Book Description
Who hasn't had the fanthasy of leaving his or her old life behind to start over? What would happen if you gave up your job, city, state, and routine to move to another part of the world? Critically acclaimed writer and aspiring painter James Morgan does just that. Risking everything, he and his wife shed their old, settled life in a lovingly restored house in Little Rock, Arkansas, to travel in the footsteps of Morgan's hero, the painter Henri Matisse, and to find inspiration in Matisse's fierce struggle to live the life he knew he had to live. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part biography of Matisse, Chasing Matisse proves that you don't have to be wealthy to live the life you want; you just have to want it enough.
Morgan's riveting journey of self-discovery takes him, and us, from the earthy, brooding Picardy of Matisse's youth all the way to the luminous Nice of the painter's final years. In between, Morgan confronts, with the notebook of a journalist and the sketchpad of an artist, the places that Matisse himself saw and painted: bustling, romantic Paris; windswept Belle-île off the Brittany coast; Corsica, with its blazing southern light; the Pyrénees village of Collouire, where color became explosive in Matisse's hands; exotic Morocco, land of the secret interior life; and across the sybaritic French Riviera to spiritual Vence and the hillside Villa Le Rêve -- the Dream -- where the mature artist created so many of his masterpieces.
A journey from darkness to light, Chasing Matisse shows us how we can learn to see ourselves, others, and the world with fresh eyes. We look with Morgan out of some of the same windows through which Matisse himself found his subjects and take great heart from Matisse's indomitable, life-affirming spirit. For Matisse, living was an art, and he never stopped striving, never stopped creating, never stopped growing, never stopped reinventing himself. "The artist," he said, "must look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time." That's the inspiring message of renewal that comes through on every page of Chasing Matisse. Funny, sad, and defiantly hopeful, this is a book that restores our faith in the possibility of dreams.
Customer Reviews:
A book that befriends the artist in all of us.......2007-09-02
This is a book I'm sure I'll reread many times. The author combines humor with depth, and the sense of adventure is inspiring. Right now I'm smiling, just remembering how pleasurable it was to read this book. author (unrelated to me) really did his research, too; I'm now thinking about Arnheim and Elins with renewed interest -- and I'll pursue some of the other books about Matisse as well.
The beauty of Art and fun of travel all in one..........2006-03-18
Here I am trapped in a dull grey/brown Northeast winter when I picked up this book and went on a great trip! As an artist I really loved Mr. Morgan's passion for Matisse, for art in general and I loved his sketches! As a traveler who never gets to travel enough I loved the journey he took me on through France. As a matter of fact I'm so inspired that I'm heading to France this June and I'm going to take another long look at Matisse! So if you love art...this is a terrific book, if you love travel...this is a terrific book. If you love both then you're a terrific person who will really enjoy this book!
A great adventure of self-discovery.......2006-03-11
I'm an American living in France for over 5 years now and I am an amateur painter. And I really like Matisse. So I was really excited when I found this book. I really like the author's humor, he turns what could be boring descriptions of their trip into very funny tales. The book is a mix of a peek into their lives, their adventure in France, the characters they meet, and oh yes, Matisse. I learned a lot in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's sketches and his website.
However, all that said, the book left me wanting more. I got the impression that at the end the author simply got tired of writing or ran out of material. For example, their summer in france only gets a few pages. What was the impact of his search for Matisse? How did it impact his art? Did he just stop chasing Matisse 3 months before he came home? I also would have liked to see more of his sketches as they really helped to imagine the places they went, the hotel rooms, etc.
Overall it was a great book. If you are interested in France, Matisse, or painting, I highly recommend this book!
A Thoughtful Meditation on Travel, Art and Life.......2005-10-02
The author, a writer and artist, is fascinated by the work of Matisse. He and his wife, also a writer, sell their house, leave their desk jobs and go off to France to follow in the footsteps of Matisse. The author chronicles their travels to the places that inspired Matisse - Paris, Collioure in the Pyrenees, Corsica, Belle-Ile off the coast of Britany and the South of France.
In these places the author learns not just to look but also to see. The facts of Matisse's life and his development as an artist are interwoven with the travel adventures of the author and his wife as they live their dream of starting over in a foreign country. A look into the soul of an artist and what we can learn from him if we seek to live the creative life, this book is vastly superior to the shallowness of "C'est La Vie" by Susie Gershman and her vacuous tale of leaving the US to live in Paris.
The only thing missing from "Chasing Matisse" is a map so that the reader can see the locations of the various places that are visited. It's also helpful to have on hand a copy of "Henri Matisse: A Retrospective", Museum of Modern Art 1992, while you read so that you can see the paintings that the author mentions extensively in the book.
