all equally. This is not Walden; Beston does not seek to isolate himself from people, but writes of the whole experience life and nature has to offer. The writing is more like a journal, as it is not bogged down in too much science, and could appeal to a very wide audience.
I found I needed a nice quiet place free of distractions in order to immerse myself in Beston's memoir. Once I found that place, I discovered a kindred spirit with an appreciation of the natural world, and a determination to learn more about a place by staying there for an entire year, chronicling the seasons of the Cape. He lived in isolation, much like Thoreau, but with occasional trips to the neighboring Coast Guard station. There were several shipwrecks, storms, and migrations and throughout it all the wild denizens of the air for which he has the most enthusiasm. Inspiring and thoughtful.
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
I think there is a certain beauty that flows through this book. I have never read anything about Cape Cod before, and hearing its progression in detail through a full calendar year was interesting. Beston did a great job of forming a vivid image in my mind of the landscape, the birds, the waves, and the weather. This book filled me with melancholy, thinking about how lush and vibrant the beach seemed in the 1920's, and knowing that we have been on a steady decline ever since.
That being said, it was a struggle to get through. Certain chapters have nice pacing, but most of the book dragged at a sometimes agonizing pace for me. Beston fills the pages with minutiae of every aspect of the beach, but most of the time he doesn't have much to actually say about it. I really enjoyed when he did though, especially at the end of the book.
To me, it feels outdated. His passing mention of the Native Americans that were driven from Cape Cod, and his insistence to capture, dig up, and otherwise inject himself into the lives of the creatures around him are stark examples of that. It really feels like a book written 100 years ago, that is no longer as relevant as other works of nature literature. I am, I think, glad to have some context in which to think about the evolution of nature/environmental writing since its publication.
That being said, it was a struggle to get through. Certain chapters have nice pacing, but most of the book dragged at a sometimes agonizing pace for me. Beston fills the pages with minutiae of every aspect of the beach, but most of the time he doesn't have much to actually say about it. I really enjoyed when he did though, especially at the end of the book.
To me, it feels outdated. His passing mention of the Native Americans that were driven from Cape Cod, and his insistence to capture, dig up, and otherwise inject himself into the lives of the creatures around him are stark examples of that. It really feels like a book written 100 years ago, that is no longer as relevant as other works of nature literature. I am, I think, glad to have some context in which to think about the evolution of nature/environmental writing since its publication.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Very poetic, a lovely tribute to nature. It would be the perfect beach read!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
dark
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
In 1925 Beston spent a year living in a simple two-room home on the outer arm of Cape Cod, facing the wide Atlantic Ocean. This book is a series of essays documenting the seasons there.
Beston believed that poetry had as much to do with his observations as science did, and his prose is “burnished, polished sentences, richly metaphoric and musical, that beg to be read aloud.” (Robert Finch, Introduction)
This is a book to be read in small doses and savoured. It’s everything I had hoped Walden would be, but wasn’t. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
Read this if: you love lyrical descriptions of creation’s beauty; or you want a glimpse of a vanished Cape Cod.
Beston believed that poetry had as much to do with his observations as science did, and his prose is “burnished, polished sentences, richly metaphoric and musical, that beg to be read aloud.” (Robert Finch, Introduction)
This is a book to be read in small doses and savoured. It’s everything I had hoped Walden would be, but wasn’t. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
Read this if: you love lyrical descriptions of creation’s beauty; or you want a glimpse of a vanished Cape Cod.