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John Lewis-Stempel
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Book
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Publisher | Black Swan | ||
ISBN | 978-055277460 | ||
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Reviewer
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Ann
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Synopsis
The Wild Life" is John Lewis-Stempel's account of twelve months eating only food shot, caught or foraged from the fields, hedges, and brooks of his forty-acre farm. Nothing from a shop and nothing raised from agriculture. Could it even be done? We witness the season-by-season drama as the author survives on Nature's larder, trains Edith, a reluctant gundog, and conjures new recipes. And, above all, we see him get closer to Nature. Because, after all, you're never closer to Nature than when you're trying to kill it or pick it. Lyrical, observant and mordantly funny, "The Wild Life" is an extraordinary celebration of our natural heritage, and a testament to the importance of getting back to one's roots - spiritually and practically.
Review
This seasonal account of living off the land in an idyllic setting should have been good, but didn't work for me. Despite the graphic descriptions of the countryside, weather, plants and animals and the occasional glimpses of wry humour, apart from one section where the author tells of his grandfather and attempts to explain his attachment to that particular part of the land, I wasn't connected to the tale. This was a disappointment as having spent my childhood in the country and recently come to know this lovely area of Herefordshire, I expected to become totally engrossed.
Questions kept arising - what did his wife and family think of his voyage of self-discovery ? How did they all cope in this partially rebuilt farmhouse ? His recipes sounded interesting but for accurate identification one would need a better botanical description than given in the book. I appreciate it's not a manual for self-sufficiency, but neither was it, I felt, a complete account of his life for that year.
It felt remote, selective and slightly self-indulgent. The author says he learned much about himself and his relationship with the land but he didn't manage to convey it convincingly to me. Sorry !
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