Chasing Matisse.......2005-06-27
Oh the places you will go as you read James Morgan's fine book, Chasing Matisse. Morgan and his wife, Beth, leave their comfortable lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and set out for France to visit the places Henri Matisse once inhabited. The physical journey that Morgan takes the reader on makes the book worthwhile; however, it is the psychological journey Morgan takes as an artist that makes this book particularly compelling. Morgan, an accomplished writer, chooses to pursue a lifelong dream, painting. And, who better to lead him on this quest than his hero, Matisse? As he visits the places that stirred Matisse's imagination, Morgan learns "to see" as an artist, and he shares those sights as well as his insights with the reader. It takes a lot of courage to uproot oneself in order to pursue a dream, but Morgan does so and describes the process with such honesty and grace that the reader cannot help but be inspired. If you have ever thought about changing your life, you have to read Chasing Matisse. It's a book that stays with you long after the final page is turned.
Book Description
Adventurers are among the world's most celebrated heroes, but cross a line and potential glory can become derision, madness and death.
· Explores the darker psychological drama behind the exploits of eleven adventurers, famous and lesser-known
· Written by a practicing clinical psychologist
· Accounts include heretofore unpublished information provided by archival witnesses, friends, and family
Every culture, in every era, has its adventure myths: The golden hero willing to walk through fire elevates us all beyond our fears and limits. But more often than readily seen, there are darker reasons for dangerous pursuits. Where falls the line between adventure and madness? Geoff Powter, a practicing clinical psychologist, looks into the stories of eleven troubled adventurers, divided into three categories: The Burdened, The Bent, and The Lost.
Polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott has been called a "willing martyr" ready to die for the mystical deliverance of adventure.
Meriwether Lewis, convinced that he had failed to achieve the objectives set by mentor and father figure, Thomas Jefferson, died by his own hand.
Maurice Wilson's plan for climbing Everest included deliberately crashing his plane as high as possible on the mountain.
Jean Batten was a remarkably driven early aviator whose clothes and make-up were always more perfect than her flying technique.
Polar balloonist Solomon Andrée was certain that his rigorous understanding of scientific principles would overcome any challenge posed by nature or equipment failure.
Aleister Crowley, a brilliant mountaineer who founded the Golden Dawn cult, was labeled pathologically, and even fatally, arrogant.
In each of these stories, darkness of some kind—ambition, ego, a thirst for redemption, the need to please others—carried these characters in a perilous direction. In the end, understanding these difficult but utterly human stories helps us comprehend the deepest purpose and allure of adventure, and, ultimately, to more honestly measure ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
Psychological probe meets adventure story.......2007-03-12
The history of adventure and adventure travel has many stories and heroes: so how is the search for adventure defined, and what makes seekers distinct? STRANGE AND DANGEROUS DREAMS: THE FINE LINE BETWEEN ADVENTURE AND MADNESS covers the lives of eleven selected adventurers, some well known and some more obscure, covering two centuries. Chapters categorize these explorers by the emotional turmoil that drove them out into the world - and their common connection is that each has been called 'mad'. Psychological probe meets adventure story in a collection highly recommended for general library acquisition.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
A Great Mix of History and Psychology, and Historical Psychology.......2007-02-18
From the perspective of someone who has a terrible mind for history (the kind of person who forgets about most historical figures soon after learning about them), I found this collection of histories to be surprisingly memorable and genuinely interesting. Author Geoff Powter does a great job of choosing some historical figures we have all heard of (like Meriwether Lewis) and throwing in several we haven't (like Solomon Andree). Each adventurer's life is covered relatively thoroughly from birth to death, but at a pace that keeps each segment interestng. With journalistic accuracy (and impartiality), Powter presents several sides to the most crucial or questionable events of each character's strange and/or dangerous path.
Although it's true that many of the author-imposed categories for these troubled adventurers could be switched or overlapped, I don't think that takes away at all from the telling of the stories themselves. They all struck me as fascinating and quite worthy of being included in this volume.
I found Strange and Dangerous Dreams to be an engrossing read when I had the time (sometimes I would read through three segments in a sitting) and at other times, a very easy book to pick up and put down at will. The organization of the book into differently-themed chapters and larger sections made each individual story more of a complete unit, and therefore easier to read in shorter sittings. Either way, if you're a history buff or a psychology enthusiast, this is a fascinating and informative read- no matter how much time you have on your hands. I highly recommend it.
Very Interesting Read.......2007-02-04
Given the cover graphic and book title this is not a book that I would normally have picked up and started to look at. However, after reading through it I find that it would have been my loss. The author points out that there is often a fine line between the quest for adventure and madness. To make his point he examines the lives and dreams of several adventurers and how something in their character caused them to cross that line into madness or at least come very close to it. Some of the adventurers examined include Meriwether Lewis, Robert Scott, Donald Crowhurst, Jean Batten, and Aleister Crowley. This is a really interesting account of each of these people and an insight into their personal lives. Strange and Dangerous Dreams is a recommended read for people with a passion for adventure and history.
