Customer Reviews

An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, And the Fight for Seadrift, Texas

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I opened ths book unenthusiastically, expecting an excess of legal details, numbers, dates, and names which would confuse me. While what I had heard about Diane Wilson certainly sounded like a great story- that of a small-town woman who turns into a national activism- I was doubtful that the book would really draw me in.

Boy was I mistaken! Wilson's writing is colloquial, almost chit-chatty. While sometimes this tone can produce poor writing, in Wilson's case it simply draws us into her personality, sharing details completely relavant to her transformation from a shrimp-farmer to an anti-corporation environmental activist.

This book inspires interest not only in Wilson's personal story, but in the broader context of industrial pollution, corporate whistle-blowers, and how activism can really make a difference.

Wilson had me rooting for her side from page one of this book, and her writing had me enthralled by the end. I highly recommend this book to anyone, even if you are not interested at first glance.

I started reading this book anticipating that I would have a hard time staying interested. I have to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised by the way the pages flew by and how easy it was to become engrossed in every single page, in fact it went by too quick and I was very disappointed to finish it so quickly. I am an avid reader and have never read anything like Wilson's book before, it was extremely funny and caught myself laughing out loud more than once or twice!

Diane has an uncanny talent as a storyteller. This is so much more than what I expected, I would highly encourage anyone to read it, it's engrossing, incredibly written and one of the best books I've read this year.

I must admitt, I expected this true story to be a little over my head with all the talk of permits, politics and pollutants, but Diane Wilson can really pull you in. The book immidiatly caught my attention and wouldn't let my put it down. Living on the Gulf Coast, I did not realize the stronghold that one company can have over a community. Diane has really brought to life the here strugle for clean bays in Texas. A must read for all, especially if you are in a community with chemical plants and refineries.

Comes across like a mix of Civil Action, Erin Brocovitch, and Perfect Storm. If you like great, original writing; nervy characters and grassroots politics; and the tang of salt air and shrimp boating, you're in for a treat and an eco-inspriation. Hillary Swank: option this property!

Reasonably speaking, "Unreasonable Woman" is the most inspiring and inspired book I've read all year.

In this true life story, which represents yet another publishing coup by Vermont independent Chelsea Green Press ([...]), Diane Wilson - working class shrimp boat captain and mother of five - recounts the often-harrowing account of her five year fight to hold corporate polluter Formosa Plastics to a "zero emissions" policy for their insidious (but all too typical) waste disposal methods in Wilson's town of Sea Drift, Texas.

And get this.

Wilson won.

How she defeated the machinations of one of the world' largest and most powerful industrial polluters is the subject of the book, which also offers honest insights into life in a southern seaside working class community from a woman's point of view, a community that I never knew existed (though the EPA ranks it as one of the most polluted counties in the country).

And who out there knows women can captain shrimp boats? Or understands that women actually can play characters other than vamps or victims? I've read books populated with women all my life, but until this real life story, I've never met a woman like Diane Wilson. In a literary world dripping with testosterone, car chases, and gun play, Wilson is no shrinking violet, no damsel in distress.

Exactly the opposite. She intuits her way through what becomes one of the most courageous struggles for justice I've read in a long while, challenging corporate control over our economic and political life with grit, good humor, and vernacular insights that, while uneven in some places, made me laugh and cry and cheer and buy copies of this book for friends and family.

She also, in the most wry and self-deprecating way imaginable, made most of the men in her life look like pantywaists by comparison.

Books like an "Unreasonable Woman" come along only rarely. Diane Wilson is a working class heroine with heart, an activist with the guts to do something about the problems confronting her. The world is a better place for having her and her story in it.

If you are not inspired after reading this book, it might be time to forgo reading altogether.

It took me about 2 weeks to read this book. Not because it was that bad . . .but because it was that good.

I wanted to experience every moment as Diane Wilson took on the mighty Formosa plastics giant, fought corruption all the way to Washington, went on hunger strikes, traveled 1/2 way around the world and finally made a significant dent in the pollution that was killing her beloved shrimping waters along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Diane Wilson made a difference. With this book, the world can now read about it . . . from her own pen, not ghost written and packaged for a "target market." Her voice is fresh, raw almost and it grabbed me from page 1 until the epilogue.

Kudos to Wilson. Wish there were more like her.

Enjoy!

A beautiful book, and for two reasons.

One is the language. Ms. Wilson writes as she speaks, as the people of the coast speak. As I spoke for many years. Most people would only see this kind of talk in William Faulkner's writing. He didn't make this form of English up. Thank you Mr. Publisher for not converting it to standard English. This gives a feeling that Ms. Wilson is actually writing this.

Second, is the story itself. This is what it takes, unfortunately, to get our Government to do what it is supposed to be doing. The encouraging point is that this is what one individual, one person can do to make matters better. Ms. Wilson has learned what one person can do. It takes courage, it takes persistence, and it takes a stick through to the end, a dedication that isn't common.

Thank you Ms. Wilson, we need more like you.

I might mention that if you do a Google search on Seadrift, Texas, you get a lot of web sites. None of them mention the polution problems from all the chemical companies.

This book is an absolute gem. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The author,a high school graduate and a shrimper with five children,catapulted herself into a world-famous environmental activist because of her love for the the Texas Gulf Coast bay beside which she grew up,once she realized the level of irresponsible pollution of the Bay resulting in illnesses, the death of dolphins, etc. The book reads like an adventure story and is definitely a page turner.

"An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas, by Diane Wilson is the story, told in the first person, of a fourth-generation shrimper from a tiny town in Calhoun County, who in the late 1980s challenged local chemical plants about their environmental practices. This book received a starred review from Booklist (September 1, 2005) and is a Fall Editors' Pick for Library Journal (September 1, 2005)."
Summary by South Texas Library System

What a pleasure to read this story of an amazing and heroic woman, giving it all to take down giants. Ms Wilson's Marquez-like writing style and choice of words leaves me breathless and imagining I'm there with her as her mission lays itself at her feet and she picks it up and takes it on. Bravo! An absolutely wonderful read.