Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was...
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In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was nature at its most random, the other a by-product of rogue technology: Terry's mother, and Terry herself, had been exposed to the fallout of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. As it interweaves these narratives of dying and accommodation, Refuge transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace, resulting in a work that has become a classic.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780679740247 (0679740244)
ASIN: 679740244
Publish date: 2001
Publisher: Vintage
Pages no: 314
Edition language: English
I wanted to like this book, but in the end, I thought that it was basically Annie Dillard-style writing, but not nearly as polished and seamless as Dillard's work.This book tries to weave birdwatching into the process of the author's mother's death from (I believe) cancer. So it had the potential to...
Now the Great Salt Lake is Woman. Capitalization and all. Also, we had a paragraph about birds' eye colors and then we started a new chapter and I felt like An Ogre of Purple Prose was beating me over the Head with the Club of Profound Messages.I have great sympathy for her and her mother, but not...
Terry Tempest Williams' words allow the reader to enter the world of the Great Salt Lake and envision all of it splendid winged creatures. Although I have never visited the Great Salt Lake, I have constructed it in my head while reading this book. It must be an awe-inspiring place. Mrs. Williams'...
I had Williams recommended to me by fellow bloggers when I posted about wanting to read a Utah voice while on my trip. My first stop in Salt Lake City was The King’s English Bookstore. I asked for recommendations at the bookstore and I was led to this author and this book. It was a good choice for t...
The power of Terry Tempest Williams's story -- the story of a family and landscape wracked by destructive forces -- is somewhat marred by melodramatic, overly serious writing and unreal dialogue (I constantly found myself asking "Who talks like this?"). I wish that I hadn't reread this book, because...