Novelist and biographer Geoffrey Wolff has spent many summers in Maine--sailing its coastal waters, climbing its rocky peaks, and communing with its natives. Now, with the voice of a passionate insider, he brings readers into the heart of this striking region and explains what makes it unique. Starting with a gripping tale about being lost offshore in the fog with inadequate navigational aids, Wolff goes on to describe the coast's geological history and discovery by Europeans. He then turns a keen eye towards Mainers, their mores and peculiarities, and to the summer rusticators who for generations have invaded the stunning waterfronts. A section on boat building celebrates the extraordinary rescue of Maine's foremost craft; another on lobsters tells the rich story of the custom, taste, commerce, environmental conflict, and scientific mystery surrounding these critical crustaceans. Here is a true feast--travel literature at its best.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
June 15, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781426209079
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781426209079
- File size: 684 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 15, 2005
Biographer/novelist Wolff, who has spent over 30 years exploring Maine's coast and communities, begins his New England journey in high humor as he tells of Milton's magical land of Norumbega being confused, by 16th-century explorers, with the coast of Maine. Imaginations at the time ran riot and produced tales of incredible treasure, jewels, elephants, penguins, and flamingoes. In Maine? The silliness concludes with an account of a 20th-century German traveler who confused Bangor with San Francisco when he exited his cross-country flight during a fuel stop. Wolff's own acquaintance with coastal Maine begins in his teens and continues, after marriage, with a family misadventure sailing in the waters around Ragged Island. A fascinating pastiche of personal experiences, humorous anecdotes, and rich, historical detail, this workis not a travel guide but a book for armchair travelers, replete with information on Maine's lobster culture, ubiquitous foggy weather, and more. Recommended for regional libraries and those with large travel collections. -Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NVCopyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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June 1, 2005
Novelist and biographer Wolff is ultimately apologetic about this patchy little travelogue, confessing that, really, he covers only part of one edge of a state with at least three. He ignores Maine's borders with New Hampshire and two Canadian provinces, writing about only the middle of Maine's famously rock-bound seaboard, which is what he knows from years of coasting along it. No apology is necessary. Sure, he skips from history to memoir to reportage so abruptly that it nearly causes whiplash. On the other hand, this is all good stuff: the story of Maine's first, failed colony, founded in 1607; Wolff and his young family's frightening night at sea in deep fog; the ways of Maine's best boat restorer and proprietor of its most fabulous boatyard; the legends of the greatest potential environmental disasters averted in Maine since 1970; the seemingly perennial clashes between poor year-round Mainers and wealthy, often officious "rusticators" (e.g., the Cabots, John Travolta) from elsewhere. One wishes only that the book were even more chock-full of interest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)
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