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Biography & Autobiography. Travel. Nonfiction. HTML:â??Part Annie Dillard, part Anne Lamott, essayist and NPR commentator Heather Lende introduces readers to life in the town of Haines, Alaska . . . subtly reminding readers to embrace each day, each opportunity, each life that touches our own and to note the beauty of it all.â? â??The Los Angeles Times Tiny Haines, Alaska, is ninety miles north of Juneau, accessible mainly by water or airâ??and only when the weather is good. There's no traffic light and no mail delivery; people can vanish without a trace and funerals are a community affair. Heather Lende posts both the obituaries and the social column for her local newspaper. If anyone knows the going-on in this close-knit townâ??from births to weddings to funeralsâ??she does. Whether contemplating the mysterious death of eccentric Speedy Joe, who wore nothing but a red union suit and a hat he never took off, not even for a haircut; researching the details of a one-legged lady gold miner's adventurous life; worrying about her son's first goat-hunting expedition; observing the awe-inspiring Chilkat Bald Eagle Festival; or ice skating in the shadow of glacier-studded mountains, Lende's warmhearted style brings us inside her small-town life. We meet her husband, Chip, who owns the local lumber yard; their five children; and a colorful assortment of quirky friends and neighbors, including aging hippies, salty fishermen, native Tlingit Indians, and volunteer undertakersâ??as well as the moose, eagles, sea lions, and bears with whom they share this wild and perilous land. Like Bailey White's tales of Southern life or Garrison Keillor's reports from the Midwest, NPR commentator Heather Lende's take on her offbeat Alaskan hometown celebrates life in a dangerous and breathtaki… (more)
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I was intrigued by this description of a way of life so different than mine. I love the outdoorsâbut at heart I am a city girl. Haines is a town of 2400 in a remote location in the inner passage. Drop-dead gorgeous-- and with lots of perils. One of the most harrowing parts of the book is a description of a 5-6 hour drive to Whitehorse, through a snowstorm, with Lendeâs son who had acute appendicitis. (They made it in the nick of time.)
From reading this book, life in Haines is super-dangerous. Maybe itâs because Lende is an obituary writer, but there is death after death, many of them deaths of young people engaged in outdoor pursuits. Yet Lende still allowed her own daughters to work in a fishing boat, because she wanted them to be a part of the place. I admire Lende for this, but I donât understand it.
Another strong part of the book is her description of living in a small town, where everyone is like family, and you have to get along, despite strong differences of opinion. This is so different than my lifeâI live in an especially liberal part of Portland, Oregon, so seldom encounter any non-tree-huggers. In one chapter, Lende describes trying, unsuccessfully, to put together an anti-homophobia workshop after a bullying incident at the local high school. Lende was frustrated, but I was heartened by her brave attempts to engage her conservative neighbors in this fight.
Both this book and "Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs" her latest, are full of heart, hope and the beauty of the wilderness Lende shares with her family and friends.
A good read & I learned a lot about small town Alaska. Would never want to live there
Each chapter begins with Duly Noted - snippets of news about the residents and happenings in Haines. These serve to
You would think that a book focusing on obituaries would be morbid or dark. It isnât. Itâs a gentle read. Lende is not writing mere âdeath noticesâ â those ever-so-brief paid notices we find in the big-city classified section. Sheâs writing obituaries â crafted from the stories that friends, family, acquaintances, even near-strangers tell about the person who died and their memories of him/her.
In the process the reader learns a lot about life in Haines â fishing, hunting, bears, eagles, moose, hockey, skating in the moonlight, planting a garden, making the perfect egg salad sandwich, raising chickens, raising a family, and even politics.
It isnât great literature, but it was the right read for a long holiday weekend spent in a small town in upper Wisconsin.
In a nutshell: Obituary writer and Haines resident shares stories of life in a rural Alaskan town.
Line that sticks with me: âFollowing an old Haines rule, we dressed for the weather,
Why I chose it: Two weeks ago I was on a cruise in Southeast Alaska, and took an excursion through Haines. It was a gorgeous part of the country, and when I saw this book in a store at our next stop, I decided to pick it up.
Review: Author Heather Lende is a journalist for one of the two local papers in Haines, population 2,400. About 15% of the residents are Tlingit, and pretty much everyone participates in some form of hunting, subsistence fishing, or dramatic outdoor activity like snowshoe hiking.
As you might expect from this book, there is a lot of talk about how Haines is the best place on earth, and how the people who live there are a different type, but Ms. Lende is also honest in examining some of the downfalls and challenges of choosing such a life. If someone is seriously injured during a snowstorm, they might not be able to get evacuated out. Their closest level one trauma center is in Seattle. Because of the types of jobs one can find in town, there are deaths from fishing accidents, or small aircraft crashes.
Many â but not all â of the stories relate to a death, which makes sense, since Ms. Lende is an obituary writer. But some are just about other components of life, whether adopting a daughter from overseas, or working with a political opponent on a fundraiser for medical bills.
This book is well written, but there are some parts that I found questionable. The first is the chapter when Ms. Lende goes to adopt her daughter. She repeatedly uses the term G*psy instead of Roma to refer to her daughterâs birth family. Not cool.
Thereâs also a chapter about political disagreements that is meant to come across as teaching the reader a lesson about how you can still come together and have pleasant times with people you disagree with. Unfortunately, the disagreement she and this man in the story had was essentially over the humanity of members of the LGBTQ community, so I had a hard time with the âletâs all get alongâ nature of brushing that very real issue under the rug.
I enjoyed reading this, but I wouldnât really say I recommend it.