What do you think?
Rate this book
Notes from the Bottom of the World: A Life in Chile
Chile—named the Lonely Planet 2018 destination of the year—has been Suzanne Adam’s home for over four decades. She knows the territory—its culture, its idiosyncrasies, and its exotic landscapes, from Patagonian glaciers to the northern Atacama Desert. In this heartfelt collection of sixty-three personal essays, she searches for universal truths and sparks of beauty revealed in small, daily moments both in her native land—the United States—and in Chile. She considers how her American past and move to Chile have shaped her life and enriched her worldview, and she explores with insight questions on aging, women’s roles, spiritual life, friendship, love, and writers who inspire.
In a return trip to Colombia fifty years after her two-year stay there as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Adam reflects on the mark left on her by that experience. Finally, she crosses America from east to west, immersing herself in regional cultures and discovering a common thread of reciprocity throughout.
In a return trip to Colombia fifty years after her two-year stay there as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Adam reflects on the mark left on her by that experience. Finally, she crosses America from east to west, immersing herself in regional cultures and discovering a common thread of reciprocity throughout.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2025
31 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Adam
2 books3 followersA California native, Suzanne served in the Peace Corps in Colombia before moving to Santiago, Chile in 1972 to marry her boyfriend, Santiago. She explores how this experience has shaped her life in her memoir Marrying Santiago. She admits to being a tree-hugger, avid reader, nature writer, talker to stray dogs and cats, gardener, CNN news junkie, bird watcher, lover of storms and laughter and doting granny. Before turning to writing, she worked as a teacher of learning disabled children. A member of Santiago writers, her essays have been published in The Christian Science Monitor, California Magazine, the Marin Independent Journal, Nature Writing and Persimmon Tree.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 7, 2019
Beautifully written essays about life as ex-pat in Chile! I enjoyed reading about Suzannes experiances in different life situations! She really gets the feeling of what it is to leave home, family and friends. But same time getting to love your knew adobted country!
February 16, 2020
Beautiful essays on life in Chile since 1972, on experiences as a young volunteer in Colombia and on travels to the homeland so far away. How it’s possible to love two countries, only in different ways. Made me nostalgic and grateful at the same time.
February 14, 2019
Reading Notes from the Bottom of the World: A Life in Chile by Suzanne Adam was like sitting down and talking to an old friend, one who has been around the block in her mind as many times as I have. There was comfort in knowing that someone else has had as many questions about what goes on the world, and as great a thirst to learn new things, as I do.
Written as a book of short essays, whose topics range from books she is reading and her garden, to her Peace Corps days and letting her hair go gray, Adam's keen observation skills turn the ordinary into meaningful. Her thoughts about people and her delight in the landscape made the hours spent reading this book peaceful ones.
Calling herself a logophile, and noting that she and her Roget's Thesaurus are inseparable. Adams used this love of words and her inventive mind to bring her simple stories to life. For example, she writes about standing on the deck of a boat among darker skinned passengers: "We were like curds of cottage cheese accidentally dumped into a plate of caviar."
Adam, who is in her eighth decade on Planet Earth, also writes about the worth of having lived for that many years. The hard times are written between the lines while the good memories are celebrated. But, like me, she worries about how we humans are treating the environment. During a visit to the bottom of the earth, truly, Adam looks around Patagonia Bay at the melting ice blocks surrounding her, and writes: "Maybe if I pay close attention, I'll hear the glaciers whisperings and advice on their preservation."
And while working in her garden, she worries about the homeless, the farmers with no suitable soil, the bees whose habitats are disappearing, and fires raging because of drought. Yet her hope for the future survives: "This morning. I look up at the wonder of an almost-true-blue firmament...light fills me...My bees dance about the delicate blooms..." As I read, my own worries about the future dissolve, and I simply enjoy the feeling of having a good book in my hands.