It is a thin line........2006-11-21
The real key to this book is in its sub-title. The author is a psychologist and a veteran of thirteen climbing expeditions to the Himalaya. Perhaps he, himself, is his first patient as he examines what makes people take on dangerous hobies, sports, or jobs. He is examining 'the fine line' that marks the difference between striving for your best and carrying it so far that it becomes maddness or even suicidal.
We all know people who have trouble because of 'an old football injury,' or bone spur's from throwing a baseball to many times, or hearing loss from loud music. Where does the thrill of the sport cross over?
It's a most interesting book, but as with the case of most psychological analysis, it doesn't give really a solid answer. It's easy to say this is an example of a person gone too far, and the other end of the scale is also easy to see. But inbetween?
strangely dissapointed.......2006-10-31
A great and exciting topic but the book was very unexciting and seemed superficial--the three categories---lost, bend, burdened--totally arbitrary. Many of the subjects could have easily been mixed and matched in any of the other categories.
The author often gives a rather long general overview of his analysis of the particular individal without thorough biographical data. The subjects/individuals are covered in approximately 12 to 20 pages. I would have appreciated more biographical facts and/or some type of clinical anaylsis rather than the superficially "psychology" presented--the writing reminds me of a bookstore cafe--the combination usually results in mediocre books coupled with mediocre coffee. Here we have a mediocre book about adventurers coupled with mediocre psychology.
Maybe he should have justed written about several mountain climbers and their dangerous dreams rather than race through so many different subjects. I was hoping for something more indepth--the book could easily have been 400 pages longer if the subjects were as fascinating as they initially seemed to be. I was ready for a roller coaster ride and I got putt-putt golf instead.
Average customer rating:
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Travels in Dreams: An Autobiography
Bill Mollison
Manufacturer: Tagari Publications
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Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
ASIN: 0908228112 |
Book Description
Written with a keen eye for detail and a wry sense of humor, "The Road of Dreams" is travel writing at its best! Follow the unforgettable exploits of seasoned travelers Bruce Junek and Tass Thacker on their 26-month around-the-world bicycle trip. They crossed four continents through sweltering temperatures and winter snowstorms—punctuated by 42 flats. This deeply personal travel book is also the story of an inner journey with a compelling message: Recognize what you value most in life, and pursue it!
Customer Reviews:
Good perspective on budget travel.......2001-10-30
A very enjoyable book. Not so deep & philosophical like a Bruce Chatwin or Peter Matthiessen travel journal, but it is much more approachable and readable. He writes the real story about travel - the hassles and hardships you endure to see and experience people and places that forever change the person you are. It inspires us to travel on a budget without trivializing the sheer time and labor involved.
Written in a simple, readable style, it is a page turner for sure.
this book is great.......2001-08-03
If you're interested in traveling the world, this is the way to do it. This book was inspirational and tremendous.
The road of the disjointed.......2001-05-23
This book started off with great Promise, of an adventure. However,the writer was all over the map, Figuratively, and did not seem to be able to flesh anything thing in detail. A mish mash of ideas and things thrown together for a book. Yes there was adventure there, He maybe should have hired a ghost writer instead of spending five years for this effort, I think money would have well spent if he had done this. I am sure that the slide show is much better.
YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! BEYOND WORDS!.......1999-08-04
Bruce & Tass (authors) tell their cycling story in such a way that can only inspire the spirit of travel in each of us! We all dream to experience the world: the authors allow us to travel with them on their bicycles...13 miles/hour...1 new culture a day. Through this narrative and collection of photos we are able to see literaturaly the world thru their legs & eyes...and dream of the day we too can slowly traverse the thousands of miles that we pretend to be obsticles in the pursuit of that dream.
i am currently tour-cycling across the united states. started in neah bay, wa and going first to wash. d.c. then to nova scotia, canada...only to bike back to my native minnesota thru canada. 7000 miles in 5 months. have fealt so much of their experience. appreciate their allowing me to follow them along their personal journey into their hearts and around the globe. this book is such a great companion and model for what my trip has been and will be with every mile. thank you!
One of the best biking and hiking sagas!.......1999-04-24
Bruce Junek writes well, and Tass Thacker's photographs are excellent. They give you a good idea of the people and places they visit. They are also very kind and likable people.
Whether they are trekking, biking, meeting the locals, learning the languages, eating the local food (occasionally becoming ill!), you really like these two people. This cannot always be said of other adventurous types who might seem self-centered or petulant. And while not many will want to duplicate their entire trip, there are parts of it that could be easily copied (e.g., Nepal, New Zealand and Australia).
Wish they'd had even more time to explore and write about their adventures.
