Book Reviews!
In One Person (paperback)
By John Irving
$
16.99
JOHN IRVING
“In One Person”
Review By Claire Ayraud
This new novel from John Irving feels autobiographic and yet playfully made up, his
characters like the Shakespearean people they play on stage; their antics mirror the lives
of Caliban and Ariel in “The Tempest,” Romeo and Juliet, King Lear even. It is a brilliant
coming of age story set in the 1960s when sexuality was unspoken and yet the release is
right there on stage for all to see, as men play women, and some women are really men.
Shakespeare is the teacher for Billy as he begins to see what is underneath the façade of
people he thought he knew and loved as they unfold before his eyes on the stage.
Wresting is also a teacher for Billy and I draw one of my autobiographic parallels to
Irving as he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater OK
in 1992. A competitor and coach for most of his life, he draws on his experience in “In
One Person.” Whether he is Billy or Coach doesn’t really matter as his portraits of the
people in this novel ring true and real while also being setup as a play within a play, as
Shakespeare does so deftly. And so at times there is a play within a play within a play,
maybe more mirror images going on into infinity.
At the beginning of reading I searched back and forth through the text for references of
the 60s because I could not believe that these things were happening then. As a child
of the sixties, I found denial and delusion ingrained, people never talked of money,
incarcerations into mental institutions swept under the rug, nervous breakdowns just a
blip on the screen. Homosexuality was a taboo that no one acknowledged in my world.
Gay was not even a word. Gay was Gay Paris, roaring twenties, fun & frolic. The only
homosexual teenager in our community hung himself in the attic and was never spoken of
again.
Billy’s mother is vehemently opposed to any such talk and becomes a villain of sorts
with whom he never reconciles. The absent father is found to be one of the transvestites
hidden in the closet of history books along with Billy’s “one true love” the librarian,
Miss Frost. She is the one who instructs him on the art of making love, yet deceiving
him all the time. She says that she is protecting him from actual sex and yet she is hiding
another dark secret. I found the deceit of the adults in this novel to be the only shame.
Taking an innocent teenager who should be forming relationships with people his own
age, is a betrayal of the worst kind. And yet he wanted it and needed this love for his
development.
The expose of so many different sexual identities as the characters strive to discover
who they are, with most of the struggle centered on not really wanting to know as the
consequences seem dire and unacceptable. This novel reaffirmed my thoughts on sexual
orientation, “Why can’t people just love who they love? Why does anyone have to
come out of the closet, only to be put in another box called homosexual, lesbian, gay,
transsexual, cross dresser, bisexual; the list will only get longer as society still tries
to label people, the mind’s need to create order out of chaos. Irving’s Billy describes
reactions to his bisexual nature, “my gay friends and lovers all believed that anyone
calling himself a bisexual man was really just a gay guy with one foot in the closet…I
sensed that bisexual men were not trusted; perhaps we never will be.” And so he tries to
pick one or the other. He lives with a gay man, then a straight woman, a transsexual (I
suspect he was happiest then as he had both man and woman in one).
Irving takes you through the AIDS epidemic and Billy’s life coming around full circle,
seeing it all and coming back home. “In One Person” will be shocking to many who still
carry delusion and denial into the millennium but I see this novel as an awakening with a
personal story tied to analogies larger than life.
--Claire Ayraud
“In One Person”
Review By Claire Ayraud
This new novel from John Irving feels autobiographic and yet playfully made up, his
characters like the Shakespearean people they play on stage; their antics mirror the lives
of Caliban and Ariel in “The Tempest,” Romeo and Juliet, King Lear even. It is a brilliant
coming of age story set in the 1960s when sexuality was unspoken and yet the release is
right there on stage for all to see, as men play women, and some women are really men.
Shakespeare is the teacher for Billy as he begins to see what is underneath the façade of
people he thought he knew and loved as they unfold before his eyes on the stage.
Wresting is also a teacher for Billy and I draw one of my autobiographic parallels to
Irving as he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater OK
in 1992. A competitor and coach for most of his life, he draws on his experience in “In
One Person.” Whether he is Billy or Coach doesn’t really matter as his portraits of the
people in this novel ring true and real while also being setup as a play within a play, as
Shakespeare does so deftly. And so at times there is a play within a play within a play,
maybe more mirror images going on into infinity.
