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A review by bookaneer
Walking by Henry David Thoreau
2.0
Hmm. Reading Thoreau has never been easy for me, it takes time and many pondering. But I remember that it was immersive. Walden and Civil Disobedience were among my favorite nonfiction writings of all time, and looking at the book still in my shelf and survived numerous book sales/swaps/etc, they still are. So I had high hopes when I came across this one. Thoreau philosophizing about walking, what's not to like.
Sadly, he didn't moved me this time. I was quite entranced with the first one-third of the essay - very Waldenish - but it went everywhere from there. He likes America a lot because the stars shine brighter, the moon is bigger and so on. "Westward the star of empire takes its way". He also says all good things are wild and free. Cultivation of land be damned. He wanted to live among the savages, even. "The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful verity with which good men and lovers meet." But no, he heard that apparently Singapore had tigers that could carry you away in the night is just too much wildness for him, so yeah, he'll stick with America. No tigers. Then he went on criticizing poetries and literature for "not adequately expresses this yearning for the Wild." Oookay.
Well, there are other weird sentences and musings which I won't bother copying them here. Nonetheless, there are still his usual quotable ones, some itsy bitsy gems here and there. But, at the end of this particular walk with Walden, I only got confused, lost my way, and definitely not er, "lit up with a great awakening light as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn".
Sadly, he didn't moved me this time. I was quite entranced with the first one-third of the essay - very Waldenish - but it went everywhere from there. He likes America a lot because the stars shine brighter, the moon is bigger and so on. "Westward the star of empire takes its way". He also says all good things are wild and free. Cultivation of land be damned. He wanted to live among the savages, even. "The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful verity with which good men and lovers meet." But no, he heard that apparently Singapore had tigers that could carry you away in the night is just too much wildness for him, so yeah, he'll stick with America. No tigers. Then he went on criticizing poetries and literature for "not adequately expresses this yearning for the Wild." Oookay.
Well, there are other weird sentences and musings which I won't bother copying them here. Nonetheless, there are still his usual quotable ones, some itsy bitsy gems here and there. But, at the end of this particular walk with Walden, I only got confused, lost my way, and definitely not er, "lit up with a great awakening light as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn".