Birds of Sorrow: Notes from a River Junction in Northern New Mexico

During the '70s, the author, originally from the East Coast, settled down with his family on a plot of land called La Junta at the junction of two rivers in the isolated community of La Madera, N.M., 50 miles north of Santa Fe. In a lively, informal fashion, Ireland ( Mostly Mules ) regales readers with tales of the eccentricities of the region's natives; of trying to make ends meet by working at a cement-block plant; of the travails of building a house and digging a well; and of time spent immersed in nature raising sheep, obsessing over the significance of ravens and domesticating a magpie. Ireland has an sharp eye for nuance, whether he's describing the disease infecting his beloved willow trees--"those wormy bumps, or blisters, as if a great, sudden heat had passed, searing the bark of the willows and raising multitudes of tiny welts"--or washing his daughter's hair--"How she screams and hollers! How sweet and clean and obedient she is when it's done! Saying, in these very words, 'I'll do anything you tell me to do.' " This collection offers a refreshing account of Ireland's experience in the American West, one whose appeal is delightfully idiosyncratic and universally human. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

One persistent form of the American dream is to flee the urban area in search of a simpler and thus somehow more satisfying life in a remote area. Some excellent literature has resulted from this experience, and Ireland continues the tradition. After moving to La Madera, New Mexico, in the mid-1970s, he built a home, nurtured a family, quarreled with his neighbor over water rights, lived in fear of the menacing "bad boys" who drank beer in a parking area nearby, and eight years later moved to Santa Fe. Ireland is a fine writer--introspective but articulate, sensitive to his environment, and brutally frank.
- Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.