Call number
FIC JEW
Collection
Genres
Publication
WW Norton & Co (1986), Edition: 1st, 300 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Regarded by some critics â?? including Henry James â?? as her masterpiece, The Country of the Pointed Firs is a short story cycle from American writer Sarah Orne Jewett. It follows the lives of several families in villages in coastal Maine as they struggle to survive amidst hardship and deprivation
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member atimco
In this slim volume originally published in 1896, Sarah Orne Jewett crystallizes a dying way of life along the Maine coast at the turn of the twentieth century. This novella is a loosely connected string of stories and observations recounted by our narrator, an outsider to the community. She is a
Comparison between The Country of the Pointed Firs and the work of L. M. Montgomery is irresistible. The anecdotes, the character sketches, the sense of community, the love of beauty in nature, the good-natured humor scattered here and there — all are highly reminiscent of Montgomery's style. It's clear that both authors deeply loved the communities they depict in their stories, and their themes are very similar: an old sea-captain spinning a yarn, a faithful widower grieving for his wife, a disappointed lover withdrawing from her world, and others. In some places I was also reminded of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's nonfiction book Gift from the Sea; there is something akin in the tone of the two books. I would like to have known their authors.
The prose is just lovely, so spare and graceful. Consider the elegant constructions and poetic feel in these sentences:
The captain was very grave indeed, and I bade my inward spirit keep close to discretion. (10)
The poets little knew what comfort they could be to a man. (15)
I had been living in the quaint little house with as much comfort and unconsciousness as if it were a larger body, or a double shell, in whose simple convolutions Mrs. Todd and I had secreted ourselves, until some wandering hermit crab of a visitor marked the little spare room for her own. Perhaps now and then a castaway on a lonely desert island dreads the thought of being rescued. (36)
...there are paths trodden to the shrines of solitude the world over,—the world cannot forget them, try as it may; the feet of the young find them out because of curiosity and dim foreboding; while the old bring hearts full of remembrance. This plain anchorite had been one of those whom sorrow made too lonely to brave the sight of men, too timid to front the simple world she knew, yet valiant enough to live alone with her poor insistent human nature and the calms and passions of the sea and sky. (54–5)
Or the sly humor here:
I saw that Mrs. Todd's broad shoulders began to shake. "There was good singers there; yes, there was excellent singers," she agreed heartily, putting down her teacup, "but I chanced to drift alongside Mis' Peter Bowden o' Great Bay, an' I couldn't help thinkin' if she was as far out o' town as she was out o' tune, she wouldn't get back in a day." (76)
At first he seemed to be one of those evasive and uncomfortable persons who are so suspicious of you that they make you almost suspicious of yourself. (77)
I know very little about Jewett, but I have a notion that she was a woman who knew how to be alone. Yet it is apparent that she also enjoyed her fellow beings and found great pleasure in observing them. She shares this pleasure with her readers, and I will certainly be looking for more of her work. Thoughtful and quieting.
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writer who spends her summers in the peaceful seclusion of Dunnet Landing. But she has gained the trust of her landlady Mrs. Todd, and we see the many lives in Dunnet Landing just as our narrator does, unfolding slowly and without pretension.Comparison between The Country of the Pointed Firs and the work of L. M. Montgomery is irresistible. The anecdotes, the character sketches, the sense of community, the love of beauty in nature, the good-natured humor scattered here and there — all are highly reminiscent of Montgomery's style. It's clear that both authors deeply loved the communities they depict in their stories, and their themes are very similar: an old sea-captain spinning a yarn, a faithful widower grieving for his wife, a disappointed lover withdrawing from her world, and others. In some places I was also reminded of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's nonfiction book Gift from the Sea; there is something akin in the tone of the two books. I would like to have known their authors.