While the author's love of wild, undeveloped landscapes rings out loud throughout the book, Adam admits that while she might imagine herself to be a country girl, she also likes the convenience of a city. This is well and good since she lives in Santiago, the capital of Chile and home to over six million people. But it's such honest contrasts as this, and Adam's deeper searches for meaning, that made me happy I had chosen to read this book.
While its genre falls into the travel and memoir categories, I also think of Notes from the Bottom of the World as a romance. It is a tale of a California women falling in love with a Chilean man, marrying him and moving to Chile. She then falls in love with her new country, but cheats on it because she always remembers her love for her homeland.
Adam also never forgets the people from her early life in California, which she regularly visits, nor the people she met and came to love during her Peace Corps' days in Columbia. "Life was precarious and fragile, yet I discovered music, the smiles, and the generosity that flourished in the inhospitable landscape," she writes. "Certainty is a rare visitor to our days. Our lives consist of multiple decisions lacking sureness, small daily acts of courage."
Adam's words consoled me. Notes from the Bottom of the World will be added to my book shelves, and most surely be read again.
by Pat Bean
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Written as a book of short essays, whose topics range from books she is reading and her garden, to her Peace Corps days and letting her hair go gray, Adam's keen observation skills turn the ordinary into meaningful. Her thoughts about people and her delight in the landscape made the hours spent reading this book peaceful ones.
Calling herself a logophile, and noting that she and her Roget's Thesaurus are inseparable. Adams used this love of words and her inventive mind to bring her simple stories to life. For example, she writes about standing on the deck of a boat among darker skinned passengers: "We were like curds of cottage cheese accidentally dumped into a plate of caviar."
Adam, who is in her eighth decade on Planet Earth, also writes about the worth of having lived for that many years. The hard times are written between the lines while the good memories are celebrated. But, like me, she worries about how we humans are treating the environment. During a visit to the bottom of the earth, truly, Adam looks around Patagonia Bay at the melting ice blocks surrounding her, and writes: "Maybe if I pay close attention, I'll hear the glaciers whisperings and advice on their preservation."
And while working in her garden, she worries about the homeless, the farmers with no suitable soil, the bees whose habitats are disappearing, and fires raging because of drought. Yet her hope for the future survives: "This morning. I look up at the wonder of an almost-true-blue firmament...light fills me...My bees dance about the delicate blooms..." As I read, my own worries about the future dissolve, and I simply enjoy the feeling of having a good book in my hands.
While the author's love of wild, undeveloped landscapes rings out loud throughout the book, Adam admits that while she might imagine herself to be a country girl, she also likes the convenience of a city. This is well and good since she lives in Santiago, the capital of Chile and home to over six million people. But it's such honest contrasts as this, and Adam's deeper searches for meaning, that made me happy I had chosen to read this book.
While its genre falls into the travel and memoir categories, I also think of Notes from the Bottom of the World as a romance. It is a tale of a California women falling in love with a Chilean man, marrying him and moving to Chile. She then falls in love with her new country, but cheats on it because she always remembers her love for her homeland.
Adam also never forgets the people from her early life in California, which she regularly visits, nor the people she met and came to love during her Peace Corps' days in Columbia. "Life was precarious and fragile, yet I discovered music, the smiles, and the generosity that flourished in the inhospitable landscape," she writes. "Certainty is a rare visitor to our days. Our lives consist of multiple decisions lacking sureness, small daily acts of courage."
Adam's words consoled me. Notes from the Bottom of the World will be added to my book shelves, and most surely be read again.
by Pat Bean
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
September 14, 2018
Notes From The Bottom Of The World – A Life In Chile” is a lovely 225 page book that in small sound bites (sixty-three short personal essays) gives the reader a front row seat in viewing living as an American expat in Chile. Suzanne Adam, a native Californian, graduated from U.C. Berkley, then served in the Peace Corp in Columbia. After returning to California, Adam met her future husband, Santiago, and followed him back to his home country of Chile. She has lived there for over forty years, marrying Santiago, raising two boys, and working as a teacher. Now retired, she has turned to writing as a pastime.
