[A Saturday Feature of the First Road Blog]
I’ve
never been to Wales, but Jeanine McMullen does a good job making me feel at
home (as well as lame, bruised, and out of breath) in the mountain region where
she became the owner of what my father-in-law
would have called a farm of nuisances. A special thank you to the good friend
who loaned me (at the risk of losing it) his copy of her 1984 book, My Small Country Living.
Ms.
McMullen is an example of rabbit trails as art form; and I mean that as a
compliment. Whereas many conversationalists and authors become hopelessly lost
in their meanderings, hers are deliberate and impactful. Having introduced a
scene, she takes you onto one or more back story byways and brings you back to
the main story with the ability to understand it far more richly than you would
without the detour.
By
the time you finish you have become acquainted with several individuals who
make the narrative more meaningful; and you especially become either a friend
or a foe of the various animals – animals which proved to be the bane and the
blessing of her transformation from a radio broadcaster to a battered survivor
of the less than idyllic country experience. With no apology she describes her
efforts both as breaking the myth of tranquil back-to-the-earth farm life and
defending that life as it really is.
I
found her adventures with the goats especially endearing. And her farewells to
some of her animals, such as a horse named Moelwyn, verge on the philosophical.
In fact, there is a lot of philosophy to be found in the pages of My Country Living. You will not always agree,
but you will be pushed to think.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FIRST-ROAD ARTICLES
No comments:
Post a Comment