I was very excited to hear about The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions and when I received a copy, read it and was not disappointed. Below is my review which I posted on Book Tube. Under the video is the text of the review. I hope you enjoy it.
When I opened The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions in 2016, I expected to read the story that is described in the title. And while the book relates the magic of being in nature and that the sense of the author’s race influenced his experience, what I discovered is that this is a profound book about identity, connecting the past with the present.
In one section that particularly resonated with me of how our identities are often stumbled upon and shaped by others, in particular deeming “what is acceptable,” the author, a hybrid of scientist and poet writes:
“Black and white, good and evil—ideas harped on by religious folks, preached from some pulpit, or broadcast on television—were an ice of the pool of my consciousness. There are preconceived notions—of where I should go, of what I should do, and even of who I should do it with—of who I am supposed to be as a black man. But my choice of career and my passion for wildness means that I will forever be the odd bird, the raven in a horde of white doves, the blackbird in a flock of snow buntings.”
A professor, ecologist, and birder, Lanham traces his love of nature back to his boyhood in South Carolina where one of his important influences was his paternal grandmother who was one generation removed from slavery and was equally spiritual (some might say superstitious) and traditionally religious without seeing any contradictions.
I found myself immersed in The Home Place as if it was taking me on a literary journey on which I was eager to see what happened next. I was particularly moved by the author’s relationship with his father, who died young when the author was in high school and whose death Lanham had not really grieved until his forties when a writing instructor gave him the assignment that evoked this book.
Reading The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions, greatly enriched my life. It reminded me of how complicated identity can be and that nature is worthy of not only respect, but reverence.
This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube.
For more information on my most recent published novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:
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