Name: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Rating: 3.9375 (32 reviews)

Anne Dillard

An American Childhood

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Annie Dillard

In the book which won her a Pulitzer Prize in 1975, Dillard writes in the form of a journal, trying to understand God by chronicling the seasons along Tinker Creek in Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains, and by exploring the paradoxical coexistence of beauty and violence.

Dillard beschrijft beeldend en beschouwend het verloop van de seizoenen rondom de rivier Tinker Creek. Het gaat over insecten, overvloed, rijkdom van de natuur, heel precies en zeer goed geïnformeerd beschreven. Bovenal gaat het over (spirituele) betekenis en tijdloosheid vinden in de alledaagsheid van de natuur. Prachtige poëtische knappe zinnen vol verwondering en gedreven door nieuwsgierigheid. Een literair essay. De structuur is zeer kundig opgebouwd. 

Akkemay Lammers

Nathan Griffin

This won a Pulitzer. This has a 4+ star rating on Goodreads (while I usually find reputable). A handful of people I know who have reputable reading opinions claimed they didn't hate this.

So then why did I hate reading this? Why did I fall asleep repeatedly reading this? I typically love the "haha it's not about what the title implies it's about" genre. 

This isn't about a creek. It's VERY obviously not about a creek. 

But I'm not really sure what it's about. The only thing I really took away from this is that she probably knows about the classic folk song "Wreck of the Old 97" because she makes a pretty cool subtle reference to it. But that's really about it.

I bought the Kindle version of this so I'm going to be tempted to read it again in 2-3 years, so somebody please (seriously) tell me what I should try to get out of it next time.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the remarkable year one woman spent in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley—now available in a limited Olive Edition. “A remarkable psalm of terror and celebration.”—Time Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Roanoke Valley. Annie Dillard sets out to see what she can see. What she sees are astonishing incidents of "beauty tangled in a rapture with violence." Her personal narrative highlights one year's exploration on foot in the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays King of the Meadow with a field of grasshoppers. The result is an exhilarating tale of nature and its seasons.

sydnee smith

Maria Buitrago

Dillard Annie

This winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, and listed by the New York Times as one of the best 100 non-fiction books of the century, gives timeless reflections on solitude, writing and faith amid the beautiful though sometimes brutal world of nature on the author's doorstep in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

香玫

Yvonne

Pelgrim langs Tinker Creek

Casper Schipper

Samantha M Crawford

Sujay

Colton Ray

Seth Kalback

Fallstreak

Stephanie Ridiculous

An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons-a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays -King of the Meadow' with a field of grasshoppers.

Christopher McCaffery

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek has continued to change people's lives for over thirty years. A passionate and poetic reflection on the mystery of creation with its beauty on the one hand and cruelty on the other, it has become a modern American literary classic in the tradition of Thoreau. Living in solitude in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Roanoke, Virginia, and observing the changing seasons, the flora and fauna, the author reflects on the nature of creation and of the God who set it in motion. Whether the images are cruel or lovely, the language is memorably beautiful and poetic, and insistently celebratory. Just pay attention, Dillard urges throughout, and you will find yourself 'sailing headlong and breathless under the gale force of the spirit'.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek An American Childhood

Reviews

Highlights