Debra Gwartney

This book brought me to tears. As a mother I was moved by the honesty of the author, as it's very hard to admit things publicly about your children and yourself that will be viewed negatively. We all want perfect children...be perfect mothers...have the perfect home... But that can never happen and we all know that too. However, we don't go around and broadcast how bad it really is. This mother has. And I applaud her. What she said to me was its ok to screw up as a parent it doesn't make show more every wrong choice your child makes your fault. If you've ever had a "wild" child or just a strained relationship with a child whom you can't figure out "what did I do wrong" (which is where I was reading this book) you owe it to yourself and the child to read this. It helped me see my child and I in a whole different light and also to know that it is never to late for healing. show less

A little hard to get into a first, but extremely well worth it. This may be one of the most heart-wrenching tales of motherhood I've ever read. I felt bad for judging the author, but I admire her honesty. Her prose is absolutely beautiful, even at times more captivating than the story.

What a fantastic book, reflective and careful, vivid and observant, of a period of incredible pain by a very intelligent woman and gifted writer.

This is essentially a dictionary of landscape terms. I applaud the author's desire to capture and preserve American landscape language, and many of the entries are entertaining and interesting. The accompanying illustrations are also well-done and useful. I do not recommend sitting down with this book for a cover-to-cover read, but it is enjoyable to read a few entries here and there. Every American reader is likely to stumble upon some long-forgotten term that applies to the reader's own show more personal landscape. show less