Average customer rating:
- It's just his journal
- very good accounts of people met & places seen
- Terrible writing and agonizingly long and boring
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2 Wheels 2 Years & 3 Continents: A Bicyclist's Dream Fulfilled
Ralph W. Galen
Manufacturer: Spring Garden Publications Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0961205075 |
Book Description
The chronicle of a two-year bicycle odyssey by a retired orthodontist through Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, and the United States.
Customer Reviews:
It's just his journal.......2005-09-02
I don't want to be mean to Mr. Galen. I admire him for taking this 2-year adventure and for going through the effort of writing down his memories. But he really is not a writer, and his prose is not very interesting. It's quite dull, in fact. The book is just his journal, recounting every day. Perhaps the most telling experience he writes about is his meeting with a man named Boris who tells him "Natural talent for writing, if absent, cannot be developed at the age of 68." If only he had heeded Boris' words. If you just want to find out what a cyclist saw in two years, perhaps you will get something out of this, but if you want to be pulled in, to live the journey with him and lose yourself in his experiences, you will be disappointed.
very good accounts of people met & places seen.......2002-12-22
i am a biker and i took bike rides around europe. i didnt find his writing boring as opposed to the other reviewer. i think he gives a nice account of the places he visited, how much he wanted this dream to come true, and very optimistic view of life.
overall, i will send this book as a gift to friends who are avid bikers.
Terrible writing and agonizingly long and boring.......1999-03-18
Horrible. I've read lots of bicycle travelogues and this is THE WORST to date. Author writes like a little kid...choppy and without any flow. I read about 200 pages out of this 400+ page book and threw it away. Bottomline: Don't buy it - it isn't worth it.. Read Barbara Savages' MILES FROM NOWHERE if you want to read a GREAT BICYCLE TRAVELOGUE...
Customer Reviews:
A fascinating journey.......2007-08-31
This is a marvelous book about one of the least-known of the great explorers.
As Corey Sandler says, very little is known about Henry Hudson except for the period included within the five years of his four voyages. And much of what is on the record is based on the testimony of the mutineers who were out to save their own necks.
Instead, what the author has done is write a fascinating biography of the PLACES Hudson explored: Svalbard near the north pole, Novaya Zemlya above Russia, the Hudson River, and northern Canada including Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay, and James Bay.
He uses the logs and journals of Hudson and some of his crew to put things in context, and then tells us the stories of some of the most amazing places on the planet.
This is a most unusual book, a great read. And it delivers exactly what it promises: "The Tragic Legacy of the New World's Least Understood Explorer." Every page brought a new perspective on history for me. I highly recommend this book.
Know what you're in for.......2007-08-29
If you're considering buying this book you should know what you're in for. If you're expecting a biography of Henry Hudson you'll be disappointed. There is very little on Hudson in this book. What you get is a high-level overview of what Hudson is thought to have done and a whole lot of ramble on Corey Sandler's experiences visiting the places Hudson visited.
There's not a whole lot that's known about Hudson. What there is comes from a few brief surviving documents. You get the text from those documents word-for-word with little if any interpretation from the author. That's the real disappointment of this book. If I wanted to read the text of the original documents I'd look them up myself online. What I wanted was expert interpretation and the telling of the story that these documents seem to describe.
Sandler writes from Nantucket, an island he shares with the great historian Nathaniel Philbrick. But where Philbrick excels at taking scant information and turning it into a fascinating story, Sandler dumps the source information on the page and then rambles on about his own experiences in visiting the same places 400 years later. Unfortunately, it's just not very interesting. Thought you'd learn about Hudson's trip up the river that bears his name? You're going to get a little of that and then a whole lot of information on General Electric, PCBs, the environmental movement, and Pete Seeger.
An earlier reviewer characterized this book as being 1/3 history. I'd put it more at 1/10th. By the end of the book you'll know little about Hudson, but all about Sandler's political views, summer camp experiences, family, feelings, travel preferences, and a whole lot of other personal detail. If that's what you're looking to read about, you'll love it. But if you read the title and thought you were instead going to read a biography of Henry Hudson, you'll be disappointed.
Great book!.......2007-08-01
I am going to give this 5 stars. I'll list why in a second just let me tell you a few of my issues. First Sandler doesn't seem to interview that many people concerning the Clearwater Sloop, the Hudson River Keeper or the many, many other environmental organizations dedicated to keep the Hudson clean. He also brushes over the Storm King case. Sandler does not mention the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
Ok now that's out of the way let me explain a bit why this book is excellent.
First of all its one-third history, one-third travelogue and one-third PSA for keeping all the places Henry Hudson visited clean. The history part is fairly typical in that we don't know much about Hudson; he may have been a bad captain nothing that new or exciting. But overall it's still interesting and a good introduction for those unfamiliar with Hudson.
