Customer Reviews

Man Bites Log: The Unlikely Adventures of a City Guy in the Woods

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Max Alexander ran a big risk with his book "Man Bites Log". Having recently moved to Maine from "Outastate", his comments on the locals and their scene could have alienated him beyond the pale.

As one of his subjects in this work, I was apprehensive, to say the least, when the book came out. Instead, I found a totally honest and somewhat funny approach to the life up here in the woods. Max captured the flavor and feel of our community, warts and all, and as a good reporter, he got it right. His comments on the actual events surrounding our neighbors are refreshing and honest. Even if you don't agree with his political views, he lays it all out as it is, and none of this is made up. Life can be hard but the humor he finds in these events is precious to those of us who lived through it all.

I look forward to the sequel!

I highly recommend this book, especially if you are contemplating moving to the woods.

I loved this book. Alexander is a great writer. His descriptions of the characters were so vivid that I actually felt like I could see them. Like the french carpentaire - I could just see him running circles around Alexander in a whirlwind of sawing, bracing, hefting, hammering, and chainsawing. And a lot of the stories were so funny, I laughed outloud many times - to the annoyance of my husband (who is now reading the book by the way.)

The other thing I liked about this book is that Alexander manages to get a little social commentary in - his thoughts about the horribleness of trailers and why there couldn't be a nicer looking, less toxic way for people to get a low cost home or the ludicriousness of asking people to go into debt for the sake of patriotism are questions I would like to see asked more often.

I can't say that every single story in this book was a gem - but most of them were really great. I highly recommend this book.

One Man's Meat may well have been a log, at least judging from a back-to-back reading of E.B. White's "One Man's Meat" and Max Alexander's "Man Bites Log". The prime difference lies in the time frame: Mr. White writing from a pre and WWII time frame and Mr. Alexander from a turn of the century (21st). Having shared the same back roads and shopping experiences with Alexander, I find his thoughts on the contrasts of urban and rural lifestyles to be honest and witty to say the least. Maine is "The Way Life Should Be" and to those of us who make this state our home, it is the way life is. Alexander captures the heartiness and joy of this lifestyle in his collection of essays. What E.B. White gave to our fathers and mothers, Max Alexander deals up fresh for a new generation that holds close to the values of former times. Thank you Max, for a work well done.

It's a one-in-a-million person who will chuck a high-powered city job, try to make it in a rural setting, and write a book about it. Given the population of the USA, this means that there are hundreds of those books by now, crammed with condescending character studies and unfunny "revelations" about how hard it is to get along without imported wheatgrass juice on the corner.

THIS book, however, is a gem.

Max Alexander is a hard worker, an honest guy, and nobody's rube. His observations aren't candy-coated, his jokes are pointed and funny, and he isn't afraid to take sides. In particular, his town's battle to keep a gravel mine and asphalt plant away is a nuanced and revealing portrait of small-town politics. But it's not an "aww shucks" portrait; asses are kicked. Max cares about his family, cares about his land, and cares about creating a balanced life, and this book is a good, resonant read for cubicle-dwellers and farm-dwellers alike.

Max Alexander is an insightful writer. And "Man Bites Log" is an intelligent book. It is not a how-to book for anyone interested in looking for a country house. The book offers first hand experiences of adapting to country life, and social conflicts between newcomers and farmers who have been living in Maines for generations. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading.

The plain spoken and funny observations of a back-to-the-land author on the rural life in cental Maine. His reflections on the "Mainers" and those "from away" that now populate this area in quiet simplicity are very familiar. I too moved to Maine from Chicago about 3 years ago to return to a more genuine way of life. I have come to appreciate this way of life and it's characters.
The author has a very comfortable and familiar way of speaking to the reader. I highly recommend this book.

I love this book. I started reading it on a Friday evening and finished it Saturday. Alexander sets out to tell the truth about his move from Manhattan to Maine, and he succeeds. The book's narrative skips along, propelled by wonderful renderings of men and women and their moods, as well as animals, places and objects. Alexander also offers a moving view of his own ethical and emotional landscape. I thought of Man Bites Log the other day when I read something by Martin Amis, who writes the following in a footnote somewhere: "When I read someone's prose, I reckon to get a sense of their moral life." Alexander offers us a sense of his moral life, and a sense of the lives of his neighbors. It's not always a pretty picture, but it's a beautiful story.

What a total disapointment. I too, as another said, was very excited when this book came, only to be horribly disapointed at the arrogance of the author and constant insults about Maine rural folk. Yes, he does say some nice things about a few people, but I felt it was over shadowed by his constant disrespectful comments and uninteresting babble about his work, name dropping, and oddly at the end of a few chapters...dates people die. Was this an attempt at drama? Weak!

If you're looking for a descriptive detail of a city person's move to rural Maine to live off the land, this isn't it! Mostly whining, and small mentions of farm work (dealing with snow, two greenhouse panels take to the wind in a storm, burning brush, and small thoughts chickens which leads to further babble on meat eating vs. vegetarianism. He poo poo's vegetarianism with false facts. Interesting to note, his wife is supposed to teach at a Waldorf School, and I guess isn't familiar with the fact that Rudolph Steiner highly recommended a vegetarian diet, though the Alexander's kid inhales burgers. Go figure.) He drones on for pages about giving up a family dog...the scratches on the wood floors apparently bother him enough to give the dog to friends. *YAWN* He loves to mention the health problems, bad diet, and lack of dentist visits of Maine Natives which is beyond irritating. I'm certain most locals would love to see him take his pompous attitude right back to Manhattan along with the rest of him.

I'm not sure what the point of writing this piece of trash was. ??? Adventures of a city guy in the woods? Does he mean his whining to get DSL, his search for a good snow blower, efforts to get vehicles unstuck from the snow/mud, or the blather about his writing articles?

This book was a waste of money and time. Boooooo!

I was really excited when this book arrived. I was looking forward to the trials and tribulations from a family that goes through a major life change.

Some of that came through but what ruined this book for me was Mr Alexander's inability to keep his personal political views out of the text.

When discussing eating his Guinea Hens in Chapter 50, he proclaims " The French, as many celebrities but few Republicans grasp, were right as usual".

He slanders the President in Chapter 55. He also see fit to dislike airlines (though he flys quite frequently, and he even calls Chef Emeril a "snakeoil" salesman.

What we have here is a hypocrite. He hates progress, except when it suits him (his DSL line) and wants to protect nature but never worried about all the trees that died while he was an executive for 2 major American magazines which gave him the money to pursue his so called simple life.

I'm not even a Republican, but I did not want to read a polictal commentary. I can get lots of that crap elsewhere.

I feel he only used this book to push his own personal agenda.