Book - The Country of the Pointed Firs

THE COUNTRY OF THE POINTED FIRS

 by Sarah Orne Jewett 

First published in 1896, these stories are set in a New England fishing village that has seen better times. A summer visitor shares her observations about the people and place as she comes to know and love them. 

From the book jacket - “Set in a small, coastal town in Maine, this enduring sequence of intimate stories has assumed its rightful place in the pantheon of American classics. First published in 1896, it is as much a series of small, beautifully rendered sketches as a sustained narrative, perfectly evoking the inexorable decline of coastal New England after the Civil War. …….Sarah Orne Jewett’s vision was of a gentle and generous people on a rugged and unforgiving coast, of New England character and characters limned in colors of high summer and blue skies.” 

From book jacket - the people of Dunner’s Landing – “wise herbalist Mrs. Todd, the independent Mrs. Blackett of Green Island, the abandoned and reclusive Joanna. And then the occasional men appear, their conspicuous absence from these tales quietly symbolizing the abandoned coastline, the population depleted by a generation favoring the bustle of nearby cities and inland towns. The small vignettes that fuse so beautifully to comprise the country of the pointed first LINGER LONG AFTER THE BOOK IS CLOSED. The black-and-white pencil drawings by Douglas Alvor are nothing short of spectacular. Closely observed, carefully rendered, and modeled from real ‘Mainers,’ they possess all of the haunting serenity of Jewett’s prose.” … Jewett writes with “compassion and delicacy.” 

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jht's comments - I loved this book and didn't want it to end. If you read it, try to get a copy with illustrations by Douglas Alvord (1991 edition from Godine). His pencil drawings match the serenity of Jewett's writing. The artist captured the peace and strength of the people.

The whole book, writing as well as the illustrations, gave me a feeling of peace. I can't point to specific characters or details that resulted in that feeling, it was something about the whole book. I felt good reading it and I feel good thinking about it after reading it. 

  

from the foreword - xvi – “It is a finely drawn portrait of a time, a place, and a community of mostly elderly men and women whose lives have been shaped by their rural experience. The way they cope with life is not so much exceptional as resolute, and what evolves is a deeply sympathetic portrayal of a culture very much in tune with and influenced by the rugged landscape to which it is so firmly attached. ……… Jewett embodies storytelling in the best sense. We can enjoy the imagery, the gentle humor, the emotions of those rural lives, and yet come away with a sense that we have left their dignity intact – we have not pried so deeply as to offend.” 

jht - I like that approach to story telling - tell stories in a way that leaves people's dignity intact; don't offend by prying too deeply.

I read this book right after Alexandra Fuller’s “Leaving Before the Rains Come.” There couldn’t have been a greater contrast between people and their approaches to life. Serenity is not associated with Fuller or her writing. 

Our Floyd ancestors lived in Maine during this time period and earlier. I wonder if they were like any of the characters in Jewett's stories. Were they at peace with themselves, their lives, and their places?

Jewett's description of the way people dealt with declining industry was in great contrast to the consequences of declining industry of West Virginia towns described in Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle" which I recently read.

 reviews on goodreads.com