Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
A memoir of living alone in the wilds of Nova Scotia in the 1960s when to do so as a woman was a revolutionary act. By the author of the wonderful Mrs Pollifax "cozy" mysteries. Beautiful writing and some interesting insights, but a lot of it is dated, like speculations about the I Ching and ESP (for goodness sakes!).
Beautiful writing. In a way this one reminds me of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea— which I love.
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Thoroughly enjoyed this short memoir of Dorothy Gilman's life in a small Nova Scotia village, on the shore, which she moves to after her youngest son goes to college. She goes to live more self-sufficiently, to cut back on her possessions, and to find out what being alone is like. In the process she also finds out the joys of living in a small rural community, where your neighbors show up unannounced and check on you if your routine varies too much. It is lovely.
2.5
I was hoping for more about Nova Scotia I guess than what it was... which was sometimes rambling notes on philosophies she was reading at the time and being 1978 there was some way out there notions, man.
I was hoping for more about Nova Scotia I guess than what it was... which was sometimes rambling notes on philosophies she was reading at the time and being 1978 there was some way out there notions, man.
Gilman states some important things very plainly and cleanly - she's a great advocate for simplicity and autonomy. The book could be more tightly focused, and I was repulsed by one chapter of total New Age gibberish, but the book makes a short and sweet antidote to consumerism.
I wish I had written this review when I finished the book a few months ago. It's very much a snapshot in her time of when she was a no longer married woman in the 70s whose kids have grown up who learns to find herself apart from the others by going to the coast of Nova Scotia and having a go at a garden. Which sounds perhaps cheesy or red-hat-ladies-esque, but which was actually quite lovely in a quiet and honest way.