A Long Way from Paris eBook EC Murray
Download As PDF : A Long Way from Paris eBook EC Murray 
NAMED A KIRKUS BEST BOOKS OF 2014 In this searing story of transformation, meshed with reflection, romance, and mystery, Elizabeth herds goats during roaring blizzards in the mountains of Southern France. "Murray writes with grace, complexity, and humor...a rare balance of light and darkness..readers will weep...and they will laugh.." Kirkus. Set in 1980, Elizabeth carves out a life without heat, running water, or even a good grasp of French. Far from her younger days as a New England preppie and Oregon hippie, the challenges of farm work daunt her. She befriends an Australian shepherd, reflects on her spirituality, and muses on the man she left behind. Elizabeth grows stronger as she faces self-doubt while still maintaining her humor. She ekes fun where she can. When tragedy strikes Elizabeth’s adopted family, she summons belief in herself and becomes the leader they desperately need. "Riveting." Scott Driscoll, University of Washington KIRKUS BEST BOOKS of 2014 Cited as New and Noteworthy by Seattle Times. Praised by Publishers Weekly.
A Long Way from Paris eBook EC Murray
Murray's book about a young American woman in the 1980's who imagines living a literary life in Paris but instead finds herself as a goatherd in the rural South of France is anything but bucolic. It's a memoir that reads like a novel. There's love, lust, drugs, farm chores, severe weather, death, (suicide or murder?), and a cast of characters including the farm animals, animals the author named, that I grew to care about. The plot is slim but the portrayal of France and America in the 1980's, the musings, humor and wisdom of the author combined with knowing the craft of writing made this book feel like going on a retreat. And, I didn't have to endure the hardships Murray did to reap the benefits of her experience.Product details
|
Tags : Buy A Long Way from Paris: Read 107 Books Reviews - Amazon.com,ebook,E.C. Murray,A Long Way from Paris,The Writers Connection,Travel Europe France,Biography & Autobiography Adventurers & Explorers
People also read other books :
- Perfectly Incorrect Why The Common Core Is Psychologically And Cognitively Unsound eBook Terry Marselle
- The Search For My Inner "I" Joseph W Macy 9781483679297 Books
- The Quadity Jacob I Pfeiffer 9780692818305 Books
- The Quadity Jacob I Pfeiffer 9780692818305 Books
- Perfectly Incorrect Why The Common Core Is Psychologically And Cognitively Unsound eBook Terry Marselle
A Long Way from Paris eBook EC Murray Reviews
I was fascinated with E.C. Murray’s remarkable account of her 80s journey into Languedoc and the mountainous Cévennes in the south of France, herding goats and living with the salt of the earth; a starkly beautiful way of life that proved challenging and amazing to the author’s American roots. Poignant, humorous, and at time brutally honest in self-reflection, Murray’s memoir is triumph of the human spirit, revealing a young woman’s ability to develop a “stick to it” kind of determination that served her well later in life. I highly recommend reading A Long Way From Paris!
This was an interesting memoir about the approximately eight months in the 1980s a 26 year old American girl spent at a remote French homestead farm when she was hired to herd the family’s goats. She lived with the family and grew close to each of them and to neighbors and the other young person hired to also herd the goats. He was 17 and from Australia. Murray had poor French skills and the family knew no English, and she knew nothing about goats or other farm animals, so there was a steep learning curve. In winter if the wood stove fire went out overnight, they could see their breath in the kitchen since it would reach freezing. Murray learned a lot, contributed a lot including making goat cheese and milking goats and the cow, helping the animals give birth, etc. As planned she and the other goat herd left to travel in the spring, and over the years she went back to visit the farm. Things changed on the farm, and Murray changed and she never lived in a city again, since country life allowed her soul to breath.
As a former expat although of somewhat more recent vintage, I could really relate to this book, although my life was not as difficult (I was in Rome). But there is nothing like the expat experience to make you question how you arrived and why you began the journey. And what you will gain from life a long way from home. Ms. Murray was indeed a very long way from Paris, and from her sheltered childhood and fraught college years. And she used her time with goats to not only care for them and the strange family she lived with but to learn how to care for herself - physically and mentally.
It is hard to believe that France (and by extension many other rural spots in Europe) were are isolated as depicted, but I know from my own experience it is true. But I wasn't surprised to learn in the afterward that the farm had been turned into a tourist stop. Such changes that have swept over backwaters with the advent of mass tourism and city dwellers searching for unique experiences while congratulating themselves that they don't have to live that way. I doubt I would have been tough enough to survive a winter in the wilds of Languedoc. Definitely a good read for those of us who didn't dare to do something that challenging but always wished we had.
I could not put this book down. The first scene pulled me in, and although I had no idea where the story would take me, I was in for the ride! The author skillfully wove together her story of becoming an unlikely goatherd, with flashbacks to key events that brought her to that place in her life where she had to decide who she was and what to do next. We witnessed the protagonist's growth as she learned she could accomplish things neither she nor her family would have never imagined. We learn a great deal about Languedoc at a certain time and place. The author brings all of the characters to life. I wanted the story to continue! I hope there is a sequel. Bravo!
This memoir of Elizabeth Corcoran's time of goatherding in rural France was mostly a delight to read. It's 1980, and the author is an offbeat, inexperienced young woman reeling from a relationship with an alcoholic boyfriend. She stumbles into the goatherding job through a relative who lives in the country. Knowing nothing about animals, knowing very little French even, she immerses herself in the flow of life there. The family she's living with are quite neurotic and strange, though one senses throughout that Elizabeth's perceptions are a little off-kilter, too. I was particularly struck by her relationship with the mother of the household, Camilla, and how Camilla effortlessly keeps her secrets while this young American is observing her every day, trying to peek beneath the veil. (Elizabeth's goatherding partner is a young Australian guy who picks up more of what's going on in the family but is far less interested in the emotional subtexts.)
Ultimately, it's quite poignant. Relationships are intense yet don't go as planned; Elizabeth grows stronger physically and emotionally but there is still a sense of sadness as we put the book down, especially as we find out what happened to two of the male characters she's written about in depth. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of living in this bare-bones household, constantly at the mercy of the weather, and yet enjoying exquisite gourmet meals and wine (so French!).
I'm afraid the book had sloppy copyediting, though. I particularly cringed at "au pere" for "au pair," and had a hard time turning off my proofer's eye throughout. The writing was strong, but it's a shame the book didn't go through one more editorial pass. (This is a general problem with small presses nowadays, I've noticed.) I thought I would mention it so that at least the "au pere" error could be fixed )
Murray's book about a young American woman in the 1980's who imagines living a literary life in Paris but instead finds herself as a goatherd in the rural South of France is anything but bucolic. It's a memoir that reads like a novel. There's love, lust, drugs, farm chores, severe weather, death, (suicide or murder?), and a cast of characters including the farm animals, animals the author named, that I grew to care about. The plot is slim but the portrayal of France and America in the 1980's, the musings, humor and wisdom of the author combined with knowing the craft of writing made this book feel like going on a retreat. And, I didn't have to endure the hardships Murray did to reap the benefits of her experience.
0 Response to "[JAL]∎ PDF A Long Way from Paris eBook EC Murray"
Post a Comment