At the beginning of reading I searched back and forth through the text for references of
the 60s because I could not believe that these things were happening then. As a child
of the sixties, I found denial and delusion ingrained, people never talked of money,
incarcerations into mental institutions swept under the rug, nervous breakdowns just a
blip on the screen. Homosexuality was a taboo that no one acknowledged in my world.
Gay was not even a word. Gay was Gay Paris, roaring twenties, fun & frolic. The only
homosexual teenager in our community hung himself in the attic and was never spoken of
again.
Billy’s mother is vehemently opposed to any such talk and becomes a villain of sorts
with whom he never reconciles. The absent father is found to be one of the transvestites
hidden in the closet of history books along with Billy’s “one true love” the librarian,
Miss Frost. She is the one who instructs him on the art of making love, yet deceiving
him all the time. She says that she is protecting him from actual sex and yet she is hiding
another dark secret. I found the deceit of the adults in this novel to be the only shame.
Taking an innocent teenager who should be forming relationships with people his own
age, is a betrayal of the worst kind. And yet he wanted it and needed this love for his
development.
The expose of so many different sexual identities as the characters strive to discover
who they are, with most of the struggle centered on not really wanting to know as the
consequences seem dire and unacceptable. This novel reaffirmed my thoughts on sexual
orientation, “Why can’t people just love who they love? Why does anyone have to
come out of the closet, only to be put in another box called homosexual, lesbian, gay,
transsexual, cross dresser, bisexual; the list will only get longer as society still tries
to label people, the mind’s need to create order out of chaos. Irving’s Billy describes
reactions to his bisexual nature, “my gay friends and lovers all believed that anyone
calling himself a bisexual man was really just a gay guy with one foot in the closet…I
sensed that bisexual men were not trusted; perhaps we never will be.” And so he tries to
pick one or the other. He lives with a gay man, then a straight woman, a transsexual (I
suspect he was happiest then as he had both man and woman in one).
Irving takes you through the AIDS epidemic and Billy’s life coming around full circle,
seeing it all and coming back home. “In One Person” will be shocking to many who still
carry delusion and denial into the millennium but I see this novel as an awakening with a
personal story tied to analogies larger than life.
--Claire Ayraud
Exile Nation
By Charles Shaw
$
16.95
Illuminating Inconvenient Truths
Review by Claire Ayraud
“Exile Nation”
by Charles Shaw
Prisons, Politics, Drugs and Spirituality are the words under the title used to describe “Exile Nation” and at first glance, this appears to be the last book in the world that you would actually want to read. However before the first chapter is over you will be amazed at how sucked in to this man’s story you become and how wonderfully he brings in the people he has met in prison as a part of his life.
He believes that the overcrowding of the prison system is brought on by the War on Drugs and that many inmates should not even be there. Arrested for possession, they are not a threat to society until they are thrown into the prison system and have to survive in a closed environment with violent criminals. Shaw espouses legalization of all drugs so that just like prohibition, it takes the problem out of the hands of criminals and into a controlled environment, where it is taxed, there is a prohibition for minors and prescriptions are used to limit quantities.
He takes you on a trip with this book into the prison dehumamization process that you don’t really want to go on, but he does it in such a way that you have to keep reading because you want to know what happens. There is a spiritual aspect of his trip where self examination comes into play because of all the time he has with nothing to do but reflect. So he accepts the fact that he is there because he broke the law and messed up his life with drugs but still asserts the fact that we should all have the freedom to choose our drugs. The government should have no say in this personal decision. Dealing is another matter altogether leading to other criminal activities and gangs which he does not condone but argues that there would be no dealing after legalization.
He is a writer and the other inmates are suspicious of this activity. They think he is spying on them, planted there to rat them out and so he has to hide his papers, but he writes prolific paragraphs on the inmates and their interactions with each other and the guards and the politics of why they are there. The personal stories are what engage the reader and connect the author’s stance on the drug problem to real people. One man’s story brought tears to my eyes and I realized that this is one of the best books ever written on the subject of prisons. Surprise was another factor in my enjoyment. Since I thought it would be terrible, imagine my delight to find this gem of a story rolled into a political debate.
