The Country of the Pointed Firs in Never too Late to Read Classics

Jan 19, 2016 Sara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics

What a sweet, lovely book. Composed of a series of vignettes that are bound together by an overstory of a young lady spending the summer in Dunnet Landing, Maine. Jewett does a spectacular job of portraying the people who populate this seafarer's town and its neighboring islands. She captures both their relationships and sense of community and their naturally reticent and independent natures.

Every occupant of this town has his own unique tale, and while there is no driving plotline, but more a What a sweet, lovely book. Composed of a series of vignettes that are bound together by an overstory of a young lady spending the summer in Dunnet Landing, Maine. Jewett does a spectacular job of portraying the people who populate this seafarer's town and its neighboring islands. She captures both their relationships and sense of community and their naturally reticent and independent natures.

Every occupant of this town has his own unique tale, and while there is no driving plotline, but more a kind of folklore that is being passed, reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales but even less plot-driven than that. I felt amazingly attached and involved with these people, even though they might only make an appearance in one chapter and then fade from view in the next.

The descriptions Jewett offers of both the land and its people are astoundingly visual:

"A long time before we landed at Green Island we could see the small white house, standing high like a beacon, where Mrs. Todd was born and where her mother lived, on a green slope above the water, with dark spruce woods still higher."

"I wondered, as I looked at him, if he had sprung from a line of ministers, he had the refinement of look and air of command which are the heritage of the old ecclesiastical families of New England. But as Darwin says in his autobiography, 'there is no such king as a sea-captain.'"

And, she sprinkles some astute observations among her flowing descriptions of the land and its people:

"Conversation's got to have some root in the past, or else you've got to explain every remark you make, an' it wears a person out." If you have a friend who has been with you since childhood, or a sibling with which you are very close, you will understand this perfectly. No new friend can fill that same purpose because with the old friend or sibling no explanation is necessary and with the new friend no amount of explanation could be enough.

"There, you never get over bein' a child long's you have a mother to go to." Again, if you have lost a mother you know the truth of this statement. While your mother lives there is always "home".

I have long wanted to read this book, having come across an excerpt from it years ago in a Victorian magazine. I was not disappointed. It roused a kind of nostalgia in me for a time and place I have never known but would love to be a part of. It suggests a kind of serenity, camaraderie, industry and love of life that is often sorely missing from our modern existence. The closest modern-era book I have found to this is At Home in Mitford.

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Dec 25, 2020 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: usa, audible-uk, classics, hf, 2021-read, flora

The prose of this book is wonderful. You will surely feel as I do if the beauty of wild rugged coastlines, remote islands and undisturbed nature speak to you. One short example follows:

“The month was August, and I had seen the colors of the islands change from the fresh green of June to sunburnt brown that made them look like stone, except where the dark green of the spruces and fir balsam kept the tint that even winter storms might deepen but not fade.”

The author describes in stunning prose not The prose of this book is wonderful. You will surely feel as I do if the beauty of wild rugged coastlines, remote islands and undisturbed nature speak to you. One short example follows:

“The month was August, and I had seen the colors of the islands change from the fresh green of June to sunburnt brown that made them look like stone, except where the dark green of the spruces and fir balsam kept the tint that even winter storms might deepen but not fade.”

The author describes in stunning prose not only the features of coastal areas but also the individuals living there—solitary men and women living by and off the sea and land. Sailors, fishing folk, recluses, innkeepers, craftspeople, herbalists and others. These people are what the book is about. They are spoken of intimately. They are drawn with loving care. The people’s lives tie together. Chapters flow fluidly, one to the next. Each person comes alive; they live and breathe. Their sorrows and woes, their moments of joy and happiness are felt as one’s own.

I am describing how I react to this book. I easily relate to and instinctively feel a bond with the individuals and the choices they make. We learn of an elderly mother and son—she’s in her eighties, he’s in his sixties. They live alone on an island. Her daughter and his sister, also elderly and in her sixties, is a widow, a herbalist and one who occasionally takes in boarders. She lives in the town of Dunnet Landing on the coast of Maine. The woman who narrates the tale is a writer, a visitor to the town.

Cindy Harden Killavey narrates the audiobook. The recording is faulty, more so in the beginning than at the end. One hears the murmuring of voices in the background. The volume rises and falls. Nevertheless, the words are spoken clearly, often in patois. I grew to like the narration very much, although I did struggle with it at the start. Three stars for the narration.

The women and the men of this story have an inner peace and serenity. They are resolute, and they are strong. I was soothed in spending time with them. There is a haunting beauty to this tale. I highly recommend it, particularly to those of us drawn to the sea and coastal areas. Don’t miss this wonderful classic.

This novel is in my view very much better than the author’s first, her semiautobiographical novel, A Country Doctor. Since I do not repeat the information provided in that book’s review here, a link follows: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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*The Country of the Pointed Firs 4 stars
*A Country Doctor 2 stars ...more

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Apr 11, 2014 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, fiction-19th-century, american-fiction, librivox, e-books, new-england, gutenberg, read-2014, novellas

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

And the audio version is available at LibriVox.

CONTENTS

I. The Return

II. Mrs. Todd

III. The Schoolhouse

IV. At the Schoolhouse Window

V. Captain Littlepage

VI. The Waiting Place

VII. The Outer Island

VIII. Green Island

IX. William

X. Where Pennyroyal Grew

XI. The Old Singers

XII. A Strange Sail

XIII. Poor Joanna

XIV. The Hermitage

XV. On Shell-heap Island

XVI. The Great Expedition

XVII. A Country Road

XVIII. The Bowden Reunion

XIX. The Feast's End

XX. ...more

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