Customer Reviews

Land's End: A Walk In Provincetown

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Michaeal Cunningham loves Provincetown and conveys that love in every sentence in this beautifully written book about a great town. He ably does what every travel writer should do: he convinces those who have never been to Provincetown to visit and makes those who have been there want to return.

Mr. Cunningham does a thorough job of describing the town's geography as well as both the famous artists who lived there in the past and those of the present, also the "town characters" one can run into on the busy streets on any summer day. There is also poems by Mark Doty, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky and Melvin Dixon, among others included throughout the book.

Finally Mr. Cunningham discusses the effect AIDS has had on the gay population of Provincetown in a chapter called "Death and Life" and pays tribute to a friend named Billy who died from AIDS. "Provincetown has been widowed by the AIDS epidemic. It will never fully recover, though it is accustomed to loss. . . Provincetown possesses, has always possessed, a steady, grieving competence in the face of all that can happen to people. It watches and waits; it keeps the lights burning. If you are a man or woman with AIDS there, someone will always drive you to your doctor's appointments, get your groceries if you can't get them yourself, and take care of whatever needs taking care of."

Is there any wonder why this writer loves Provincetown?

I have never been a lover of P-town. As a child, my family made a yearly visit to climb the Pilgrim Monument, but as I got older, the long drive from our Harwich vacation home (also on Cape Cod) home made climbing the monument less appealing. Every now and then, I did visit the place, but more often than not, I found it crowded and congested, and always had trouble finding a parking space. The art galleries, a small book store, a store that sells all sorts of odds and ends, and of course the people made a visit to the town worthwhile, but I never realized what all the hype was about until I read this book. Lands End gave me an appreciation for the town and the people, and the history, and when I recently visited the town, I had a new appreciation for this interesting and varied community, largely due to Cunningham's ability to be a "tour guide."

Cunningham's book is almost a guided tour, not by a tour director who is just doing a routine job, but one who actually loves the place being visited. As he takes readers on a tour of the sights and sounds of the town, we see a place where he grew both as a person and as a writer. Though the work is factual, it flows more like a book of prose than a piece of journalism. Cunningham's awe of the rugged beauty of this small town on the Atlantic coast is easy to detect. He also seems to feel as if he is a kindred spirit to the artists and writers who inhabit this town, known both on and off season as an art and writing colony. His book treats the locals with respect. Provincetown has become rather well known as a "gay Mecca." Cunningham certainly makes mention of the many aspects of this town that are part of a gay culture, but Cunningham writes in such a way that the entire Provincetown community-locals, gays and straights, artists, writers, business people, and tourists, all make Provincetown the beautiful, somewhat quirky, but interestingly cohesive community it is today.

People who love Cape Cod will enjoy this book. Those who have visited the town will have a greater appreciation of the community after reading this book. Tourists will find the book a nice memory of a unique town. Provincetown visitors who are less than fans may find a new appreciation for the town and will once again struggle with the transportation woes of the town.

"A Walk Through Provincetown" is not your typical travel guide. Cunningham was invited to contribute to a series of travel books and this is his unique and inspiring contribution. It's a one man journey across a town that he first came to over twenty years ago. Cunningham has given us an interesting combination of historical facts and personal reflections. He describes Provincetown's cultural interests, its shops, bars, street life, heritage, gay cruising areas, and its historical sites.

Cunningham presents a very personal view of Provincetown, one that is filled with wonder, joy, and a deep love of this town. He always writes beautifully, and this book includes poems and prose passages from many of Provincetown's other distinguished writers. This book is a pleasure to read for anyone who cares about this very special place, and for those not familiar with the town, a way to learn about it from someone who cares. This is an elegant personal tour of a town that has always been rich in diversity. Hopefully, it will remain that way for this generation and generations to come. Cunningham has made a great contribution in furthering that goal. A wonderful book!

Joe Hanssen

Michael Cunningham graces one of his favorite places on earth, Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod's hook, with his wonderful, almost poetic prose. He takes us with him as he introduces us to the town's characters both past and present, to the beaches, the dunes, both ends of town, the nightspots, and everything in between.
A treat.

"A Walk Through Provincetown" is not your typical travel guide. Cunningham was invited to contribute to a series of travel books and this is his unique and inspiring contribution. It's a one man journey across a town that he first came to over twenty years ago. Cunningham has given us an interesting combination of historical facts and personal reflections. He describes Provincetown's cultural interests, its shops, bars, street life, heritage, gay cruising areas, and its historical sites.

Cunningham presents a very personal view of Provincetown, one that is filled with wonder, joy, and a deep love of this town. He always writes beautifully, and this book includes poems and prose passages from many of Provincetown's other distinguished writers. This book is a pleasure to read for anyone who cares about this very special place, and for those not familiar with the town, a way to learn about it from someone who cares. This is an elegant personal tour of a town that has always been rich in diversity. Hopefully, it will remain that way for this generation and generations to come. Cunningham has made a great contribution in furthering that goal. A wonderful book!

