Synopses & Reviews
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.