The prose is just lovely, so spare and graceful. Consider the elegant constructions and poetic feel in these sentences:
The captain was very grave indeed, and I bade my inward spirit keep close to discretion. (10)
The poets little knew what comfort they could be to a man. (15)
I had been living in the quaint little house with as much comfort and unconsciousness as if it were a larger body, or a double shell, in whose simple convolutions Mrs. Todd and I had secreted ourselves, until some wandering hermit crab of a visitor marked the little spare room for her own. Perhaps now and then a castaway on a lonely desert island dreads the thought of being rescued. (36)
...there are paths trodden to the shrines of solitude the world over,—the world cannot forget them, try as it may; the feet of the young find them out because of curiosity and dim foreboding; while the old bring hearts full of remembrance. This plain anchorite had been one of those whom sorrow made too lonely to brave the sight of men, too timid to front the simple world she knew, yet valiant enough to live alone with her poor insistent human nature and the calms and passions of the sea and sky. (54–5)
Or the sly humor here:
I saw that Mrs. Todd's broad shoulders began to shake. "There was good singers there; yes, there was excellent singers," she agreed heartily, putting down her teacup, "but I chanced to drift alongside Mis' Peter Bowden o' Great Bay, an' I couldn't help thinkin' if she was as far out o' town as she was out o' tune, she wouldn't get back in a day." (76)
At first he seemed to be one of those evasive and uncomfortable persons who are so suspicious of you that they make you almost suspicious of yourself. (77)
I know very little about Jewett, but I have a notion that she was a woman who knew how to be alone. Yet it is apparent that she also enjoyed her fellow beings and found great pleasure in observing them. She shares this pleasure with her readers, and I will certainly be looking for more of her work. Thoughtful and quieting.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
A quiet, peaceful read, The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett conveys both a timeless quality and a feel of yesterday. Exploring the value women place in the friendship of other women, along with the strong community ties that existed in rural regions, this short read is one to
A young woman writer spends her summer in the small coastal Maine town of Dunnet Landing. She develops a friendship with her landlady, Mrs. Todd, and through her meets other women of the area. These women tell stories of both the inhabitants of Dunnet and the surrounding islands, and their vivid descriptions of both people and places naturally includes the beauty and ruggedness of the country.
There is no direct plot, instead the book consists of the weaving together of these stories. These reminiscences tell of a simple world with straight forward values that encourage the reader to dream of their own yesterdays. Originally published in 1896, this book still resonates with spiritual quality and merit in our busy lives today.
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savour. A young woman writer spends her summer in the small coastal Maine town of Dunnet Landing. She develops a friendship with her landlady, Mrs. Todd, and through her meets other women of the area. These women tell stories of both the inhabitants of Dunnet and the surrounding islands, and their vivid descriptions of both people and places naturally includes the beauty and ruggedness of the country.
There is no direct plot, instead the book consists of the weaving together of these stories. These reminiscences tell of a simple world with straight forward values that encourage the reader to dream of their own yesterdays. Originally published in 1896, this book still resonates with spiritual quality and merit in our busy lives today.
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LibraryThing member Lcanon
I re-read this book once a year, usually in summer. It's exactly like going on vacation in Maine. You arrive on a boat, you go to your landlady's house, listen to her, learn about her life, walk about the town meeting people, take a trip out into the harbor in a boat. Everything in the novel is
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described in such a fresh and living way that you feel you're actually there. Show Less
LibraryThing member raidergirl3
Life is busy in the 21st century. Much of it is our own making, but that's how we live. We need information now; can't wait 10 seconds for the page to load; too long, didn't read; kids going in different directions. I just seem to go, go, go. Go, dog, go! Reading is a way to slow things down, but I
There isn't much to this story, not really a plot, just collected stories from the unnamed narrator as she spends a summer in Dunnett Landing, meeting friends and family of her landlady. There is herb gathering, family reunions, and boat trips for the day - depending on the wind direction. There are stories from sea-faring days, and even laments of how life is changing by the end of the 1800s. But overall, there is a peacefulness, and calm that comes with Mrs Todd and the stories related in this quiet book. I'm so delighted to have discovered this gem.
