Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(13 customer reviews) 61 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Interesting Read,
December 4, 2010 Mumbo (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Land of Little Rain (Kindle Edition)
I chose this book as it describes Death Valley and surrounds in the US and as I had been there thought it might provide a little more in depth information about the area. She writes delightfully about flora, fauna and nature's way, however, I got a little bogged down two thirds of the way in with almost unlimited descriptions of flora - perhaps someone with this background would find it fascinating - anyhow I soldiered on and found the remainder of the book very good, particularly the native indian tribe's customs and ways. Recommended....
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Best natural history writing,
June 17, 1998 By A Customer
This review is from: The Land of Little Rain (Audio Cassette)
Austin lived in the Owens Valley during a turbulent period at the turn of the century, and she observes the people and wild things dwelling there with a novelist's eye. But what sets this gem above all the rest is simply her writing, the plain beauty of her voice and phrasing. She achieves a tone that is somehow at once wistful and tinged with levity, very gently ironic yet always loving. Her words caress their subjects like -- well, like the pen and ink drawings that graced the original publication in 19-ought-whatever. They evoke all the richness of the place, its austerity, its pathos, its beauty, with a gentle affection that is sweet but never cloying, sometimes sad but never downcast. It has a kind of Zen translucency, filtered through the gently humorous, sensitive lens of a literary genius.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
`"The Country of Lost Borders",
June 7, 1997 By A Customer
This review is from: The Land of Little Rain (Paperback)
Mary Austin's brilliant essay on a small corner of California is the subject of this breathtaking book. In prose of unvarying beauty and satisfaction she paints a stunning portrait of high mountains and deepest valleys, describes in vivid detail the lives of the native Indians and Mexican immigrants, and reminds her readers that there is life and vitality to be found in these trackless desert regions. I believe you will agree with her own motivation for writing "The Land of Little Rain" after reading it: "...as one lover of it can give to another."
