Tonight is the first event for the new book, and I've spent most of the afternoon at home with curlers in my hair and cucumber circles on the eyes...
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When I first stumbled upon this book, I was enthusiastic, and read it with a sincere desire to appreciate it.
However, except for Martini's clear style of prose, which I appreciated (although it is uncomfortably similar in style to that found on the "Yarn Harlot's" blog), and for some interesting nuggets of knitting lore, this is an incomplete work, in my opinion. I felt as if the author was casting about for a topic to "write a book about," and came up with the thought that if she knitted a difficult sweater, she could talk to acquaintances during the process, with the sweater-project as a "theme," and mine the internet for knitting quotes and urls to fill up the pages. It is forced and superficial, and seems hurriedly written rather than well-crafted (which is an apt characterization perhaps, seeing as how the outcome of her garment sounded as if it fit the same description).
"My Year Of Knitting Dangerously" left me with the impression that I had just read a blog, not a book. It has pleasant moments, but there is no consistent thread, except for a sweater designed by a woman about whom she offers much "from-a-distance" analysis. The title doesn't even relate to the content. (There was no danger, and only an arbitrary, self-imposed "year.") The book bounces around to no purpose, as if Martini were multi-tasking while composing text, then forgetting how she had arrived at her next chapter. Her story would have made a fine, light magazine article, but for this knitter, it was not worth the read. This book was quite a stretch, and it did not block out.
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(3 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Cactus Thorn is one of my top ten favorite novels (novella). The writing is smart, beautiful, not overdone. The story is spare and profound. It grapples with the hypocrisy often seen in the private lives of "reformers," and the power that the "powerless" posess after all. Fierce, haunting nature-writing set in the area near the Owens Valley. Relevant today. I have purchsed copies for my women friends.
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(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
"Escape" is, in my opinion, one of the most important books in the last 50 years to reveal a core dynamic of U.S. society. I read it on a recommendation from a stranger, but could barely put it down. What Ms. Jessop's book, I believe unintentionally reveals, in her unpretentious, honest way, is that the FLDS is not an anomaly in our country. It is in fact a distillation of the patriarchal system which founded this country, and which, unlike the FLDS, has learned subtlety, but which has in no way lost its dominion.
I am a woman born and raised in the united states, and with a career history in many jobs which were nontraditional for my gender, so the author's experiences within the cult of the FLDS were sadly quite familiar to me, though more raw, unsophisticated, and outwardly brutal than what I dealt with daily at work.
The reader of "Escape" comes to understand how an entire community of intelligent and caring humans can be taught to live in fear of the ways of outsiders, and so to never turn to them, no matter how terribly they may suffer at home. The author writes that The FLDS members were allowed almost no news from the outside world to broaden their understanding and she matter-of-factly weaves together the bizarre incidents of her life to illustrate the strength of the grip that a cult like the FLDS has on its members.
I reflected, on finishing "Escape," that I live in a country of intelligent humans whose ignorance and fear of the ways of other countries (our version of "outsiders") stops us from demanding what plenty of our allies have: free health care, free college, a decent welfare system for the least amongst us, and a government which provides, rather than invades. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wonders why we aren't out in the streets with our banners and our pitchforks yet.
The toxic combination of religion, gender oppression, isolation, lack of opportunities, and little information from the outside world is unflinchingly laid out for us to examine in Ms. Jessop's brave book. "Escape" is not a literary achievement. She was not a writer, and makes no attempts at clever phrases or flowery descriptions, but her book is a revelation not to be missed, of the predictably tragic outcome of any society in which people can not or will not stand up for their rights and think for themselves. I thank her for writing it.
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(7 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
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opal has commented on (3) products.
Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini
opal, May 27, 2010
When I first stumbled upon this book, I was enthusiastic, and read it with a sincere desire to appreciate it.However, except for Martini's clear style of prose, which I appreciated (although it is uncomfortably similar in style to that found on the "Yarn Harlot's" blog), and for some interesting nuggets of knitting lore, this is an incomplete work, in my opinion. I felt as if the author was casting about for a topic to "write a book about," and came up with the thought that if she knitted a difficult sweater, she could talk to acquaintances during the process, with the sweater-project as a "theme," and mine the internet for knitting quotes and urls to fill up the pages. It is forced and superficial, and seems hurriedly written rather than well-crafted (which is an apt characterization perhaps, seeing as how the outcome of her garment sounded as if it fit the same description).
"My Year Of Knitting Dangerously" left me with the impression that I had just read a blog, not a book. It has pleasant moments, but there is no consistent thread, except for a sweater designed by a woman about whom she offers much "from-a-distance" analysis. The title doesn't even relate to the content. (There was no danger, and only an arbitrary, self-imposed "year.") The book bounces around to no purpose, as if Martini were multi-tasking while composing text, then forgetting how she had arrived at her next chapter. Her story would have made a fine, light magazine article, but for this knitter, it was not worth the read. This book was quite a stretch, and it did not block out.
(3 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Cactus Thorn by Mary Austin
opal, February 24, 2009
Cactus Thorn is one of my top ten favorite novels (novella). The writing is smart, beautiful, not overdone. The story is spare and profound. It grapples with the hypocrisy often seen in the private lives of "reformers," and the power that the "powerless" posess after all. Fierce, haunting nature-writing set in the area near the Owens Valley. Relevant today. I have purchsed copies for my women friends.(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Escape by Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer
opal, May 18, 2008
"Escape" is, in my opinion, one of the most important books in the last 50 years to reveal a core dynamic of U.S. society. I read it on a recommendation from a stranger, but could barely put it down. What Ms. Jessop's book, I believe unintentionally reveals, in her unpretentious, honest way, is that the FLDS is not an anomaly in our country. It is in fact a distillation of the patriarchal system which founded this country, and which, unlike the FLDS, has learned subtlety, but which has in no way lost its dominion.I am a woman born and raised in the united states, and with a career history in many jobs which were nontraditional for my gender, so the author's experiences within the cult of the FLDS were sadly quite familiar to me, though more raw, unsophisticated, and outwardly brutal than what I dealt with daily at work.
The reader of "Escape" comes to understand how an entire community of intelligent and caring humans can be taught to live in fear of the ways of outsiders, and so to never turn to them, no matter how terribly they may suffer at home. The author writes that The FLDS members were allowed almost no news from the outside world to broaden their understanding and she matter-of-factly weaves together the bizarre incidents of her life to illustrate the strength of the grip that a cult like the FLDS has on its members.
I reflected, on finishing "Escape," that I live in a country of intelligent humans whose ignorance and fear of the ways of other countries (our version of "outsiders") stops us from demanding what plenty of our allies have: free health care, free college, a decent welfare system for the least amongst us, and a government which provides, rather than invades. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wonders why we aren't out in the streets with our banners and our pitchforks yet.
The toxic combination of religion, gender oppression, isolation, lack of opportunities, and little information from the outside world is unflinchingly laid out for us to examine in Ms. Jessop's brave book. "Escape" is not a literary achievement. She was not a writer, and makes no attempts at clever phrases or flowery descriptions, but her book is a revelation not to be missed, of the predictably tragic outcome of any society in which people can not or will not stand up for their rights and think for themselves. I thank her for writing it.
(7 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)