Review by Claire Ayraud
“Exile Nation”
by Charles Shaw
Prisons, Politics, Drugs and Spirituality are the words under the title used to describe “Exile Nation” and at first glance, this appears to be the last book in the world that you would actually want to read. However before the first chapter is over you will be amazed at how sucked in to this man’s story you become and how wonderfully he brings in the people he has met in prison as a part of his life.
He believes that the overcrowding of the prison system is brought on by the War on Drugs and that many inmates should not even be there. Arrested for possession, they are not a threat to society until they are thrown into the prison system and have to survive in a closed environment with violent criminals. Shaw espouses legalization of all drugs so that just like prohibition, it takes the problem out of the hands of criminals and into a controlled environment, where it is taxed, there is a prohibition for minors and prescriptions are used to limit quantities.
He takes you on a trip with this book into the prison dehumamization process that you don’t really want to go on, but he does it in such a way that you have to keep reading because you want to know what happens. There is a spiritual aspect of his trip where self examination comes into play because of all the time he has with nothing to do but reflect. So he accepts the fact that he is there because he broke the law and messed up his life with drugs but still asserts the fact that we should all have the freedom to choose our drugs. The government should have no say in this personal decision. Dealing is another matter altogether leading to other criminal activities and gangs which he does not condone but argues that there would be no dealing after legalization.
He is a writer and the other inmates are suspicious of this activity. They think he is spying on them, planted there to rat them out and so he has to hide his papers, but he writes prolific paragraphs on the inmates and their interactions with each other and the guards and the politics of why they are there. The personal stories are what engage the reader and connect the author’s stance on the drug problem to real people. One man’s story brought tears to my eyes and I realized that this is one of the best books ever written on the subject of prisons. Surprise was another factor in my enjoyment. Since I thought it would be terrible, imagine my delight to find this gem of a story rolled into a political debate.
The Art of Fielding
By Chad Harbach
$
15.99
The Art of Fielding
A novel
By Chad Harbach
Review by Claire Ayraud
While immersed in the first chapter of Harbach’s incredibly detailed, wondrous prose, I realized that this would be one of the most compelling novels in my library. I only keep books that I will read again and this is one of them. It seems to be about baseball but that is only the conveyance of the author’s intent. He describes the Zen of being in the zone where there is no thought processes going on in Henry’s head as he scoops up the ball and throws to first, a super human feat. There is only a perfect calm channeling of energy that courses through his body and propels the ball exactly into the catcher’s mitt. In order to get to that place, Henry is coached by Mike, his mentor, into a shape that can handle anything that comes at him on the field of play. He is molded by hard work and training
into a sculpted hard body and mind that is sure of itself and ready for anything. Henry is on a winning streak with no errors for 52 games which is one game short of the record and in a fluke his throw goes off the mark and hits the Buddha, Owen who is the team’s calm centered player who also happens to be gay. As the story unfolds, the homosexual element is revealed alongside the easy camaraderie of the hetero males. The female element enters with Pella, the President of the college’s daughter, who stirs up the relationships but also rescues Henry from his fall from grace. The fall is precipitated by the errant throw which makes Henry question everything and think too much so that he is unable to deliver the ball as he rethinks and chokes at every game until he has to leave the one thing he truly loves. The cast of characters is fleshed out so that you feel a part of this enclave, at home with this team of players and so when one of them is hurting you feel as if you’ve been there and experienced this loss and heartache in your own life somehow. The love of each one for the other and their dysfunctional ways of dealing with their lives is part of the universe told with beautiful images that serve as a parable. The ending of the novel disturbed me as it was highly unbelievable however it referred back to Emerson’s life and what he did after his wife died. There are numerous references to literature from the college President’s life of letters, library of books and speeches he gave. Harbach inserts his own theories on life and its interconnection with the universe
into the characters’ speech throughout the novel. He is brilliant at making this seamless and natural. The ending is not an ending at all but just the beginning of an outwardly moving spiral. We expect a novel to end in a pat resolution, however our life never does this but only moves on to the next paradox and so does this story. This is not just a book about baseball. It is a fully encompassing journey into self awareness that transcends everyday life into a meaningful, harrowing yet beautiful, complicated existence.
