June Book Club Selection- Woodswoman

I'm hosting book club this month at my house and my house is not even close to being ready. UGH. The book was also a bit of an UGH; it was Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille. The last few selections of bookclub have not quite tickled my fancy (what is a fancy anyway? Now that I look at it written out, it seems a bit perverse!). I hope we do a juicy piece of fiction next, even though I really enjoy nonfiction.

In Woodswoman, Anne LaBastille has bought a piece of land in the Adirondack wilderness after a divorce and is determined to live on her own in the wild. This includes making her own log cabin, chopping her own wood, and navigating through all the trials that come with living so close to nature. I really like her passion for her surroundings and like her depictions of some encounters with wild animals and some wild humans as well. The two chapters most interesting to me is how she met her now former husband. The writing style changed, was more interesting and a little more magical, and made me want to know about their relationship and what went wrong (that is never answered). As I would near the end of a chapter I would hope the upcoming chapter would be a flashback to when she was first introduced to the Adirondacks (and her former husband).

Some of the chapters are torture to read and her foreshadowing is really clumsy. I remember a chapter in particular about her friends; the trees. I really have no problem with people so in tune with their surroundings to love the particular aspects of all the flora and fauna, but when a whole chapter is dedicated to the trees and how she can hug white pines for at least 15 minutes, it gets a little old. She also went on to explain that trees emit different sounds to the universe and that the different species of trees make different sounds. This may be true, (having five kids I can hardly hear my own thoughts not to mention trying to tune into the trees), however, I still don't need to read a whole chapter about it. She also included a few chapters about her then current beau. I hated those chapters and even though there seemed to be nothing wrong with the guy, there was no spark or anything even interesting about him. It seemed as if she was dating him because there was no other decent man around, not because there was any long lasting chemistry between the two of them. And then there was her preachy tone.... sometimes she would write as if her way of life is the only way to live. I really admire the heck out of her for living with such slight impact on this world environmentally but I think that is easier to do in her situation. If she had a child, it would have been impossible to take the child by boat somewhere if there was an emergency. If she had to make a living other than consulting and writing, it would be impossible to not live in an area more dependent on our natural resources. I felt like I was silently apologizing to her during chapters where I was being chided for making the choices I have made.

I feel strongly about protecting our environment and applaud her stand that she took to do so. However, I'm struck with the feeling that she initially dropped out of this world in order to escape life and her divorce more than anything and although she was always very environmentally conscious, the conservation movement evolved over time. If you are really into the environment and want to get a glimpse into a life more removed from this world, read this book. Otherwise, you might want to save your gas money to the library. I'm not sure what our book selection is for next month, I'll post it when I know.