Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

 

 

I bought Refuge for a nonfiction class at UVU (same class where I read An Elemental Thing), but it ended up not being read in class, and it took me until now to read it. Refuge is Terry Tempest Williams' female family history told alongside the story of The Great Salt Lake and her migratory birds. 

 

It was really hard for me to get into the novel. Chapters opened with different numbers, water level, number of birds, etc. Numbers are hard for me to comprehend, so the significance of the numbers at the beginning of each chapter was missed by me. It also felt like things weren't exactly in order, which was hard for me to understand. It was unclear when things were happening in the timeline. I also felt that Refuge has a very narrow demographic as to who would be most drawn to it. I know it's not something I would pick up off a shelf and take home myself. I give it 3 stars.

Mockingbird

I picked up Mockingbird by Charles J Shields because of my deep, undying love for To Kill a Mockingbird and Harper Lee.  I was sorely disappointed, and I'm sure you will be too.  It basically states all the connections (which I already knew) between Harper Lee and Scout.  Basically To Kill a Mockingbird is like her life. Scout's friend Dil is Harper Lee's friend, and fellow author, Truman Capote. The novel is basically a fictionalization of her life.  Even the Radleys were based on a real family, which I didn't know, so that part was interesting, but it dragged on for ever and ever! There was a nice bit about how Lee worked with Capote on In Cold Blood, which I also didn't know about, but again, my! Shields drags on!

Another issue I had with Mockingbird was that Shields didn't have Lee's input or permission or approval or anything to write about her life! The novel had no new information from Shields; it was more like a thesis paper with too much research.  It was long and boring and I felt like there was no point to reading, and there is certainly no point in me recommending this novel to you!

Read my post on To Kill a Mockinbird here: http://jaymesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/to-kill-mockingbird.html