When the Killing's Done
By T.C. Boyle
$
16.00
“When the Killing’s Done”
T.C. Boyle
Review by Claire Ayraud
Watching Hollywood films over the past few months, I have been complaining to friends about the good guy, bad guy scenario played out over and over. In the new “Planet of the Apes” and even in “The Help” the bad guys are made out to be so bad that no one seems to mind, the killing or humiliation of “those people.”
TC Boyle’s novel, “When the Killing’s Done” is a refreshing look at a volatile situation that could easily have gonethe way of Hollywood and if there is a film version, watch out; someone will be sacrificed. But Boyle is incredibly adept at presenting characters, fleshing them out, and stepping back to let the reader decide with whom they sympathize. And even at the end of this long tale of blood and struggle on the islands off the coast of California, the characters are portrayed as containing both good and bad attributes. The sense that there is no right or wrong, just an examination of how history brought these people
together in a clash of ideas from the biologists to the sheep ranchers, and the animal rights activists who became fanatics when their voices were not heard.
The issue at the core of the novel is whether non- indigenous species to an ecosystem should be eradicated so that the indigenous creatures will not become extinct. Being that these are islands, they are insulated from the rest of the world and so the biologists can play here, working out their theories of a world without human interference. However, this is exactly what they do, hypocritical to the end in a blind quest to put it back the way it was. In the beginning they kill the rats on Anacapa Island and just think for a minute, does anyone like rats? They are vermin, disease ridden, horrible creatures from your worst nightmare. No one cares about rats. They don’t belong there and they are eating the eggs of the endangered birds nesting on the island. One man does believe that all life is sacred and along with several animal rights volunteers unsuccessfully fight to save them.
After their success with this project, the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy biologists go after the wild pigs on Santa Cruz Island. Pigs have quite a bit more appeal and intelligence and the animal rights activists become more and more incensed about the slaughter. Even with all this confrontation going on, it seems as if most of the population doesn’t really care.
I was smitten by this novel from beginning to end. The history is fascinating, the stories of the very real people captivating and the environment depicted as violent and beautiful, harsh and spectacular, encompassing everything and having a direct impact on the individuals involved. Boyle’s writing is intelligent, well written, humorous and dramatic. Some of the descriptive passages seem banal, an overabundance of inconsequential detail that reveals humans as possibly the most stupid animal alive.
On his website, Boyle says that the novel as based on events of the past decade. He writes, “In fact, I still preserve a yellowing newspaper headline from six or seven years ago (it’s pinned beneath a magnet on the refrigerator door), which reads: EAGLES ARRIVE AS PIGS ARE KILLED, a reference to the reintroduction of the bald eagle and the eradication of the feral pig.”
Boyle is the author of twelve novels, recipient of the PEN/ Faulkner award for his book “World’s End”, and nine short story collections. He lives near Santa Barbara, where “The Killing” is set, and he is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. He will be at the highly acclaimed “New Yorker” festival at the end of this month.
T.C. Boyle
Review by Claire Ayraud
Watching Hollywood films over the past few months, I have been complaining to friends about the good guy, bad guy scenario played out over and over. In the new “Planet of the Apes” and even in “The Help” the bad guys are made out to be so bad that no one seems to mind, the killing or humiliation of “those people.”
TC Boyle’s novel, “When the Killing’s Done” is a refreshing look at a volatile situation that could easily have gonethe way of Hollywood and if there is a film version, watch out; someone will be sacrificed. But Boyle is incredibly adept at presenting characters, fleshing them out, and stepping back to let the reader decide with whom they sympathize. And even at the end of this long tale of blood and struggle on the islands off the coast of California, the characters are portrayed as containing both good and bad attributes. The sense that there is no right or wrong, just an examination of how history brought these people
together in a clash of ideas from the biologists to the sheep ranchers, and the animal rights activists who became fanatics when their voices were not heard.