on entertaining:
Tact is after all a kind of mindreading, and my hostess held the golden gift. p59
on old friends:
There, it does seem so pleasant to talk with an old acquaintance that know what you know. Conversation's got to have some root in the past, or else you've got to explain every remark you make, an' it wears a person out. p73
on life near an ocean:
[The view] gave a sudden sense of space, for nothing stopped the eye or hedged one in, - that sense of liberty in space and time which great prospects always give. p58
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often read mysteries, or thrillers. Books that engage me and have me frantically turning pages so I don't fall asleep, because if I stop, I might fall asleep. However, as I read The Country of the Pointed Firs, this small, charming book, I could feel my body slow down and my brain slow down as I adjusted to life as told in small tales from a 19th century fishing village on the shores of Maine.There isn't much to this story, not really a plot, just collected stories from the unnamed narrator as she spends a summer in Dunnett Landing, meeting friends and family of her landlady. There is herb gathering, family reunions, and boat trips for the day - depending on the wind direction. There are stories from sea-faring days, and even laments of how life is changing by the end of the 1800s. But overall, there is a peacefulness, and calm that comes with Mrs Todd and the stories related in this quiet book. I'm so delighted to have discovered this gem.
on entertaining:
Tact is after all a kind of mindreading, and my hostess held the golden gift. p59
on old friends:
There, it does seem so pleasant to talk with an old acquaintance that know what you know. Conversation's got to have some root in the past, or else you've got to explain every remark you make, an' it wears a person out. p73
on life near an ocean:
[The view] gave a sudden sense of space, for nothing stopped the eye or hedged one in, - that sense of liberty in space and time which great prospects always give. p58
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LibraryThing member labwriter
I love this edition of Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs. It includes a portfolio of photographs of coastal Maine during Jewett's time.
As for the novel itself, Mrs. Almira Todd is one of my all-time favorite characters in literature. "Mrs. Todd was an ardent lover of herbs, both wild and tame,
As for the novel itself, Mrs. Almira Todd is one of my all-time favorite characters in literature. "Mrs. Todd was an ardent lover of herbs, both wild and tame,
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and the sea-breezes blew into the low end-window of the house laden with not only sweet-briar and sweet-mary, but balm and sage and borage and mint, wormwood and southernwood. If Mrs. Todd had occasion to step into the far corner of her herb plot, she trod heavily upon thyme, and made its fragrant presence known with all the rest. Being a very large person, her full skirts brushed and bent almost every slender stalk that her feet missed. You could always tell when she was stepping there, even when you were half awake in the morning, and learned to know, in the course of a few weeks' experience, in exactly which corner of the garden she might be." Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Since there is no trip to the coast of Maine upcoming this summer, spending a few hours in the company of Mrs. Todd, Mrs. Blackett and assorted denizens of Dennett Landing and Green Island is the next best thing. The flavors, scents, sights and sounds of that most excellent of locales drift out of
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the pages of this slim volume like magician's smoke. The book reads like a memoir, the unnamed narrator giving us interconnected sketches of 19th century summer life in a simple time where everything is tied to the rhythm of the tides, and an herbalist's skill is respected at least as much as that of a "modern" doctor. Appropriately, there is humor of the most wicked variety, often aimed at the church and the clergy. My favorite line, however, was Mrs. Todd's observation about one of the hymn singers at a family gathering: "I couldn't help thinkin' if she was as far out o' town as she was out o' tune, she wouldn't get back in a day." My edition has some stunning black and white photographs of the place and time serving as preface to the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member gmillar
I loved this story. It is a quiet, loving, unpretentious story of a summer season in rural, coastal Maine. Ms. Jewett is a master of the art of character description. A reader can see and know the persons in the story. This would be a perfect "Book Club" subject. The discussion on all that the
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story is would be worth having. Show Less
LibraryThing member michaelm42071
The country of the title (where the firs and spruces are almost always described as “dark”) is coastal Maine, a little town called Dunnet, no longer an important port, where the narrator comes to write and boards at the house of Almira Todd. She’s a little coy and indirect—we don’t know
Much of the first half is taken up with Mrs. Todd’s gathering of herbs (she also has an herb garden) her sale of them to the townsfolk as simples, the narrator’s assistance in these enterprises, the very pleasant visit the two of them make to Green Island, where Almira's brother William lives with her mother Mrs. Blackett, and the visit of Almira’s friend Susan Fosdick.