I am drawn to the short essays – little sound bites that I can read here and there during the day, smiling as Adam’s words trigger memories within myself. Adam writes with depth and caring – a caring for the people in her world, and for the world at large. She is an avid reader, and sprinkles references to books throughout her stories.
Her story in this book begins with her American roots, and her fiftieth high school reunion – something that was a recent event for me too (only I chose not to go). She talks about how she found out about the reunion, classmates that have died, her decision to attend, and reconnecting with classmates. These are all things that as readers we can relate to, so at the very beginning of the book we are forming a bond with the author.
Adam moves easily into her memories – of moving to Chile, of her sons, of her father (and the things that she did with him), and of her mother (with whom she did not have a close relationship). She talks about her love for California, and its history, and references to people like author Ursula Le Guin. She talks about her time in Columbia, the people, and the culture, as well as her life in Chile. (Where gardeners have an aversion to pulling weeds!)
The energy that connects the essays is Adam’s love for life, her search for universal truths, and her ability to live in the moment. She talks about her role as a woman, friendships, the spiritual life, and how as we age life changes us. One of the most interesting series of essays are those that cover Adam returning to Columbia to revisit where she lived as a Peace Corp volunteer, and to reconnect with the people that she knew at that time.
Adam’s essays are from the heart – insightful, passionate, in the moment – a beautiful connection to the people and environment that surrounds her. This is a lovely book to be able to go back to from time to time, and reread the essays that act to bring back our own memories, reconnect us with ourselves, and bring peace and joy into our lives. It is a keeper!
I am drawn to the short essays – little sound bites that I can read here and there during the day, smiling as Adam’s words trigger memories within myself. Adam writes with depth and caring – a caring for the people in her world, and for the world at large. She is an avid reader, and sprinkles references to books throughout her stories.
Her story in this book begins with her American roots, and her fiftieth high school reunion – something that was a recent event for me too (only I chose not to go). She talks about how she found out about the reunion, classmates that have died, her decision to attend, and reconnecting with classmates. These are all things that as readers we can relate to, so at the very beginning of the book we are forming a bond with the author.
Adam moves easily into her memories – of moving to Chile, of her sons, of her father (and the things that she did with him), and of her mother (with whom she did not have a close relationship). She talks about her love for California, and its history, and references to people like author Ursula Le Guin. She talks about her time in Columbia, the people, and the culture, as well as her life in Chile. (Where gardeners have an aversion to pulling weeds!)
The energy that connects the essays is Adam’s love for life, her search for universal truths, and her ability to live in the moment. She talks about her role as a woman, friendships, the spiritual life, and how as we age life changes us. One of the most interesting series of essays are those that cover Adam returning to Columbia to revisit where she lived as a Peace Corp volunteer, and to reconnect with the people that she knew at that time.
Adam’s essays are from the heart – insightful, passionate, in the moment – a beautiful connection to the people and environment that surrounds her. This is a lovely book to be able to go back to from time to time, and reread the essays that act to bring back our own memories, reconnect us with ourselves, and bring peace and joy into our lives. It is a keeper!
July 5, 2020
DNF @ 36%.
January 13, 2023
A collection of reflections by the author about her expatriot life in Chile. I was hoping to read more about her life in Chile.
November 29, 2018
I initially picked Notes from the Bottom of the World by Suzanne Adam because of the attention-seizing title. Once I started reading, I embarked on an exceptional journey that took place between Chile and the US, and could not put the book down until I hit the last page. This is an inspiring read of travel, friendship, sacrifice, and valuable life lessons.
A more detailed insight into this remarkable book is available on my review of it on onlinebookclub.org (https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...)
A more detailed insight into this remarkable book is available on my review of it on onlinebookclub.org (https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews