A Line Made by Walking

Registered by BookBirds of Somewhere in the USA, -- Wild Released somewhere in USA -- USA on 8/12/2017
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by BookBirds from Somewhere in the USA, -- Wild Released somewhere in USA -- USA on Saturday, August 12, 2017
tbr

Journal Entry 2 by BookBirds at Somewhere in the USA, -- Wild Released somewhere in USA -- USA on Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Books about solitude are some of my favorites and really linger. I have an entire crazy list of those books. You don't want to see it. You really don't. And many of those seem like children's books, so I guess solitude has been one of my favorite themes from the beginning. Frankie is a 25 year old having a tough time with things and decides to live in her Grandma's bungalow a few years after she dies. She believes the solitude will heal her after feeling she has failed at being a genius artist. Maybe it's just that I'm about the same age as Frankie and Baume, but I love this book. I'd be a pal to Frankie if she'd let me. She mentions towards the end, reading a book she feels a kinship with, and I felt that here. A piece in The Guardian mentions the book "presents the reader with an exploration of the line between situational unhappiness and mental illness" and "whether her despair is a form of mental illness or of enlightenment" and I love that. Mainly, I appreciate when people appreciate things. And through Frankie's despair, she can still appreciate things like art and nature. A ton of art is mentioned here, for art lovers. Sometimes the little things are enough to get you through.

I could swear this book really takes some inspiration from Keri Hulme's 'The Bone People' and definitely Evie Wyld's 'All the Birds, Singing'. 'All the Birds, Singing' has really stuck with me and is the kind of book that grows greater in esteem the longer it stays with me. Written in the style of the short bursts of unconnected thought like Elizabeth Strout's 'Lucy Barton' but I liked that one less. I think it worked better here and I don't think Frankie's story could have been told any other way. The book doesn't have a "plot" and I like that. The book isn't dramatic and I love the subtle atmosphere. In another writer's hands, or another reader's this book could be a disaster but I think it's perfect.

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