It is summer when the narrator comes to Dunnet, and for fifty cents a week she rents the idle schoolhouse on the hill as a daytime office for her writing. There one day Captain Littlepage tells her of a ship’s captain colleague who is convinced he sailed north past any settlements to an illusory town on a headland inhabited by foglike specters.
We hear from Susan Fosdick and Almira the story of poor Joanna and her self-imposed lifetime exile on Shell-heap Island, which the narrator explores one day when she’s sailing with Captain Bowden. “In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness; we are each the uncompanioned hermit and recluse of an hour or a day; we understand our fellows of the cell to whatever age of history they may belong.”
In the later pages the narrator goes with Almira and her mother to the Bowden family reunion at the old Bowden house in the upper bay, a huge affair involving a picnic in the woods overlooking the bay. Returning, she comments “The road was new to me, as roads always are, going back.”
Before she leaves Dunnet at the end of the summer, she befriends an old widowed fisherman, Elijah Tilley, and spends an afternoon at his house.
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until the second chapter that the woman described as arriving in Dunnet is she. The first impression is a little like Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. What does it mean that a woman writer persona in 1896 quotes Darwin’s autobiography?Much of the first half is taken up with Mrs. Todd’s gathering of herbs (she also has an herb garden) her sale of them to the townsfolk as simples, the narrator’s assistance in these enterprises, the very pleasant visit the two of them make to Green Island, where Almira's brother William lives with her mother Mrs. Blackett, and the visit of Almira’s friend Susan Fosdick.
It is summer when the narrator comes to Dunnet, and for fifty cents a week she rents the idle schoolhouse on the hill as a daytime office for her writing. There one day Captain Littlepage tells her of a ship’s captain colleague who is convinced he sailed north past any settlements to an illusory town on a headland inhabited by foglike specters.
We hear from Susan Fosdick and Almira the story of poor Joanna and her self-imposed lifetime exile on Shell-heap Island, which the narrator explores one day when she’s sailing with Captain Bowden. “In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness; we are each the uncompanioned hermit and recluse of an hour or a day; we understand our fellows of the cell to whatever age of history they may belong.”
In the later pages the narrator goes with Almira and her mother to the Bowden family reunion at the old Bowden house in the upper bay, a huge affair involving a picnic in the woods overlooking the bay. Returning, she comments “The road was new to me, as roads always are, going back.”
Before she leaves Dunnet at the end of the summer, she befriends an old widowed fisherman, Elijah Tilley, and spends an afternoon at his house.
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LibraryThing member porch_reader
This is a beautifully written book that almost makes you feel as if you have been set down in rural Maine in the late 1800's. The narrator is a house guest of Mrs. Almira Todd, a resident of Dunnette Landing and an expert in medicinal herbs and other home remedies. As we meet more residents of this
"There was an elegant ingenuity displayed in the form of pies which delighted my heart."
Or this description of aging:
"So we always keep the same hearts, though our outer framework fails and shows the touch of time."
Or this line about Mrs. Todd's elderly mother getting into a wagon:
"Whatever doubts and anxieties I may have had about the inconvenience of the Begg's high wagon for a person of Mrs. Blackett's age and shortness, they were happily overcome by the aid of a chair and her own valiant spirit."
I have to admit that at times, spoiled perhaps by today's page-turners, I got impatient with this slim volume. But when I took a breath, set back, and savored the words, I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful description of lives well-lived.
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small rural town, very little happens (a visit to Mrs. Todd's mother, a family reunion), but we get a rich view of the town and its people. The book is also beautifully written. Consider this description of a feast at a family reunion:"There was an elegant ingenuity displayed in the form of pies which delighted my heart."
Or this description of aging:
"So we always keep the same hearts, though our outer framework fails and shows the touch of time."
