Monday, March 1, 2021

To School Through the Fields by Alice Taylor

 genre: non-fiction, memoir

To School Through the Fields evokes a time and place that don't exist anymore, at least not outside of Alice Taylor's mind.  In postwar Ireland, Alice's farm is a tranquil and rhythmic place, where the seasons dictate the daily work and where family is both companionship and fellow laborer.  The language is so lovely, the point of view reminding me much of Laura in Little House on the Prairie. We see the work of adults through the eyes of a child, the novelty and familiarity of the tasks that must be done: ploughing, reaping, planting and picking.  The community as well, familiar and quirky neighbors, that contracted map of a child where the home (and its fields) are at the center, Alice describes this world with humor and a gentle whimsicality that's a delight to read.

The book itself is really a series of vingettes with interspersed poetry - there's no overarching plot, no character development or grand point to be made, except, maybe, this: that the world is a grand and beautiful place, both in the minute details and in the lovely expanse of it.  Alice Taylor paints a picture here with words that shows us both.

1 comment:

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