Then comes the travelogue sections. These are really interesting mostly because of all the unique people the author met on his travels. In reading the book the former director of Clearwater, Andy Mele, comes off as a pretty genuine guy. He's not a crazy tree hugging hippe but just a regular guy that wants to do some good. Most of the environmentalist people come off this way. Some people may not like this but honestly try spending a night near the Hudson...smell that? Yeah, that's the river. I did enjoy Sandle's search for Hudson's monuments and as he mentions in the introduction the most obvious ones are the Hudson River and New York City.
The best parts are the sections that are basically the PSAs about environmentalism. There are numerous digs at GE for dumping PCBs and our society in general. Having lived for four years about 100 yards from the Hudson I must say it's easily one of the greatest sights in the world. But its also one of the biggest dumps too. I think it's terrible that the river is so polluted that you can't go for a swim or eat a fish from there. I had a picnic with my girlfriend one day in Hyde Park right on the river and it was pretty easy to spot all the trash washed up on the shore. Ok enough gushing as Sandler does a much better job explaining this then I do.
In conclusion just read the book. It's excellent.
Customer Reviews:
A Memoir of the Dreams of Life.......2005-01-05
This lovely poetic lament transcends time and space.
How often does a glimpse of the forbidden (that
which lies beyond our cloistered grasp) create a melancholia
that pervades our life?
As we cross this bridge of dreams - fleeting and ethereal, we
identify with Lady "Sarashina" and a life of desires destined to remain unfulfilled.
And yet, it is precisely this unfulfillment that allows the memoirs' moody
passion to blossom. As a result of her discontent, we readers have an opportunity
to savour the gentle nectar of her often luminous writing.
Beautiful dreamer.......2004-08-20
This charming, brief book really does move at a dream-like pace. There are great leaps in time, with no apparent explanation. Things that should have seemed vitally important, like raising three children, are dismissed in a few scattered lines. Sarashina simply walks out on a once-in-a-lifetime imperial ceremony, but returns again and again to the sight of the moonlight.
Sarashina, the pseudonym we have for her, lived and wrote in the first half of the 11th century, in Heian Japan. It is a wonderful quirk of history that this era hosted so many educated, literate women, with cloistered lives that allowed time for introspection. The authors of The Gossamer Years and Shonagon's Pillow Book lived during that same era, and even had family connections to Sarashina.
She wrote this memoir near the end of her life, and seemed to use it as a package for presenting her life. Like an elegantly wrapped package, this tantalizes us by hiding the real substance inside. We read a little of her role in the imperial court, but never see into the closed society of the women's quarters. We see a courtier's career interrupted by family duties, but quite make out what those duties were. We learn that her husband was influential enough to be named regional governor, but we never see her part in his court or how that related to her imperial service. Instead, we read a few conversations, travelogues, and poems, the kind that hide more than they reveal.
As a child, she had a passion for romantic stories. She used those tales to enter worlds of elegant people and beautiful places. It was only in her thirties that she came back to earth, and realized that she had let too much time go by. She did marry, but was widowed early. She did have a comfortable life as lady in waiting, but never found her way into the court's inner circle. It was almost as if her life were one of those romances, but she had been given only a minor role in it.
She wrote this memoir when she was old and alone. It is beautifully literate. Still, I almost wonder whether her mind had started to wander, and wander only where the little girl's romance stories led.
//wiredweird
The Sei Shonogon antipode.......2004-06-04
Lady Sharashina lived a life of dreamy lament. It is a wonder if someone of her nature could ever be happy with what the real world could offer. Her brief moments of happiness are gained in dreams and fantasy, or tempting/dreaming the impossible, the forbidden fruit. The real world, despite living a life of relative privilege, was a never ending experience of pain to her. She took seeing the ephemeral (wabi sabi/mono no aware) aspects of life to heiights of seeing the eternal in the ephemeral the great in the small, which can be beautiful (as with Basho), but Lady Sharshina seems too idealistic and self obsessed which makes it something pitiful in the end. The real world is one of duty and lament: "veni, vedi, vici" would not be her epitaph; more like perpetual nostaligic anguish and shyness. Her regrets seem misguided.
Lady Sharashina avoided popular attractions, as opposed to her near contemporary Sei Shonagon, in "The Pillow Book", who endeavored to be the attraction. Some of the scenes are unforgetable and the book is a classic for what it is: the memoirs of a dreamer. The book has one of the most poignent poetic conundrum sort of endings I can recall.
The translation failed to capture all of the poems, which is to be expected; but those that were captured are brilliant.
The contrast between Sei Shonagon and Lady Sharshina is one of the beauties of these books and poses an interesting psychological comparison.
