- Hardcover: 161 pages
- Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (15 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0807130893
- ISBN-13: 978-0807130896
- Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 13.6 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,514,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp
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First Sentence
Eine Menge ist eine Zusammenfassung bestimmter, wohlunterschiedener Objekte unserer Anschauung oder unseres Denkens zu einem Ganzen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Eine Menge ist eine Zusammenfassung bestimmter, wohlunterschiedener Objekte unserer Anschauung oder unseres Denkens zu einem Ganzen. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
Gwen Roland's memoir "Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in a Louisiana Swamp" is magical. After the 1973 flood destroyed their first home Roland and her then-partner Calvin Voisin built a house made of cypress on a barge in the Atchafalaya River Basin in south-central Louisiana. The houseboat deep in the dark, black swamp waters of Bloody Bayou and Bayou Sorrel became their home for eight years.
Roland's quiet wisdom and eloquent descriptions of swamp life and everyday routines captured my imagination. Living off the land with no running water or electricity she learned how to drive a boat and how to set nets for catfish. She said, "I became acquainted with my body. Awakened from sanitary air-conditioning hibernation to the trickle of sweat down my arms, the green fragrance of crushed cypress pine needles, and the sensuous luxury of a bath with Ivory Soap in the bayou at sunset."
Roland became absorbed in mastering the not-so-simple skills of the simple life. She said, "I tried my hand at cutting wood, canning vegetables, preparing a smokehouse and making a quilt. Every day there was something new I wanted to learn." Although the days were filled with fishing, cooking, canning, growing food, making wine, tending chickens and trading there were many unexpected pleasures. She writes, "We stand on the porch to watch the last of the sunset. There's not another human being for miles in any direction. The water is perfect in its stillness. A lone owl hoots softly in a nearby tree, shy in front of people who share his woods tonight."
To meet expenses Roland worked as a cook on a river boat for 30 days on two occasions. She later left Voisin and married Preston Roland one of the riverboat engineers. In time Voisin married, had a daughter, and eventually divorced. He and another companion live at Bayou Sorrel.
Roland and her husband traveled and investigated all kinds of occupations as years went by. She said most of their moves came about from one of them thinking out loud, "I wonder what it would be like to..." They now live in the Pine Mountain foothills of Georgia.
The book is enhanced by nature photographer C.C. Lockwood's photographs which show the couple relaxing or doing chores on the houseboat. The pictures were also published in National Geographic. Producer Christina Melton and cameraman Rex Q. Fortenberry produced a 30-minute award winning documentary for Louisiana Public Radio based on Roland's memoir.
I mourned when I finished Roland's book.
Roland's quiet wisdom and eloquent descriptions of swamp life and everyday routines captured my imagination. Living off the land with no running water or electricity she learned how to drive a boat and how to set nets for catfish. She said, "I became acquainted with my body. Awakened from sanitary air-conditioning hibernation to the trickle of sweat down my arms, the green fragrance of crushed cypress pine needles, and the sensuous luxury of a bath with Ivory Soap in the bayou at sunset."
Roland became absorbed in mastering the not-so-simple skills of the simple life. She said, "I tried my hand at cutting wood, canning vegetables, preparing a smokehouse and making a quilt. Every day there was something new I wanted to learn." Although the days were filled with fishing, cooking, canning, growing food, making wine, tending chickens and trading there were many unexpected pleasures. She writes, "We stand on the porch to watch the last of the sunset. There's not another human being for miles in any direction. The water is perfect in its stillness. A lone owl hoots softly in a nearby tree, shy in front of people who share his woods tonight."
To meet expenses Roland worked as a cook on a river boat for 30 days on two occasions. She later left Voisin and married Preston Roland one of the riverboat engineers. In time Voisin married, had a daughter, and eventually divorced. He and another companion live at Bayou Sorrel.
Roland and her husband traveled and investigated all kinds of occupations as years went by. She said most of their moves came about from one of them thinking out loud, "I wonder what it would be like to..." They now live in the Pine Mountain foothills of Georgia.
The book is enhanced by nature photographer C.C. Lockwood's photographs which show the couple relaxing or doing chores on the houseboat. The pictures were also published in National Geographic. Producer Christina Melton and cameraman Rex Q. Fortenberry produced a 30-minute award winning documentary for Louisiana Public Radio based on Roland's memoir.
I mourned when I finished Roland's book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A little disappointing
14 Jun 2006
Format:Hardcover
It's hard to go wrong with this subject matter, and I would recommend this book wholeheartedly.
But that said, I was a little disappointed in the book, not for what was in it, but for how much more she could have told us. The author has had a rare experience -- who else do you know who has lived on a houseboat in a swamp, without electricity or most modern conveniences, for a decade? Yet I was left feeling that she only related the bare minimum about her years in the swamp. Part of the problem is that the first half of the book appears to contain only her previously-published articles about her life at that time from a small regional magazine, and they are short and lacking a lot of detail. I'm left thinking how much better this book could have been if she had gone back and fleshed those out, adding more information and context. She doesn't discuss how it felt to adjust to such a rustic life, her relationship with the man she shared this life with, or any problems that they encountered, other than their dislike of returning to civilization for supplies every so often. In other words, she doesn't inject much of herself into her descriptions -- her feelings, her hopes or fears.
The second part of the book talks about temporarily working as a cook on a river boat, meeting the man she would later leave Calvin for, and her life since she left the swamp. In many ways, this is the more descriptive part of the book, especially as she details honestly the boredom of riverboat life and the pain of falling in love with another man. I was left imagining what could have been if she had applied the same descriptive style and writing technique to the earlier part of her work.
Again, I am glad I bought this book, but if the author had spent the time beefing up her earlier articles in the first part of the book, when the subject material is far more unusual, I would have given this book a higher rating. There aren't many people who have lived a life like hers, and it's a shame that it isn't more thoroughly described during her swamp years.
But that said, I was a little disappointed in the book, not for what was in it, but for how much more she could have told us. The author has had a rare experience -- who else do you know who has lived on a houseboat in a swamp, without electricity or most modern conveniences, for a decade? Yet I was left feeling that she only related the bare minimum about her years in the swamp. Part of the problem is that the first half of the book appears to contain only her previously-published articles about her life at that time from a small regional magazine, and they are short and lacking a lot of detail. I'm left thinking how much better this book could have been if she had gone back and fleshed those out, adding more information and context. She doesn't discuss how it felt to adjust to such a rustic life, her relationship with the man she shared this life with, or any problems that they encountered, other than their dislike of returning to civilization for supplies every so often. In other words, she doesn't inject much of herself into her descriptions -- her feelings, her hopes or fears.
The second part of the book talks about temporarily working as a cook on a river boat, meeting the man she would later leave Calvin for, and her life since she left the swamp. In many ways, this is the more descriptive part of the book, especially as she details honestly the boredom of riverboat life and the pain of falling in love with another man. I was left imagining what could have been if she had applied the same descriptive style and writing technique to the earlier part of her work.
Again, I am glad I bought this book, but if the author had spent the time beefing up her earlier articles in the first part of the book, when the subject material is far more unusual, I would have given this book a higher rating. There aren't many people who have lived a life like hers, and it's a shame that it isn't more thoroughly described during her swamp years.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
very interesting book
15 April 2006
Format:Hardcover
I could hardly put this book down. It was so interesting to see how Gwen Roland & Calvin Voisin lived for so many years. I also enjoyed reading about all of Gwen's travels all over. She has done things that much of us never even dream of doing!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful!
17 April 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Special people in a special place wonderfully told by someone you wish you had coffee with in the mornings. One to keep close to your heart.
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