Review: A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I try to describe this book singular words come to mind. Raw, sad, hopeless. It is written in a choppy sentenced word twisted sequence that took some time to get use to but I did eventually after a little rereading. I fell into its pattern and never looked back.
The lead character goes into a downward spiral during the book without support from family or friends as she tries to come to terms with her brother's brain tumor and eventual death.
More words come to mind such as hopelessness, lovelessness, lack of trust, and of course, guilt. Religious rigidity serves as a cruel paradox in the suffering of the lead nameless character in this sad story. Self inflicted pain serves as a temporary antidote to reality. But, it becomes too much. No one to trust, hope is a deadend, love is a single bond between brother and sister that leaves the sister alone and marooned without the hope of survival.
The story is gripping in its use of language and strong emotional upheaval. This is not for the light hearted. You will not read this and go away uneffected.

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Review: Running to the Fire: An American Missionary Comes of Age in Revolutionary Ethiopia

Running to the Fire: An American Missionary Comes of Age in Revolutionary Ethiopia by Tim Bascom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a well written and honest account of a high school age missionary kid in Ethiopia during its revolution in the 1970s. The author was frank about his moral and philosophical inquiries concerning spiritual, cultural, and political questions raised during that time of his life and even 50 years later. I found the book compelling and unique in that I have not read anything like it before.

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Day 1 and 2 Ghost Ranch. Trip through Kansas

Blog for Trip to New Mexico. 10/3/14 12:30 pm. Day 1 Heading south and then west. Southern Iowa is different from the northern part. Many hills and deep river valleys. It is definitely not as fallish with the majority of foliage still green yet starting to appear a little crispy. Lakes and rivers are full to capacity due to yesterdays rain. Big gusts of wind as we drive south. It is pushing us usually but occasionally we blow sideways as do others on the road. Pays to be alert. 610 miles 10:00. Day Two No pictures taken yesterday, even though we went through Wilson, Kansas, the Czech Capitol of Kansas and saw the worlds largest Czech egg. We passed many sorghum fields. We are in open country presently on the Santa Fe Trail. This morning we took in the historic marker of Pawnee Rock which is an unusual rock formation that signaled the half way point on the Santa Fe Trail from Independence, Missouri. Passed through a small town of Burdett, Kansas (population 237) that was the childhood home of Clyde Thombough, the astronomer who discovered Pluto. You may know or not that I met Clyde Thombough in 5th grade in my elementary school in Long Point, Il where he talked about Pluto and the discovery. I was gravely disappointed when they turned Pluto into a dwarf planet. But I digress. We stayed last night in a Days Inn motel. We had originally decided to tent camp on this trip. We packed food, tents, sleeping bags, etc. What we didn't count on was the of night low temperature of 35 degrees. We were not prepared for that. Therefore we stayed at a nondiscript motel. We ate at a Mexican Restaurant recommended by someone at the motel. It was packed with people and the food was good. They were also serving $1.00 margaritas. We did not indulge in more than one. Beersheba Passed a cowboy rounding up some cattle and a ditch full of large tumbleweed. Passed a prairie patch that was once the town of Beershiba that was founded by a group of Russian Jews. They could not make a go of it and it is now once again prairie. Used a roadside outhouse that was completely compostable. No odor. Why are there not more of these? It uses sawdust as an organic material to break down refuse. I was impressed.

Glacier Park-Day 7

We are currently on our way home on I-90 with 700 miles to go on it.  We stayed last night in Buffalo, Wyoming with the Bighorn Mountains in the distance.  Antelope are on the nearby hills basking in the morning sun.  We got going early this morning because we know we will lose an hour somewhere today.

Our last day at Glacier was bittersweet.  We did one more hike which was along the Saint Mary glacier lake to three waterfalls.  It was a more populated hike with many people on the trail.  It was hard not to think of going home and taking care of what needs to be taken care of.  So, we were transitioning to going home and the big drive.  We had perfect weather while we were at St. Mary.  Everyday was a beautiful day....sunny and warm during the day and cool at night.    

