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Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
Our blog feature, "From the Stacks," features our booksellers’ favorite older books: those fortuitous used finds, underrated masterpieces, and lesser known treasures. Basically: the books that we’re the most passionate about handselling. This week, we’re featuring Kelsey F.’s pick, Submergence by J. M. Ledgard...
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  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Grady Hendrix's 'How to Sell a Haunted House' (0 comment)

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The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude

by Howard Axelrod
The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude

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ISBN13: 9780807075463
ISBN10: 0807075469
Condition: Standard


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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Named one of the best books of the year by Slate, Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Entropy Magazine, and named one of the top 10 memoirs by Library Journal

Into the Wild meets Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — a lyrical memoir of a life changed in an instant and of the perilous beauty of searching for identity in solitude
 
On a clear May afternoon at the end of his junior year at Harvard, Howard Axelrod played a pick-up game of basketball. In a skirmish for a loose ball, a boy’s finger hooked behind Axelrod’s eyeball and left him permanently blinded in his right eye. A week later, he returned to the same dorm room, but to a different world. A world where nothing looked solid, where the distance between how people saw him and how he saw had widened into a gulf. Desperate for a sense of orientation he could trust, he retreated to a jerry-rigged house in the Vermont woods, where he lived without a computer or television, and largely without human contact, for two years. He needed to find, away from society’s pressures and rush, a sense of meaning that couldn’t be changed in an instant. 

Review

“A deeply felt and moving journey into no longer taking life, or the world around us, for granted.” Library Journal

Review

“This elegant, questioning memoir details that moment and events prior to it, but mostly it achingly limns Axelrod’s two years living alone in a ramshackle cabin in the Vermont woods. His writing — whether describing an aspect of the wilderness around him or noting the 'first lesson of solitude: everything really is your fault' —i s lush and savory, exact in its intent to document just how Axelrod regained the ability to feel “that quiet of already belonging.” That he allows the reader to participate in this journey, from whatever distance, is more than a pleasure — it’s an honor. . . . Axelrod so adroitly and wisely re-creates the youngster he was that readers forget the passing of time, hearing only the voice of sorrow, longing, and determination. This memoir is a keeper, touching and eloquent, full of hard lessons learned. Readers will hope for more from first-time-author Axelrod.” Booklist, Starred Review

Review

“Axelrod lyrically captures the essence of nature as he ponders his own self-worth and purpose in life. . . . In his first book, the author pushes beyond the boundaries and safety nets of the modern world and opens a doorway to feelings and experiences many long for but never encounter. His writing is a balm for world-weary souls. A vibrant, honest, and poetic account of how two years of solitude surrounded by nature changed a man forever.” Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

About the Author

Howard Axelrod’s work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Shambhala Sun, and the Boston Globe, among other publications. He currently teaches at Grub Street in Boston, where he lives. The Point of Vanishing is his first book.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780807075463
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
09/22/2015
Publisher:
Beacon Press
Language:
English
Pages:
211
Height:
8.75
Width:
5.75
Thickness:
.75
LCCN:
2015004216
Author:
Howard Axelrod
Subject:
Biography - General

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$9.95
List Price:$16.00
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