Synopsis
Reflecting a newly discovered delight with life, a memoir beginning on an island off the coast of Maine and ranging as far as Budapest chronicles a journey toward spiritual discipline and liberation
Reviews
In an elegant text, Shulman (Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen) describes the results of her abrupt decision, at the age of 50, to spend summers in a crude cabin on an island off the Maine coast. Her aim was to leave behind a hectic life in New York City?"waste; consumption; conflict; politics"?and a crumbling marriage: "Though we were yoked together for decades, I feel as threatened as if he were the hacker." In their place she seeks to discover "who I am when the tide runs out." She means this quite literally; during 10 years spent living in an isolated house with no plumbing or electricity, Shulman let the rough beach beyond her door become her physical and intellectual sustenance. The potential for sentimentality is undercut by Shulman's evocative, witty and subtle prose and by her rueful awareness of civilization's assault on the fragile environment. 25,000 first printing
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Novelist Shulman (In Every Woman's Life..., LJ 6/1/87) here tries her hand at feminist autobiography, detailing, in graceful and readable prose, the story of her midlife transformation. She leaves her writer and political activist's life in New York City for solitary habitation on an island off the coast of Maine, discovering there an abundance of life at its most elemental. Living in a cabin without indoor plumbing or heating, she spends her days writing and foraging for meals among tidal pools and sandy beaches. Through her solitary experience, she discovers the interconnectedness of all life, even the ties between her city life, with all its bustle and waste, and her life on this island. At age 50, Shulman experiences new love (replacing years of a troubled marriage) as well as renewed threats to her sense of self. Highly recommended, especially for libraries serving middle-aged readers in search of renewal.?Marie L. Lally, Alabama Sch. of Mathematics & Science, Mobile
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The women's movement made a writer out of Shulman, author of books about Emma Goldman and several novels, including Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (1972) and In Every Woman's Life . . . (1987). Then, just when feminism became a dirty word yet again, Shulman turned 50 and realized that not only was the women's movement floundering, so was her marriage. Even writing had lost its transcendental quality. What to do? Seek solitude and beauty. Shulman retreated to a cabin on a tiny island off the coast of Maine where she had no plumbing, electricity, or neighbors but was blessed with an abundance of ocean, rock, and sky. Shulman describes her revelations--her ability to live off plants and sea creatures, the satisfaction of "making do" instead of "keeping up," and the great peace silence grants--with lucidity and gratitude. Time and thought change shape in this clock-free world, and Shulman is free to ponder life's contradictions. Age is no longer a loss, but a liberation; life is fecund not empty; and "work and worship are one." Shulman strikes a perfect balance; her memoir is mind-expanding yet modest, both lyrical and down-to-earth. Donna Seaman
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