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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This book is treated as book #2 in William Least Heat-Moon's "Travel Trilogy." While you could read it as a travelogue, I think it is more appropriately thought of as anthropological/cultural geography. It is an in-depth study of the interconnection of history, geography, nature, and people of Chase County, Kansas. From the stories behind signs on fences to the distribution of Osage orange trees, from the Border Ruffians to the Kaw people, he investigates a wide collection of questions and topics both large and small, that help map out this single rural county. Because each chapter can stand alone, the book, although quite long, can easily be read in small chunks (as my partner and I did over 3 years).
This is a deep examination of one county in Kansas; its geology, history, people, and wildlife. It is spellbinding and some of the best writing I have ever encountered.
It took me way too long to read this but I really liked it...
reflective
slow-paced
I loved this book. I've tried half a dozen long-winded review-type paragraphs, but none do it justice. Sometimes a book just comes along that is the right thing at the right time, and it's just pure indulgent pleasure to read.
If i could find any fault at all in PrairyErth, I would have placed the last chapters first, to put the settlement of Chase County in perspective w/r/t those who had inhabited it for millenia prior to white colonization. I'm sure that in '91 when it was published there was calculation in placing those chapters as an elegiac ending, but those haunting quotes will color any reread of the text, and would have been powerful at the beginning.
Q: 5
E: 5
I: 5
5x5 + 5 = 30
This is the only 30 I have ever given.
If i could find any fault at all in PrairyErth, I would have placed the last chapters first, to put the settlement of Chase County in perspective w/r/t those who had inhabited it for millenia prior to white colonization. I'm sure that in '91 when it was published there was calculation in placing those chapters as an elegiac ending, but those haunting quotes will color any reread of the text, and would have been powerful at the beginning.
Q: 5
E: 5
I: 5
5x5 + 5 = 30
This is the only 30 I have ever given.
Quite a singular book, sprawling in an intentional way. Full of strange stories, lovely quotes, meaningful and trivial insights. I flipped back to certain chapters to read some of the stories aloud to different people.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
A long book, a long time in the writing, a long time in the reading. Only a few times did I wish Heat-Moon would get on with it. Mostly, I wanted him to go even deeper into the land he was traveling, wanted to know more about the settlers and current denizens of Chase County Kansas. And, perhaps most importantly, this book made me want to actual travel to Kansas, not just through it, as I have before. And it makes me want to go to Nebraska and explore my maternal ancestral home on the prairie. To get over being a woodland being who cannot stand the flat and "empty."
I would like to finish reading this, but it's a slow read and having to recheck it constantly was getting old.