The Last American Man - Elizabeth Gilbert

I've had this book on my TBR for a few years because I'd read the author's book "Eat, Pray, Love"  back in 2007 and in January this year I read her book of short stories , so this completes her writing for me.  

This is the story of Eustace Conway, a man she describes as "the last American Man".  She glorifies his self-sufficient, back to nature ethic and survivalist skills from the time he was a child up until his private acreage on Turtle Island in North Carolina where he tries to teach others to get back to Nature.  He's stubbornly independent and can't understand why he can't find the perfect mate in life, burning through numerous relationships. At the root of his story is a domineering, unforgiving, controlling father whose approval he'll never obtain.  And that's the sad ending to the tale - the last American male is broken, disheartened and unloved. 

Postscript: I looked up Eustace on the internet and found he had was on the Mountain Men TV show so he eventually made lemonade out of lemons.

Published: 2002  Read: August 2024  Genre: Biography

The Eighth Moon -Jennifer Kabat

 Sub-title: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebelling

This was a different kind of story.  The author moves to the Catskills to escape the chaos of modern life and follow her husband's job.  She loses a parent and they struggle to build their home.  But she finds friends and alliances in the mountains and a history that she weaves into the story to illuminate the present.  She discovers the history of the "anti-rent" wars from the 1840's, where tenant farmers rebelled against the rich, urban landowners who were increasing their rent until they could foreclose. It was a different way of sharing a historical period. 

Quote:  "Anger, I read, makes pain more intense and harder to treat.  Alleviating it requires more pain medication, more opioids, but chronic pain can also cause anger.  Anger helps people feel in control."

Published:  2024  Read: August 2024  Genre: Memoir