Lyrical counterpoint to Sei Shonagon.......2004-03-19
Short, poignant and redolent of a very individual experience of life in Heian Japan, the memoirs of 'Lady Sarashina' provide a fascinating glimpse of a woman's life slightly outside of the most exalted circles of eleventh-century life. This is a highly idiosyncratic portrait of its time, concentrating on episodes important to Sarashina herself (dreams, pilgrimages, poetic exchanges) rather than to the politically-active class as a whole. The sense of chronology is vague, the structure dictated more by mood pieces and observations than straightforward diary-keeping.
As such, this probably isn't the place to start with medieval Japanese writing, but something to try after Sei Shonagon (an altogether more ebullient and resilient character, who _is_ at the centre of things) and Lady Murasaki. Sarashina is too withdrawn to involve herself in the customary court intrigues and liaisons, and too low-status to have much impact. Instead, she occupies herself with the fantastical world of Genji and other "Tales". Her memoirs are also notable for their account of a journey through the provinces to the capital, and for highly-praised poetry that unfortunately doesn't translate particularly well.
Ivan Morris' concise introduction sets the work in its context and discusses its significance and textual history; line drawings and unobtrusive notes further build our picture of Sarashina's world. A worthwhile purchase.
THE BRIDGE NEVER GETS CROSSED.......2003-05-02
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams is a truly nonwestern work. In its tone, its narrative devices, and in the world it presents, this is a work that is clearly "other" from traditional Western fare. While sharing the same structural shell as the Western novel, its story is largely outside the limits of Western expectation.
At its heart, As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams is a song sung in retrospect by Lady Sarashina. This is a song of denied dreams that always just barely seem to fail.
The one constant of the narrative is sadness. Whether Sarashina's life was really so melancholy or whether she wrote this looking back through the lens of bitterness is speculation. Yet the sadness is palpable. Sadness hovers over each scene. When happiness breaks in, it is an unexpected and short-lived guest.
The narrative covers most of Sarashina's life. It starts in her childhood and leads up to her later years. She lives a very sheltered life in her father's house. So much so that it, in some ways, could be described in non-religious terms as a cloister. All the young Sarashina has to occupy her time is her love of tales and the hope of a more fulfilling future.
The genesis of Sarashina's great unhappiness is the glimpse she gets of the greater life around her--a life that she is never capable of partaking in. In all her travels she is never able to break free from her own internal solitude. She will not allow herself to live in anything more than a "dream."
For me, the extremely episodic nature of the book made it hard to get deeply involved as a reader. There were long spaces in this book where the author dwelt on seemingly unimportant matters. There are also quite a few brief sections where the author skips ahead a number of years. This made things difficult for me to follow on a number of occasions.
The one part of the book that I enjoyed was the poetry. I greatly enjoyed the poem that the author's father had his daughter compose to send to his ex-wife. The moment was both touching and insightful into their relationship.
The native Japanese worldview was wholly foreign to me. All the pilgrimages, priests, nuns, and what I would term "superstitions" struck me as convoluted and semi-capricious. The mother's taking of vows while still living within the house, yet being separated from the household, was a truly odd moment.
Though sometimes hopeful, Sarashina has no true hope. In its place Sarashina resigns herself to the idea that all the bad things happening to her are the result of Karma.
I have a hard time swallowing this much hopelessness. There is an endless sense of wallowing about As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams. I wanted to talk to Sarashina--to tell her that no matter how deep the darkness, it only takes one point of light to dispel it.
While this book may have value in being representative of the Japanese Literature of its day, it is not something I would choose to read again. The problem with As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams is that no one ever crosses the stinking bridge.
Book Description
One year before the protests in Tiananmen Square, Rosemary Mahoney participated in a teaching exchange between Harvard and Hangzhou University. At Hangzhou she was able to overcome her students' usual rigidity and achieve a rare and intimate glimpse of their culture and their attitudes. This remarkable memoir captures both the dreams and the grim realities her Chinese students faced within the confines of an oppressive political regime.
Customer Reviews:
Good Preparation.......2006-05-30
We have some friends who are joining the Peace Corps and heading out to China to teach English in the next few weeks. And even though this book was written nearly 20 years ago I think it gives an excellent picture of the people and the situation in which they will find themselves in. For such a short time Ms. Mahoney certainly speaks of the experience in ways that make the people and the culture there come alive. I'm grateful for this book.
Great Read-- Mahoney at her best!.......2006-04-24
After reading (skimming sometimes) through Mahoney's The Singular Pilgrim, A Likely Story, and Whoredom in Kimmage, I almost didn't pick this one up. Even though I enjoyed Mahoney's tales and writing style, I didn't feel like laboring through it all once again to read about China, a country that I had little interest in. Even while my general interest in Ireland and religion (topics of her other books) was higher, I found myself not able to stop reading The Early Arrival of Dreams. The perspective she has on Chinese youth and her year living there were wonderful and interesting. I devoured this book and was left wanting to read more about China.
Definitely her best work!!!