The issue at the core of the novel is whether non- indigenous species to an ecosystem should be eradicated so that the indigenous creatures will not become extinct. Being that these are islands, they are insulated from the rest of the world and so the biologists can play here, working out their theories of a world without human interference. However, this is exactly what they do, hypocritical to the end in a blind quest to put it back the way it was. In the beginning they kill the rats on Anacapa Island and just think for a minute, does anyone like rats? They are vermin, disease ridden, horrible creatures from your worst nightmare. No one cares about rats. They don’t belong there and they are eating the eggs of the endangered birds nesting on the island. One man does believe that all life is sacred and along with several animal rights volunteers unsuccessfully fight to save them.
After their success with this project, the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy biologists go after the wild pigs on Santa Cruz Island. Pigs have quite a bit more appeal and intelligence and the animal rights activists become more and more incensed about the slaughter. Even with all this confrontation going on, it seems as if most of the population doesn’t really care.
I was smitten by this novel from beginning to end. The history is fascinating, the stories of the very real people captivating and the environment depicted as violent and beautiful, harsh and spectacular, encompassing everything and having a direct impact on the individuals involved. Boyle’s writing is intelligent, well written, humorous and dramatic. Some of the descriptive passages seem banal, an overabundance of inconsequential detail that reveals humans as possibly the most stupid animal alive.
On his website, Boyle says that the novel as based on events of the past decade. He writes, “In fact, I still preserve a yellowing newspaper headline from six or seven years ago (it’s pinned beneath a magnet on the refrigerator door), which reads: EAGLES ARRIVE AS PIGS ARE KILLED, a reference to the reintroduction of the bald eagle and the eradication of the feral pig.”
Boyle is the author of twelve novels, recipient of the PEN/ Faulkner award for his book “World’s End”, and nine short story collections. He lives near Santa Barbara, where “The Killing” is set, and he is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. He will be at the highly acclaimed “New Yorker” festival at the end of this month.
The Pale King - By David Foster Wallace (paperback)
Product description.
$
16.99
The Pale King
by David Foster Wallace
review by Claire Ayraud
“The Pale King” is a final novel, published posthumously by The David Foster Wallace Literary Trust with the help of his widow, Bonnie Nadell. In the editor’s notes by Michael Pietsch, it is recounted how this novel was put together from “hundreds of notes, observations and larger ideas. Some of these asides suggest where the plot of the novel might have headed. Others provide…character development. Contradictions and complications abound among them.” This novel was never finished or edited while Wallace was still alive and so no one knows what he intended the completed novel to be. It is simply a work in progress and the reader must slog through endless details and minutia that the author may not have intended to reach an audience.
I found myself skipping over large chunks of endlessly boring details of IRS rules; however it appears to be the whole point of this novel; where the mind goes when confronted with boredom, florescent lighting and confounding rules that contradict themselves in a hypocritical hierarchical setting. Who would want to read about this? Only David Foster Wallace could ever have made a novel from this material. His observations of people and situations are keen and funny, capturing the constant chaos of his little universe. Wallace actually worked for the IRS at a point in his life where he was adrift, a young man with no direction and so he thought, “Why not?” Only to discover many reasons why not but material for a novel was the end result and so this period of his life became the why to of his endeavor.
David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, NY in 1962 and raised in Illinois where he was a regionally ranked tennis player. His BA was in philosophy and English from Amherst Collage where he wrote his first novel “The Broom of the System” as his senior English Thesis. He received a master of fine arts from the University of Arizona in 1987 and briefly pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University. His second novel “Infinite Jest, was published in 1996. Wallace taught creative writing at several collages and published short story collections. He died in 2008, leaving behind unpublished work of which “The Pale King” is a part.
Wallace committed suicide by hanging himself on September 12, 2008. In an interview with The New York Times, Wallace's father reported that Wallace had suffered from depression for more than 20 years. A friend of mine once told me that depression is like falling into a black hole and there is no light to be seen, no hope glimmers. And yet his novels and short stories are full of life and beauty even in the ugliness of strip malls and freeways strewn with garbage because of the view from his own mind, a sentient being in an incredibly beautiful universe. So the paradox here is that he could bring light and laughter and beauty to others but not to himself.
