Scan barcode
A review by pandagopanda
Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed by Catrina Davies
This book went straight on my to-read list when I heard about it around it's release, but I skirted around it, unsure what it might reflect back to me of my life.
Davies tells a deeply personal story of a vulnerable period in her life, with an easy combination of amusing anecdotes, uncensored practicalities, and philosophy about how our economic systems fail us. I have been recommending it to anyone who, especially this year, is struggling to imagine their individual futures.
At the start of each chapter, Davies includes a quote from Thoreau's Walden, a text which I have yet to read myself but already have some half-formed opinions about (I do want to read it for myself, but haven't quite persuaded myself to prioritise it). I wouldn't say Davies goes as far as to venerate Thoreau (as I read it, anyway), but she harnesses some of his well-known maxims to lead her own storytelling. She may even be offering a cautionary, comparative and critical take on his ideals, by laying her own lived experiences and hardships (and privileges) down alongside these quotations.
Davies tells a deeply personal story of a vulnerable period in her life, with an easy combination of amusing anecdotes, uncensored practicalities, and philosophy about how our economic systems fail us. I have been recommending it to anyone who, especially this year, is struggling to imagine their individual futures.
At the start of each chapter, Davies includes a quote from Thoreau's Walden, a text which I have yet to read myself but already have some half-formed opinions about (I do want to read it for myself, but haven't quite persuaded myself to prioritise it). I wouldn't say Davies goes as far as to venerate Thoreau (as I read it, anyway), but she harnesses some of his well-known maxims to lead her own storytelling. She may even be offering a cautionary, comparative and critical take on his ideals, by laying her own lived experiences and hardships (and privileges) down alongside these quotations.