Or this line about Mrs. Todd's elderly mother getting into a wagon:
"Whatever doubts and anxieties I may have had about the inconvenience of the Begg's high wagon for a person of Mrs. Blackett's age and shortness, they were happily overcome by the aid of a chair and her own valiant spirit."
I have to admit that at times, spoiled perhaps by today's page-turners, I got impatient with this slim volume. But when I took a breath, set back, and savored the words, I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful description of lives well-lived.
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LibraryThing member thornton37814
Times are changing in 19th century Maine as a visitor to the village of Dunnet Landing discovers while with various area residents and hearing their stories. I loved her descriptions of the area, particularly those of the landscape and vegetation. I loved this short little book. It's one that I'm
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certain to go back and revisit later. Show Less
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
I finished Sarah Orne Jewett's delightful view of 19th century Maine village life and have tearfully left Dunnet Landing where the constant interest and intercourse ... linked the far island and these scattered farms into a golden chain of love and dependence. The people are dependent on each
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other, but surprisingly independent in their every day lives with 80 year old rug beaters and 60 year old sailors. These are strong, loving women - and men - with some mystical leanings but mostly humanistic and community oriented. This is the perfect book for the Thanksgiving season. Show Less
LibraryThing member LudieGrace
A lovely, charming, and occasionally haunting series of sketches set in a declining fishing village in coastal Maine. I can see why Willa Cather admired Jewett’s sense of place.
LibraryThing member starbox
This is a lovely work which, in structure, put me slightly in mind of 'Cranford'- the narrator plays a minor role, being there mainly to describe the characters around her.
She- a writer- spends a summer in the idyllic Maine fishing village of Dunnet's Landing. Accompanying her landlady- a widowed
Quite lovely!
She- a writer- spends a summer in the idyllic Maine fishing village of Dunnet's Landing. Accompanying her landlady- a widowed
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herbalist- on frequent plant foraging expeditions; visiting the woman's elderly mother on a remote island; chatting with local seafarers...There's no plot, as such, it's just beautifully written and the reader feels a sense of loss as her sojoorn comes to an end, and the vividly drawn Maine community is left behind...Quite lovely!
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LibraryThing member m.belljackson
What an absorbing set of tales of a visiting author following her lovely, soothing title...
...the characters of Mrs.Todd, her Mother, William, and the Sea Captains keep the plot gently flowing.
"We were standing where there was a fine view of the harbor
and its long stretches of shore all covered by
darkly cloaked and standing as if they waited to embark.
The sunburst upon that outermost island made it seem like a sudden revelation
of the world beyond this which some believe to be so near."
Just wish that Ada had left a beautiful gift for her host, and friend, Mrs. Todd.
...the characters of Mrs.Todd, her Mother, William, and the Sea Captains keep the plot gently flowing.
"We were standing where there was a fine view of the harbor
and its long stretches of shore all covered by
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the great army of the pointed firs,darkly cloaked and standing as if they waited to embark.
The sunburst upon that outermost island made it seem like a sudden revelation
of the world beyond this which some believe to be so near."
Just wish that Ada had left a beautiful gift for her host, and friend, Mrs. Todd.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
[[Sarah Orne Jewett]] was a late 19th/early 20th century American author that I had not yet read. When I saw that she was from Maine and that this novel was set there, I knew I had to read it during our vacation. I really enjoyed it. There isn't a lot of plot in this slim novel - basically a woman
I enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone who enjoys American writers from this era. It's slow and filled with conversation in dialect, but I liked it.
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writer goes to Maine for the summer looking for a quiet place to write and instead finds herself enamored of both the setting and the people in the community. The nature writing is beautiful and really captures the beauty of coastal Maine - the fir trees, rocky coasts, and fresh pine and ocean smells. And she captures the lifestyle as well - the reliance on the sea, coastal farming, and close-knit though reserved communities. I enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone who enjoys American writers from this era. It's slow and filled with conversation in dialect, but I liked it.
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Pages
300
ISBN
0393000486 / 9780393000481