The editor who compiled “The Pale King” brings it all on; all of the messy details and detritus that came out of Wallace’s mind and so there is no method to the madness, the story line is vague and hard to follow. This is existentialism at its finest with no filter, a stream of consciousness running ragged across a landscape of mankind’s senseless rules, regulations and corporate blandness.
by David Foster Wallace
review by Claire Ayraud
“The Pale King” is a final novel, published posthumously by The David Foster Wallace Literary Trust with the help of his widow, Bonnie Nadell. In the editor’s notes by Michael Pietsch, it is recounted how this novel was put together from “hundreds of notes, observations and larger ideas. Some of these asides suggest where the plot of the novel might have headed. Others provide…character development. Contradictions and complications abound among them.” This novel was never finished or edited while Wallace was still alive and so no one knows what he intended the completed novel to be. It is simply a work in progress and the reader must slog through endless details and minutia that the author may not have intended to reach an audience.
I found myself skipping over large chunks of endlessly boring details of IRS rules; however it appears to be the whole point of this novel; where the mind goes when confronted with boredom, florescent lighting and confounding rules that contradict themselves in a hypocritical hierarchical setting. Who would want to read about this? Only David Foster Wallace could ever have made a novel from this material. His observations of people and situations are keen and funny, capturing the constant chaos of his little universe. Wallace actually worked for the IRS at a point in his life where he was adrift, a young man with no direction and so he thought, “Why not?” Only to discover many reasons why not but material for a novel was the end result and so this period of his life became the why to of his endeavor.
David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, NY in 1962 and raised in Illinois where he was a regionally ranked tennis player. His BA was in philosophy and English from Amherst Collage where he wrote his first novel “The Broom of the System” as his senior English Thesis. He received a master of fine arts from the University of Arizona in 1987 and briefly pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University. His second novel “Infinite Jest, was published in 1996. Wallace taught creative writing at several collages and published short story collections. He died in 2008, leaving behind unpublished work of which “The Pale King” is a part.
Wallace committed suicide by hanging himself on September 12, 2008. In an interview with The New York Times, Wallace's father reported that Wallace had suffered from depression for more than 20 years. A friend of mine once told me that depression is like falling into a black hole and there is no light to be seen, no hope glimmers. And yet his novels and short stories are full of life and beauty even in the ugliness of strip malls and freeways strewn with garbage because of the view from his own mind, a sentient being in an incredibly beautiful universe. So the paradox here is that he could bring light and laughter and beauty to others but not to himself.
The editor who compiled “The Pale King” brings it all on; all of the messy details and detritus that came out of Wallace’s mind and so there is no method to the madness, the story line is vague and hard to follow. This is existentialism at its finest with no filter, a stream of consciousness running ragged across a landscape of mankind’s senseless rules, regulations and corporate blandness.
My Green Manifesto - By David Gessner
Product description.
$
14.00
The River Man
“My Green Manifesto”
Down the Charles River in pursuit of a New Environmentalism
by David Gessner
Gessner writes of his adventures with Dan Driscoll, an old friend who was and still is an urban planner in the Boston area. He brought the Charles river back to itself and the people with rec paths in the 1990s during a time when everyone thought he was crazy. He replanted native species which brought the birds and animals back and reconnected the people to nature. His nickname is “The River Man.”
With Driscoll as his mentor, Gessner navigates the Charles River and discovers for himself the changes wrought by a man who took environmentalism local. They are both fans of Thoreau and quote him extensively on his ideas that “contact” is what makes a person fall in love with the environment and become a radical, not education or politics. Getting the people out in contact with nature will inspire them to fight for the place. Nagging and making people feel guilty for destroying the planet just doesn’t work. Only falling in love will create the impetus for change.
So they borrow a kayak from a friend and in fits and starts, navigate the rapids at the beginning and the encroaching urban landscape at the end. Along the way he describes the birds and wildlife as a magical force the brings him peace. The end of the day is a beer drinking festival along the lines of Edward Abbey and the author is enamored with his ideas as well; that environmentalism doesn’t have to be clean, perfect and rigid but part of our existence. Like Abbey as an imperfect man, drinking and carrying on with joy for life and also going past that into the dark side of living with the threat to the natural world and taking a stand for what you believe in.
Gessner is the author of several books of literary non-fiction, has won numerous awards, teaches creative writing and founded the journal “Ecotone.” The tone of “My Green Manifesto” is playful and serious and the message is clear; “go out and love your environment to the point where you want to do something to save the natural.” As in many aspects of our dawning intelligence; eating local produce, buying local from our neighbors, we can also take our fight for the world local.
