Customer Reviews

We Were an Island: The Maine Life of Art and Nan Kellam

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

 

 

This is a beautiful book, almost like a small coffee table book; about a couple who were in love and wanted a simple life. It has numerous pictures of them, their island, house and surroundings. They purchased an island off the coast of Maine to achieve their solitude. Unlike others who do this, they did not fish, hunt or farm the land. They built a house that looked comfortable, but it lacked, electricity, running water and central heating. Even their boat was a dory, a row boat- no motor that they had to row, 4 miles to the mainland that they depended upon for their groceries.
The story is told not in first person, but is taken from Nan Kellam's journals, ledgers, books and notes that she made about their daily life. From these you can understand Nan and Art's love for each other, even if their motivations are not clear to you; as they weren't to many others. Peter Blanchard's affection for the island and the couple shine through in his descriptions and in the passages from Nan's writings. He covers their life before and their motivations. He is able to convey the growing warmth that their `neighbors' had for them and the assistance they gave to them.

There is some lacking in his explanations for the need to protect open space, as the Kellams grew to realize that they would want to do, for their island after they were gone. But perhaps if these books appeal to you enough to pick them up to read you have the inner wisdom of knowing why unspoiled land needs to be protected. It just would have been better if more of their motivations and that of the Nature Conservancy could have been conveyed to the reader.
Lovers of the outdoors, Maine, the sea, islands and of course a simpler life style would enjoy this book with its many pictures and maps.

This is a nice book, but hardly a "classic of Maine literature," as one blurb suggests. The problem is the subject couple, Art and Nan Kellam, really aren't all that interesting. They are eccentric in their love for each other and it is unusual, certainly, buying an island and living on it in Spartan conditions and with minimal interference from the outside world. Fair enough, there is merit in hearing about that. But the two points I believe most readers would be interested in are absent from the book. The first point was how the Kellams financed their life. They bought the 500+ acre island and effectively retired to it at age 38. How they managed that is never mentioned! (There is a bland note at the back mentioning a bank account from which they extracted money and received the occasional gift from Art's parents.) My guess is that many of the readers who would be drawn to this book are prone to dreams of turning their back on convention and living a self-sufficient life on the land; the biggest component of that--how to make a financial go of it--is sadly missing. They did not hunt or fish, and their garden was a mere supplement to the food they procured on the mainland. The second point is addressed directly--and with no great surprise, in hindsight--on the last page of the book. It mentions that the Kellams are not the Nearings (of subsistence farming fame) and had no ideological or philosophical reason for their turning their back on the world. They simply wanted a hermetic existence. Again, fair enough; but as such, there was no great emotional struggle, which is central to all great books. The narrative is pieced together based on sparse snippets from diaries. The vast majority of snippets are from the Kellams' first decade (of three) on the island. I would imagine that this form was taken because of the absence of that emotional/philosophical struggle in the diary entries themselves. Yes, it was a physical challenge at times, and perhaps even mental, but it was the same struggle over and over and there was no great "growth," except, perhaps, in their relationship and we get that second hand.

This is a beautiful, captivating story. Blanchard's prose is like poetry and he weaves in many allusions and literary references
that make this romance and adventure come alive. A perfect gift for the holidays or Valentines Day. If you have ever spent time on an island or wondered what it would be like to do so, this is a must read.

This book is pure magic. Beautifully written, with wonderfully evocative photographs, it tells the story of something we've all imagined--what would it be like to live on an island? A wonderful book to read and read again, a perfect gift for anyone who loves the New England coast. All the makings of a classic.

Since so much of Maine remains the way Thoreau found it, I often wonder about those who lived in these forests and on these islands before me. We Were an Island tells such a story in an amazing and interesting way. This mixture of journal entries, local history and wonderful photographs would engage any reader but especially those who enjoy biography and nature. Art and Nan were remarkable and well worth remembering for having celebrated and lived what is most vital and important in this life. The format (sort of a miniture coffee table book) adds to the pleasure of this outstanding creation. My only sadness came from learning that only deer and birds remain on the island now. Such an experiment in living should certainly have been repeated - I know I for one would volunteer to spend the rest of my days living in that fashion with my husband and sons.