                               

Glacier Park-Day 6

Second to the last full day here at Glacier.  Today we decided to go to another entrance of the park that we hadn't been to yet.  It is called Two Medicine.  In order to get there we had to drive about 40 miles across windy mountainous roads.  We decided to hike a trail that went to a waterfall called Rockwell Falls, about a 7 mile hike with a gain of 375 feet.  Well, we took a wrong turn and ended up at Aster Falls and then Aster Park which was an extra two miles with a gain of 670 feet.  It was a beautiful vista of the surrounding area. However, it wore me out.  We had a great hike, saw two waterfalls and gorgeous scenery.  Frank and I cooled off our feet in the stream.  It was 100 degrees, but a dry heat makes it bearable.  We put on suntan lotion, wear our hats and drink lots of water.

 

Glacier Park-Day 5

It took us most of the day but we did get out for a small hike today.  We went to the 1913 Ranger Station which is not even inside the National Park directly.  First we viewed the sparse conditions of the Ranger Station.  Hard to imagine the isolation those rangers would of had and the hard work they would of had to endure.  Then e found the Beaver Pond Loop that was suppose to be a three mile hike.  It turned out being one of my favorite hikes of the week so far.  We passed through open meadows, sweeping mountain vistas and a dark and mysterious forest.  It wound through an area that burned in 2006.  

After the hike, we got some groceries at the foodmart, made supper and planned tomorrow's hike.  I think we will go to Two Medicine, another entrance to the park and do a hike called Rockwell Falls, 7 miles round trip.  That will be the last big hike. Saturday is still up for grabs.  It will be the last day.  Every night we watch the moon come up over the mountains.  It has been very peaceful.

Glacier Park- Day 4

I skipped a day of writing. We returned at about 8:00 to our little camper, unfed and dead tired. So, today we take the day off and get reorganized. It is amazing how quickly things get disarrayed. I always have wondered why things fall to chaos instead of order. So, I am sitting in the KOA laundromat doing two loads. We a running low on fresh fruits and vegetables. Very few can be bought here. I was a little unprepared on the food category. Next time I would know better. It is a long way out for a good grocery store. They have food marts but they have very little besides bread, milk, beverages, and expensive jars of peanut butter. So, we are getting creative with what we have. We have three more days here until we leave. But about yesterday first... It was a tremendous experience. We headed for Canada to the International Peace Park. It was the first in the world. Now there are several throughout the world that share a unique biodiversity, in this case the upper Rocky Mountains/Glacier area. Our guided hike started at 10:00 in Waterton Park which is a little village with stores and restaurents, hotels and a campground.  It is beautiful. I felt like I was in a European town in the Swiss alps....or at least what I would think of as a European town in the Swiss Alps being I have never been to one. High up on a hill welcoming the little village is the Prince of Wales National Historic Site. It is open to the public to tour and there is a restaurant in it. There were about 20 of us on the hike, half from Canada and the rest from all over the U.S. We had a Canadian and a U.S. park ranger guide us on the hike. We stopped periodically and discussed and had activities regarding "peace" under different perspectives. The hike was 8.5 miles...but Frank and I got an extra mile in because we forgot our passports in the car and had to hike back to the car at the marina to get them. We had parked at the marina to save walking back to our car after the hike. That didn't work out. We needed to buy a boat pass because when the hike ended at the other side of Upper Waterton Lake at Goat Haunt we were ferried back to Waterton. The hike was excellent. After the first couple hills which were very strenuous and I was wondering if I would make it or not, it was fairly straight with little altitude increase. It was especially fun to come across the border markers of Canada and the United States. There was a swatch of land cleared that indicated the boundaries of the two countries. We shook hands there with our Canadian neighbors on the hike. We experienced very old forest and learned about the plants and animals of the area. At the end of the hike, we got our passports stamped because it was a port of entry, as remote as it is. We then got on our boat and returned, exhausted, sore but satisfied to actually accomplish the hike. By the way, the U.S. ranger was originally from Minneapolis. He was excellent. Great sense of humor and made the hike especially entertaining. Photo are included. Anyway, today we are laying low. Listening to the machines hum in the laundrymat is rather therapeutic. I need to plan our last few days here before the long drive home. Hope Becky is taking care of the garden. I am missing the produce!