Gessner sums up by saying, “I don’t make any claims for the permanence of the pastoral.” He’s living in North Carolina now and kayaking out to a favorite island for his peace of mind with his daughter. He writes, “In fact if my geologist friends are right, this island itself will be under water by the time Hadley is my age…The Island is doomed, they say, and so is the world. Screw that… This morning out just beyond the mysterious footprints, black skimmers mow the surf…I embrace the still-wild world.”
I’m out in my yard down by the Nambe river under the century old cottonwood trees and I look up to see a hawk circling the neighbors’ acreage. I wonder what that is like to float on the currents of air and look down for something moving. To dive from 50 feet up and strike the moving target, a ground hog or a mouse, tear it apart with talons and beak and feel the nourishment of the ground through the stomach of one who eats seeds and berries that grow up from the dirt and water flowing here. From here emanates peace for our souls and if we love it, may help us save the planet. One by one if each community loves their natural environment, tries to save what is left and revitalize what once was, this sets an example for others and it could become global.
Claire Ayraud
Postscript: Just saw on Gessner’s website that Obama has just purchased “My Green Manifesto.”
“My Green Manifesto”
Down the Charles River in pursuit of a New Environmentalism
by David Gessner
Gessner writes of his adventures with Dan Driscoll, an old friend who was and still is an urban planner in the Boston area. He brought the Charles river back to itself and the people with rec paths in the 1990s during a time when everyone thought he was crazy. He replanted native species which brought the birds and animals back and reconnected the people to nature. His nickname is “The River Man.”
With Driscoll as his mentor, Gessner navigates the Charles River and discovers for himself the changes wrought by a man who took environmentalism local. They are both fans of Thoreau and quote him extensively on his ideas that “contact” is what makes a person fall in love with the environment and become a radical, not education or politics. Getting the people out in contact with nature will inspire them to fight for the place. Nagging and making people feel guilty for destroying the planet just doesn’t work. Only falling in love will create the impetus for change.
So they borrow a kayak from a friend and in fits and starts, navigate the rapids at the beginning and the encroaching urban landscape at the end. Along the way he describes the birds and wildlife as a magical force the brings him peace. The end of the day is a beer drinking festival along the lines of Edward Abbey and the author is enamored with his ideas as well; that environmentalism doesn’t have to be clean, perfect and rigid but part of our existence. Like Abbey as an imperfect man, drinking and carrying on with joy for life and also going past that into the dark side of living with the threat to the natural world and taking a stand for what you believe in.
Gessner is the author of several books of literary non-fiction, has won numerous awards, teaches creative writing and founded the journal “Ecotone.” The tone of “My Green Manifesto” is playful and serious and the message is clear; “go out and love your environment to the point where you want to do something to save the natural.” As in many aspects of our dawning intelligence; eating local produce, buying local from our neighbors, we can also take our fight for the world local.
Gessner sums up by saying, “I don’t make any claims for the permanence of the pastoral.” He’s living in North Carolina now and kayaking out to a favorite island for his peace of mind with his daughter. He writes, “In fact if my geologist friends are right, this island itself will be under water by the time Hadley is my age…The Island is doomed, they say, and so is the world. Screw that… This morning out just beyond the mysterious footprints, black skimmers mow the surf…I embrace the still-wild world.”
I’m out in my yard down by the Nambe river under the century old cottonwood trees and I look up to see a hawk circling the neighbors’ acreage. I wonder what that is like to float on the currents of air and look down for something moving. To dive from 50 feet up and strike the moving target, a ground hog or a mouse, tear it apart with talons and beak and feel the nourishment of the ground through the stomach of one who eats seeds and berries that grow up from the dirt and water flowing here. From here emanates peace for our souls and if we love it, may help us save the planet. One by one if each community loves their natural environment, tries to save what is left and revitalize what once was, this sets an example for others and it could become global.
Claire Ayraud
Postscript: Just saw on Gessner’s website that Obama has just purchased “My Green Manifesto.”