Clairvoyant portrait of China.......2006-04-15
In my opinion this is the best sort of reporting: a personal experience filtered thorugh the lense of a an educated, intellecutal, and savvy writer. Rosemary Mahoney went to CHina to teach for a year and this is the result of the journals she kept while there. Essentially it's a collection of stories based on the events that happened and characters she met while in China. It reads like a novel, maily because Mahoney has such a phenomenally sharp eye for the way people move, talk, think, speak and act. At moments I felt I was reading--or watching--a play. The prose makes the action that clear. I think that fourteen years later this book is still relevant and current, especially now that China has burst for the conomically. l Much of what Mahoney wrote in this book forshadows the modern China we are facing now.
China 1988: puritanical, communist, overwhelming.......2005-12-30
I've enjoyed Mahoney's explorations around the world in "A Singular Pilgrim," and of 1990s Irish women in "Whoredom in Kimmage." She does not give away in any of these three books but a bit of herself (leaving that for her memoir "A Likely Story," but even that book focuses more on one summer working for--at 17!--Lillian Hellman). Her life recedes, so she can concentrate on the present as it unfolds. This does make a more detached and introspective approach, and she appears because of it older than she is (although she and I were born the same year!) Her Chinese encounters establish patterns that these later travelogues expand: a novelist's fascination with the telling detail that sums up a character, and a penchant to make out of those she meets very vividly described and tangibly recognizable figures. One saying I'll paraphrase stands for what she found: in China, she is told, you are pushed so much that to get anywhere you have to push back even harder.
How what she witnesses both reveals humanity and individuality despite both tradition and oppression is her skill. She handles it so deftly that you wonder how she possesses this heightened I wonder how she can sum up so much so quickly, and if what she's telling me is "really" how that person appeared before she was able to think it over and craft out of the notebooks she must avidly keep such scrutinized meetings into such ruminative prose. Another Westerner tells her that he's never met before anyone as "weirder" than him until he met her. I'd counter that she reveals admirable grit and savvy. I do wish I knew more about "what makes her tick," but she knows that reticence can tell more than volubility. Her note at the start of this book acknowledges that conversations were based on her experiences rather than verbatim, and she uses this "grey area" to color well her character sketches and telling impressions of what she finds.
She's best at conjuring up such scenes as a horribly crowded train station, how the streets of Shanghai seemed so similar that after a time she felt as if on a treadmill, the frightfully talented Yu Ming's intellect and longing to leave the confines that family and state build around her, or how dangerous bike riding can be. It's humbling to read also of how diligently many of her students labored to learn English under such grueling conditions.
The grime and decay and lack of heat in the dorms where she lives contrasts with an opening vignette that sums up a lot in a little: workers get excused from work when the temperature hits 39 C. Therefore, the official, municipally-controlled thermometers never report any reading above 37 C. It's observations like this, and of what at that time was the last era in which a puritanical sexuality still oppressed the Chinese in the year before Tiananmen Square, and of the Cold War sensibilities that still held sway, that make this an engrossing account. While the coverage of her year felt too lopsided, hastening to the end of the stint after leisurely scene-setting and character development in earlier chapters, it reads at a brisk but carefully modulated pace remarkably smoothly, entertainingly, and sensitively without being sentimental, heavy-handedly ideological, or pandering.
good descriptions but missing emotion.......2005-04-27
In The Early Arrival of Dreams, Rosemary Mahoney recounts her experience as a teacher in Huangzhou, China in 1987-88. Her style is a series of scenes - dialogues, sights, events - that bring alive moments of Chinese life and culture, as she saw it. She seems to stand back and let the people and their actions speak for themselves.
Mahoney has an eye for detail and a talent for descriptions. She described the place - whether it was her apartment, a school stairway, or the streets of Shanghai, so that I could see and smell them.
Unfortunately, she left herself and her feelings almost entirely out of the book, leaving readers to wonder what previous exposure she had to China, what brought her there, and how she felt in the situations she described. Characters that must have played a major role in her experience there - such as her American roommate, or the teachers in her teaching group - are barely mentioned. Other characters showcase interesting personalities or cultural characteristics, but I longed to get to know them better, to see a deeper picture, to know more about how she related to them. Most of all, I wanted to know how her experiences and interactions changed her conceptions of the world, of them, and of herself.
This book provides a sensitive and nicely written portrait of China at a time of change. And the discussion of Chinese/Japanese animosities is still timely fifteen years later. But there is a feeling throughout the book that something is missing - the presence of the author herself.
Amazon.com
Part memoir and part travelogue, The House on Dream Street offers a compelling glimpse into Vietnam more than 20 years after the war. Author Dana Sachs foregoes the history lesson and instead takes us into the day-to-day lives of working-class people attempting to succeed in a fledgling capitalist economy. Captivated by the once-forbidden country during a visit in 1989, Sachs returned two years later, took a room with a young family, and set out to immerse herself in the culture.