Joe Hanssen

This slight book reads like a leisurely travel article from a magazine that offers good wine with the article. Cunningham gets the facts and history of Provincetown straight but he adds to his narrative his personal anecdotes. This is what wonderful writing is: a perfect blend of the factual and the personal. Having lived in this place that is heaven on earth---Provincetown---I was touched deeply by this little book. Many times while reading it and certainly when I finished I wished I could leave cloudy Los Angeles for the golden perfect light of Cape Cod. Bravo, Mr. Cunningham, for another lovely piece of writing.

On Cape Cod reading Michael Cunningham's LAND'S END: A Walk in Provincetown... The "walk" is not to be taken too literally. This is a book of colors and smells and seasons, mood, and memory as much as history and geography. To begin, Provincetown is that sandy arm of land on the east end of Massachusetts, as if the state was flexing its muscle like a bodybuilder. P-Town is the endpoint, a clenched fist - a place and an attitude. Cunningham gives us a quick sketch of Provincetown's early history where Pilgrims first landed in 1620 (sorry Plymouth), then as a whaling-port, the appearance of Portuguese fishermen, as an artist colony, and now a summer tourist destination. Its natural history of flora and fauna is not overlooked. But this is not Cunningham's main point. Provincetown is a "sanctuary" for eccentrics and visionaries. Art and artists abound. And public displays of affection by gays and lesbians on the narrow, quirky, little town streets are the signature experience for today's visitor. Moneyed tourists from the city, drag queens on roller-blades touting their revues, college girls with perfect midriffs, he and she lesbians arm-in-arm, wizened eccentrics all crowd down Commercial Street. Add-in an annual religious procession to bless the fishermen's fleet, and you've got material for a Fellini movie (for people who still think about Fellini). People-watching is not the only form of entertainment in Provincetown. What should be said is that high energy drag queens that sing and dance in cramped venues like The Post Office Cafe' or Steve's Alibi are very talented and great, sweaty fun. Cunningham has written the kind of book where you have favorite sentences. You can't say that about Fodor's. For brevity, some of mine are on page 54. The publisher's book jacket indicates this offering is to be followed by other 'journeys'. Let's hope the series tries to capture the mystery of special travel locations as does LAND'S END. There is a place in travel literature for slim, easily stow-able guides to the atmosphere of unique places. I recommend Crown Journeys find a similarly gifted writer to take on another disorienting "zero ground" location - Death Valley.

While visiting my friend in Truro, she handed me Land's End and said that it was an incredible read that she gave to every one of her friends. I immediately took it with me to read on Herring Cove and Race Point beaches, reading about the very images before me, and I found myself comparing them- spot on- then so transfixed by the very images that I was nearly hypnotized. Ever afterward, in difficult times in my life, I have recalled his words, which had the power to put me right back there, transfixed by his imagery, right onto that same beach, seeing those images. I recommend that you buy several copies, if you have Cape Cod loving friends or those who simply love the sea, the natural landscape, or just being transported to a lovely place via this wonderful read. Cunningham's travelogue celebrates the waxing and waning of the summer light, the Provincetown crowds, and the ever-changing shoreline. His inclusion of such authentic details as the muttering man in the plaid shirt (we have seen him several times) is so accurate, that reading it put me right there in the heart of P'town in a second. I have read excerpts from Land's End to my middle and high school English students, most of whom have been to Cape Cod, and they hang on Cunningham's every word.This book rarely sits on my shelf, but when it does, it sits next to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Thank you, Michael.

The statement "Books can take you to places you've never been or travel to places you'll never be able to go" is definitely true of this book. It transports you to another place, to one man's observations of a town where he has grown to become a member of its community. I bought the book because it was Michael Cunningham, but this is a very different, more travel oriented, book than I was expecting. Not the normal genre for Michael, but definitely well written and beautiful.

In this little volume Cunningham is able to capture the essence of Provincetown which is no mean feat because it is probably the most idiosyncratic and elusive town to encapsulate in the United States. He uses poetic prose and quotes some poems in his search for evoking the essential nature of the place.
Before World War II my family brought me to the town on day trips. We would drive from Springfield, Mass. to Boston and then take the ferry across to this end-of-the world place. In 1962 I made my first visit as an adult and then became a very frequent visitor often staying for weeks at a time. Between 1970 and 1980 I owned a house and cottage there with a dear friend, and we rented out four units. The winters in P'Town are dreary and nasty, and I never spent a winter there, although I've been there every month of the year. In summers the 4,000 resident population swells to about 40,000.
By carefully selecting details and lifestyles, Cunningham is able to paint a picture of the sexual, artistic, literary, and social strands of this bohemian town. Gays and lesbians form an important element in the town. A great many famous writers and visual artists made the town their home. It has one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, and the main drag, Commercial Street goes on for three miles along the waterfront.
This book is a very personal account by a gay man. Because he is able to weave his own experiences into the narrative, the book becomes much more meaningful and a joy for P'Towners to read. People and places that I have saved and savored in my memory pop out as he tells this story. This book catches the look, the spirit, the personality, and the soul of America's most unique town, my beloved Provincetown. I too have spread the ashes of a loved one closeby the place where Cunningham scattered ashes of a close friend.