March 24, 2008
Taking a chronological tour of his life in Iowa, author and essayist Price (Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands) ruminates on what he calls "kinship": the "familial embrace of nature, body, and spirit" that has kept him rooted in his home state. Price has a gentle but perceptive eye, especially when he turns it on his family. Reminisces about his rapidly deteriorating grandfather are especially compelling, and he's disarmingly honest throughout. His dry sense of humor, put to fine use in the title chapter, is sparse but stinging: "One of the great things about... the seventies in general, was that parents and children were encouraged, whenever possible, to participate in separate activities." Made up largely of previously published essays, Price's memoir lacks cohesion and his limited scope can feel self-indulgent (especially in respect to his wife, who comes across as a cipher). Still, this book has a strong agrarian sensibility and a careful method of self-examination that recalls Indiana-based essayist Scott Russell Sanders; it should resonate well with regional readers, but may also catch a groundswell of Green-related interest in urban centers.
May 1, 2008
Price's (English, Univ. of Nebraska; "Not Just Any Land") memoir, in which he writes with a reverence for place, family, friends, and neighbors, is structured in three appropriately titled sections: "Departures," "New Lands," and "Home." Early on, he states, "I've never lived anywhere else but Iowa. This has become the unexpected, defining journey of my life: to come home without ever having left." Instead of chronicling his life from birth to death, Price uses an essay format to zero in on significant periods or events. Readers will find he often experiences something akin to an epiphany with writing that is far more humorous than somber. In "High Maintenance," Price discusses his adventures as a fumbling apartment handyman who discovers various "illegal pets" while making his rounds. In "Mole Man Lives!," he captures the despair of the unpopular and awkward adolescent. His amusing tone, including his ability to freely poke fun at himself, works exceptionally well here. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.Stacy Russo, Chapman Univ. Libs., Orange, CA
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from April 15, 2008
In his humble, but no less soulful, memoir, Price symbolically gathers up his Swedish ancestors, immediate relatives, and many neighbors and wanders the natural, historical, and imaginary landscapes of his native Iowa. Price easily navigates the episodes of his story, flashing back and forward, gracefully narrating the imagination of his youth (the adventures of Mole Man, his villainous, subterranean alter ego of adolescence); the exploration of new frontiers (rock climbing in the wilderness of marriage and Idaho);and the return to familial and natural histories in western Iowa. He softly reveals the humor and uncertainty of youth and parenthood; the clarity of his nature writing exhibits the strength he finds in the ancient patterns of migratory birds and the flexibility of the Missouri River. Beyond his elegantly styled memoir, Price achieves a rich biographical portrait of the rural Midwestits cultural and natural terraincreating a character from the profound flatness of the region with as much life as he finds in his grandparents and children.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)