One of the most charming aspects of the book is that Sachs lacks the bravado you'd expect from a solo traveler. Her slow grasp of the language causes no end of frustration, and her Western looks--"bigger, paler, and richer"--make her an object of unwanted attention. Other facets of crowded Hanoi prove equally challenging: maneuvering a bicycle through dangerously narrow streets, fending off the frequent advances of married Vietnamese men, and coping with the complete lack of privacy as well as the elusive Vietnamese concept of destiny. Despite the often-primitive conditions, the watchful eyes of the secret police, and the intolerable, mildewy weather, Sachs manages to portray her newfound home as an explosion of sensory experience, where "the rich, woody scent of freshly steamed rice" fills the air and "commuters whizzed past... their bright clothes trailing pink, orange, purple, and green across the blue-black asphalt of the road." And then there are the people: Tung, her friendly but on-the-make landlord who loves heavy metal; Huong, his critical but loyal wife who harbors untold hidden strengths; Tra, desperate to return to the States and get her doctorate, even at the expense of her marriage; and Linh, also yearning to escape her husband's tight reins. In fact, most of the women with whom Sachs bonds are torn between their family obligations and a dawning realization of their own rights.
Even as her friends struggle to balance personal goals with marital happiness, Sachs finds herself drawn to Phai, a quiet, inexperienced motorcycle mechanic. Their love affair, illegal and unspoken, flames steadily and then flickers out, as the author finds herself unable to overcome their differences and the prospect of marrying into Phai's impoverished family. In the end, she realizes her love for Phai is only a personification of her romance with the country itself--but it's as a chronicle of that romance that The House on Dream Street truly succeeds. In telling the story of her own discovery and growth, Sachs provides a distinctively personal view of a rapidly evolving country as well as the families who are weathering the transition. --Lisa Costantino
Book Description
In this heartfelt memoir, Dana Sachs takes the reader on a sensual and textured voyage to a country most Americans think about only in terms of war. A finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award, this deftly written narrative reveals how Sachs settled in with slick, warmhearted Tung and his quietly tenacious wife Huong in Hanoi and made a place for herself in “enemy” territory. With vivid descriptions of the community—the noodle stalls and roaring motorcycles, the vestiges of French colonialism, and the encroachment of glittering high-rises—Sachs explores the tenuous balance between the traditions of old Vietnam and a country in the throes of modernization. Sachs’s honest depiction of her difficulties renders her triumphs and love for the country and its people all the more poignant and compelling. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.
Customer Reviews:
I agree! It's Wonderful!.......2007-07-30
I can't add anything to the other reviews other than to say that if you enjoy reading about westerners living in Asia you will like or love this book. You should also read "Catfish and Mandala" which comes from a totally different perspective, but is also memorable.
talented writer, engaging commentary.......2007-05-15
i loved every minute of reading this book. i was captivated by ms. sachs' tales of coming to terms with her discomfort in a very foreign environment where communication was almost impossible. her writing is clear and expressive and personal. i look forward to reading her next book, and hope that there are more to come.
More Vietnamese Than Vietnamese.......2006-09-08
Her writing style is so playful, amusing, charming, and sensitive. Her observation of the environment and culture is so acute. She brought alive the scenes, the sounds, the liveliness of Hanoi streets -- just like the classic Vietnamese novels that we had to read while in high school. I bought this book for my wife, previewed it and then finished it. Highly recommended.
Mind-blowingly good!.......2003-10-11
This is simply one of the most stupendous travelogues I have ever read. In fact, I can't think of a better one. Read it!
Sensitive, moving.......2003-10-02
This book is a moving and real account of one woman's travel journey in Vietnam. But, it could be anywhere. The respect and heart she has for where she is is wonderful. It's a quick and moving read.
Book Description
In this beautifully crafted study of one emblematic life, Harrison addresses large themes in Chinese history while conveying with great immediacy the textures and rhythms of everyday life in the countryside in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.
Liu Dapeng was a provincial degree-holder who never held government office. Through the story of his family, the author illustrates the decline of the countryside in relation to the cities as a result of modernization and the transformation of Confucian ideology as a result of these changes. Based on nearly 400 volumes of Liu's diary and other writings, the book illustrates what it was like to study in an academy and to be a schoolteacher, the pressures of changing family relationships, the daily grind of work in industry and agriculture, people's experience with government, and life under the Japanese occupation.
Books:
- Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor's Soul: Stories to Inspire, Support and Heal (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
- Chinese Medical Herbology & Pharmacology
- Considering Doris Day
- Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
- Dark Desire (The Carpathians (Dark) Series, Book 2)
- Developing and Administering a Child Care and Education Program
- Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television
- Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining: America's Toughest Family Court Judge Speaks Out
- Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (Gender and American Culture)
- Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It
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