Siesta Lane: One Cabin, No Running Water, and a Year Living Green [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Amy Minato (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2009

A poet at heart, Amy Minato rejects her life of consumption in Chicago to go back to nature—specifically, to a commune in Oregon, where she rediscovers herself. 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When the urban bustle of Eugene, Ore., got to be too much, poet Minato (The Wider Lens) moved to a woodsy cabin on a commune and absorbed a year's worth of material for this uneven collection of essays and poems. Simplifying her life in the rustic surroundings, she learned that it is freeing to emerge, even unwillingly, from the clutch of possessions. A decomposing raccoon attuned her to the realities of life and death, chopping wood taught her patience, and snails reminded her to slow down. Minato's lyrical prose tosses off beguiling evocations of the landscape and flora around her (The pheasants come out of the grass like puffs of smoke) in almost every line. Unfortunately, her belletristic pensées can seem precious (What is lost when I deny myself cloud-gazing?) and her denunciations of consumer society sound both strident and shallow (Why must there be 30 kinds of cereal?... Every minuscule decision takes time and energy, takes me that much further away from my writing, the land, the people I love and my connection with everything deeper). There is finely wrought nature writing here, but pat assumptions about rural authenticity and the corruptions of society make Minato's year on the land seem curiously unexamined. Photos. (Jan.)
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Review

A restless city poet recounts her experiment with country living.

The idea to swim against the “consumptive current” and move west came to Minato (The Wider Lens, 2004) during a Chicago traffic jam. Increasingly bothered by the global impact her metropolitan existence was having on the environment, the poet packed up and headed to Oregon for graduate school. But after eight years, even Eugene proved too urban for her, and she moved again, this time to a ten-square-foot cabin that was part of an eight-acre commune on Siesta Lane in the relative wilds of Rainbow Valley, Ore. Her memoir, a veritable menagerie of thoughts, observations, photos, poems and lovely pen-and-ink drawings by Muir, is the result of Minato’s year or so away, where she discovered as much about herself as the wonders of nature. “Not so simple—simple living,” she realized early on. Characterizing each of her fellow Siesta Lane residents, the author doesn’t neglect herself, saying she’s a “single woman with ninety-eight part-time jobs trying to figure out how she connects to the greater forces of the universe and to the tiny earwigs that hide in the curled-up seed heads of Queen Anne’s lace.” Part of this volume’s charm lies in its somewhat fractured composition, which mirrors the author’s state of mind during this transitional period. Short chapters hop from “Incubation” to “Freaks” to “July” to “The Garden,” while loosely conveying the sense of time’s passage as Minato adjusted to her rustic domestic situation. Living without many modern conveniences—for example, only the commune’s main building had a kitchen and running water—led her to provocative conclusions: “For us it appears to primarily be the mind that evolves, and we then cater our surroundings to our weakening bodies.” She took some radical actions as well, such as getting rid of her cat after he brought home one too many birds.

An evocative record of a year in the woods and an interesting study in enacting one’s beliefs.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (January 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602393281
• ISBN-13: 978-1602393288
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Walden Had Been Written by a Woman...., August 3, 2009

By 

sarah (Boston, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Siesta Lane: One Cabin, No Running Water, and a Year Living Green (Hardcover)

I agree with the other reviewers that this is a very nice read, poetic and compelling. But what stayed with me were the good questions the author asks about how all of us are living. Her experiment took her far enough off the beaten path for an interesting perspective, but not so far that the questions (and occasional answers) don't apply to the lives that we all -- including the author at the end of the experiment -- lead. The book is honest, but not self-righteous, exploring relationships, not proclaiming absolutes. I found myself thinking that Siesta Lane sounded like Walden would have if it had been written by a woman.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Siesta Lane, November 30, 2009

By 

Carol A. Hazzard (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Siesta Lane: One Cabin, No Running Water, and a Year Living Green (Hardcover)

This is a delightful and thought-provoking book. It is a reflection of the urge many of us have to simplify our lives. Minato's artist's eye and writing skills make this book not only readable, but also worth reading again. Her narrative explores her experiences connecting with herself as well as discovering the beauty and sanctity of nature.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic yet real, June 1, 2009

By 

Just_Jp (Tigard, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Siesta Lane: One Cabin, No Running Water, and a Year Living Green (Hardcover)

What a beautiful story. The author has such talent in relating what could be seen as mundane with poetic imagery while pulling me along with an engrossing narrative. I hope there is more to come!