Three Cups of Deceit
By Jon Krakauer
$
12.00
“Three Cups of Deceit”
By Jon Krakauer
Review by Claire Ayraud
When I first saw this title in the bookstore, I thought, “Why would Jon Krakauer write a book about this man?” and so I was intrigued and puzzled. After reading through this short expose, I am still wondering although many questions have been answered. The book has the tag line “How Greg Mortenson, humanitarian hero, lost his way.” If you have read “Three Cups of Tea” or “Stones into Schools” you will be more prepared or perhaps less because most people I talked to about it said they loved these books and hated to see a humanitarian organization go the way of corporate America into deception and theft.
I wanted to know the truth, however, and slogged through the descriptions of this man who claimed to be a humanitarian working for Afghan children, taking the contributions to his non-profit organization for his personal use and lying about his history. It seemed to be a big slam into the face of all non-profits, and yet maybe we all need to look at the organizations we contribute to with more scrutiny.
I believe that Krakauer felt personally betrayed as he says in the book that he donated $75000 to The Central Asia Institute and wanted to tell others about that experience. His points about the lies that Mortenson told seemed inconsequential, i.e. the name of the town he sets his story in was not the town that he first met the children he built the first school; the kidnapping episode actually never happened however the Afghans he spoke to could also be lying; schools were built in areas where the community only stayed for a few months a year and then were too far away for the children to attend. This seems to be a technical difficulty as everyone knows, going into a country where you don’t know the language and relying on interpreters who might be telling you what they want you to hear.
The theft of millions of dollars actually did happen and I’m sure Mortenson will be punished many times over for that. Krakauer’s point about how he was still fundraising after the story broke on 60 Minutes is valid and may be the reason he wanted to publish a book. It seems vindictive though unless you have a vested interest in the organization. We should all be more wary and ask questions about where our donations really end up. Maybe we need to reevaluate going into foreign countries and spreading money around. Krakauer brought up the point that the children in these Afghan communities were being schooled at home which works well for the families and who travel constantly and The Central Asia Institute used a school model from the U.S. Americans think how wonderful it is to bring education to an impoverished country where we are waging a war. This will assuage our conscience. Now I know this is not truth but something we desperately want to hear.
By Jon Krakauer
Review by Claire Ayraud
When I first saw this title in the bookstore, I thought, “Why would Jon Krakauer write a book about this man?” and so I was intrigued and puzzled. After reading through this short expose, I am still wondering although many questions have been answered. The book has the tag line “How Greg Mortenson, humanitarian hero, lost his way.” If you have read “Three Cups of Tea” or “Stones into Schools” you will be more prepared or perhaps less because most people I talked to about it said they loved these books and hated to see a humanitarian organization go the way of corporate America into deception and theft.
I wanted to know the truth, however, and slogged through the descriptions of this man who claimed to be a humanitarian working for Afghan children, taking the contributions to his non-profit organization for his personal use and lying about his history. It seemed to be a big slam into the face of all non-profits, and yet maybe we all need to look at the organizations we contribute to with more scrutiny.
I believe that Krakauer felt personally betrayed as he says in the book that he donated $75000 to The Central Asia Institute and wanted to tell others about that experience. His points about the lies that Mortenson told seemed inconsequential, i.e. the name of the town he sets his story in was not the town that he first met the children he built the first school; the kidnapping episode actually never happened however the Afghans he spoke to could also be lying; schools were built in areas where the community only stayed for a few months a year and then were too far away for the children to attend. This seems to be a technical difficulty as everyone knows, going into a country where you don’t know the language and relying on interpreters who might be telling you what they want you to hear.
The theft of millions of dollars actually did happen and I’m sure Mortenson will be punished many times over for that. Krakauer’s point about how he was still fundraising after the story broke on 60 Minutes is valid and may be the reason he wanted to publish a book. It seems vindictive though unless you have a vested interest in the organization. We should all be more wary and ask questions about where our donations really end up. Maybe we need to reevaluate going into foreign countries and spreading money around. Krakauer brought up the point that the children in these Afghan communities were being schooled at home which works well for the families and who travel constantly and The Central Asia Institute used a school model from the U.S. Americans think how wonderful it is to bring education to an impoverished country where we are waging a war. This will assuage our conscience. Now I know this is not truth but something we desperately want to hear.
