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cathy5boys's review against another edition
2.0
A very tedious memoir of the authors experiences building and living at her Wyoming property "Bird Cloud". A true testament to my inability to leave a book unfinished. I just wish that the writing would have been better!
lainecid's review against another edition
3.0
Meandering with moments of clarity and brilliance. Only for those who love renovation details.
adryonsk's review against another edition
2.0
I love Wyoming, natural history, and memoirs about house-building and place. Sadly, this one didn't do it for me and it was a slog to get through at times. Pretty dull and pretty dismal at times. I'd rather have read more about the archaeology and plant life than the minuscule details of each part of the house and how it went wrong.
larrys's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up because I love Proulx’s Wyoming stories and I thought this may offer some insight into Proulx’s relationship with the area, and how she got to writing those stories. But this isn’t that. Sure, now and again I found myself thinking, “and that must have inspired that scene in such and such story” but this is more a book about the problems around building a house. And I’ve never liked those TV shows. Why put yourself through that misery unless you have a house at the end to show for it? Why watch it? And why read about it?
Reading it now, the story is especially bitter sweet because Proulx has since retired to Seattle, and then found she’s allergic to the trees there so last I heard she was having to retire to her childhood turf in New England where she still has a sister. This story reminded me of how no matter how much we aim to build a dream home, nowhere is forever. As Proulx concluded this book, she knew it too, because — imagine this — she spent all her money building a house which she couldn’t live in over winter. And didn’t know that at the start. Imagine finding that out.
Here’s the interesting thing in relation to the Wyoming stories. In her fiction, Proulx’s sympathy is firmly with the genuine farmers. She pokes fun at the newcomers who get their trucks stuck in snow, and those who don’t know what they’re getting into when they try and build these mansions in natural environs which are beautiful but harsh. Turns out Proulx is one of those newcomers, falling victim to the exact sort of thing she’d write about unsympathetically in a story. I can just imagine one of her rich characters moving to rural Wyoming and failing to understand the house they bought would be inaccessible for much of the year due to snow. In the Wyoming stories, Annie Proulx is having a poke at people just like herself.
Reading it now, the story is especially bitter sweet because Proulx has since retired to Seattle, and then found she’s allergic to the trees there so last I heard she was having to retire to her childhood turf in New England where she still has a sister. This story reminded me of how no matter how much we aim to build a dream home, nowhere is forever. As Proulx concluded this book, she knew it too, because — imagine this — she spent all her money building a house which she couldn’t live in over winter. And didn’t know that at the start. Imagine finding that out.
Here’s the interesting thing in relation to the Wyoming stories. In her fiction, Proulx’s sympathy is firmly with the genuine farmers. She pokes fun at the newcomers who get their trucks stuck in snow, and those who don’t know what they’re getting into when they try and build these mansions in natural environs which are beautiful but harsh. Turns out Proulx is one of those newcomers, falling victim to the exact sort of thing she’d write about unsympathetically in a story. I can just imagine one of her rich characters moving to rural Wyoming and failing to understand the house they bought would be inaccessible for much of the year due to snow. In the Wyoming stories, Annie Proulx is having a poke at people just like herself.
ngerharter's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars. I loved the beginning - the trials of building a new "dream" house in the Wyoming wilderness. The second half, Proulx's examination of the natural history around her, was just as interesting, but not as well crafted. Entire sections seemed lifted right from a journal, with no connections or themes. She seemed in a hurry to finish.
bookwormadventuregirl's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a disappointment. I enjoyed the last 15-20% when Proulx is describing the nature, wildlife, and birds in the area around Bird Cloud. Other than that, I found the book to have a negative tone and thought many things could be improved, like perhaps telling stories around the characters in the book. Or, perhaps saying that you like something in the "dream house" that you are building. It felt like reading complaint after complaint for most of the book which left me feeling low.
kristenhg's review against another edition
2.0
I read this because I like Proulx's writing and I'm about to begin a major home renovation. It did hit the spot, commiseration-wise, but I also found myself skimming more often than usual.
lnatal's review against another edition
1.0
Pulitzer prize-winning writer, Annie Proulx, sets out to build her perfect home in a remote corner of Wyoming.
Proulx's first work of non-fiction in twenty years tells a personal story of designing and constructing a house in harmony with her interests, work and personality.
Having lived a peripatetic life, Annie Proulx decides to build a house where she can end her days. It does not quite work out that way when she falls in love with a 640 acre of remote Nature Conservancy land in Wyoming.
Read by Laura Brook
Abridged by Elizabeth Reeder
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qftk
Proulx's first work of non-fiction in twenty years tells a personal story of designing and constructing a house in harmony with her interests, work and personality.
Having lived a peripatetic life, Annie Proulx decides to build a house where she can end her days. It does not quite work out that way when she falls in love with a 640 acre of remote Nature Conservancy land in Wyoming.
Read by Laura Brook
Abridged by Elizabeth Reeder
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qftk
halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
4.0
Part biography, part nature book and part home build biography of an American writer"
readingbinge's review against another edition
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
2.0
Well, the middle part describing building the house of her dreams in the wilderness was good. I liked reading about the planning and building process. The beginning part about her family history, and the long section at the end talking about the history of the area and the animals, I did not enjoy. I wanted more memoir in this ‘memoir’, but if you like history you may enjoy this!