Rating: 
Summary: You have to read this!
Review: I first read of Eustace Conway in the newspaper. I went to visit his Turtle Island Preserve in Boone, NC. I bought The Last American man and went to the author book signing at Malaprop's in Asheville and met Eustace for the second time.
I have read this book twice and think Gilbert has done an amazing job. The writing is sharp and witty and sensitive. I read pages aloud to my family on a recent vacation (the mule story) and they roared with laughter vowing to read the book.
Anyone interested in Thoreau or John Muir or Everett Ruess...if you care about the planet, living simply, really following your heart--You MUST read this wonderful book. It is so inspiring because it is true. Eustace Conway is a great example to humanity for his courage to live with integrity but Gilbert also shows his human failings and mirrors everyone's challenges in wishing to find true love. Read it and let it motivate you to live more fully.
Rating: 
Summary: Another American Male
Review: Ok, ok I take issue with the title. Being married to an avid outdoorsman, committed and wonderful husband and father, resourceful, talented and extremely soul-full and mature American man left me wondering about the proclamation Elizabeth has for Eustace Conway. Speeding through the out of doors across the country in record time, skinning animals and eating roadkill, mistreating loved ones, and teaching without self-reflection does not a man make. But, I enjoyed the insight Elizabeth understood and relayed about how we project our need for the expression of our Wild Men onto Eustace and people like him who are merely human beings. Eustace is another bright and searching, creative man who has been cast under Saturn's shadow and unable to see his own light. I hope he finds it the way others find it in him, and need to find it in themselves.
Found the book chock-full of great characters, her delivery is precise and deep as an objective witness without ever becoming sloppy sentimental. This is not the courageous story of an independent, mature American man, but the poignant story of an entangled, co-dependent American Family ~ the tragedy, the comedy, the drama and the survival. Bless the Conways and all of us who are struggling to love each other in spite of our humanity.
Rating: 
Summary: Broken
Review: Read within these pages the effects of extreme mental and emotional abuse upon a child and the way it plays out as an adult. Eustace is a broken human. His unfortunate treatment at the hands of his father seriously crippled him. People who have suffered like Eustace are often over-achieving, perfectionists; unable to maintain relations with others; either oblivious to the needs of others or slavishly catering to the whims of others and they almost always come to closley resemble the abuser. Big Eustace was a denizen of the office and the classroom- liked to write out long equations and ramble on to hear the sound of his own voice, so little Eustace subcociously chose a path 180 degrees away from father and becomes a creature of the forest but ended up rambling in his classroom just the same, just a different subject.
To me this was an eminently sad tale of a boy going to any length for father's notice and approval. Neither of which came at least by the conclusion of this book.
Eutace-walk away.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic, thought provoking book.
Review: I can't decide whether to write a review of the book, or criticize my fellow reviewers, so I think I will do both. I bought this book, read it in four hours, gave it to my husband who then couldn't put it down, and then wrestled it away from him and re-read it. It is that compelling. Elizabeth Gilbert is supremely talented, able to spin a yarn, laugh at herself, and deliver razor sharp character assessments in a few short sentences. Despite the opinions of some of the critics on this board, she is not in love with Eustace Conway. She does not fawn over this remarkable man, ever. Instead, she tells Eustace's story with clarity and grace, never losing site of the metaphor she engages in comparing this man's story to the history of the American male, and America in general. Eustace's talent for self promotion seems to rub people the wrong way, even in his own family, but it is this very talent that has enabled Eustace to purchase his land and live his life according to his beliefs. As for Eustace being deplorable, unlikable, despicable. etc... I had to ask myself if I had read the same book as these folks. I think the word they must be looking for is conflicted. Never did I see any examples of cruelty, anger or hatred in Eustace's behavior. What I did read about was a lot of candy-assed weenies who didn't like being told what to do, people who need to have their every completed task validated with a compliment, people Eustace eventually tires of, and thankfully so. Frankly, I found Gilbert too understanding of these punks, and a bit hard on Eustace. So much for her being in love with him. As for those who call Eustace a hypocrite, please. This man lived in a tipi for 17 years, lives now with no electricity or running water, and built his homestead with his bare hands and no nails. He is the first to admit he drives a truck, uses plastic buckets and appreciates the power of a chain saw. He never says otherwise, and even if he did, would it make his other accomplishments less valid? Oh yeah, I guess so. The worst thing you can do nowadays is be a hypocrite, right? That negates every accomplishment, invalidates every honor. As for the claims that thousands live in rural Tennessee, etc... more naturally than Eustace, yeah right. This man is a blacksmith, plows his fields with horses, makes clothes out of buckskin, makes jars from clay found in riverbeds, catches skins and eats rattlesnakes, set two endurance ride records, on and on. I daresay maybe a handful of people live like him, if that many, and they are paid to be 'historical interpreters' at Jamestown and the likes. At the end of the day they punch out and go to Starbucks. Lastly, the condescension surrounding Eustace's inability to find a mate, as if he is somehow so scarred and despicable he will never marry is ludicrous. If everyone who marries is somehow at a place of peace Eustace will never find because of his mixed up psyche, then the bar must be very low indeed, and Eustace is the smart one. What I found most interesting about this book is the way it made me take a hard look at some of the decisions I have made in my life. Only the best books do that. I encourage you to read this book and ignore the naysayers. People of heroic proportions tend to polarize everyone, and I think those who dislike this book and Eustace are jealous on some level. Jealous of his decisiveness, his character and his astounding achievements.
Rating: 
Summary: The Rugged Hypocrite
Review: The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert, is about a man's struggle to show others the benefits of living one with nature. He portrays himself to others as a rugged outdoorsman that lives off the land without the use of any modern day appliances, but in reality he is straddling the fence. Yes, he has lived off the land and faced many hardships in the wild, but he owns a telephone, truck, and other materialistic things that he teaches against. I guess in some ways he is hypocritical, of course so was Daniel Boone, a fellow so called man of nature.
Eustace Conway, the man the book is about, dearly desires to influence others to be conservative and love nature just as he does. His perfectionism and never stop working attitude, however, is his drawback. He pushes people so hard that it is almost as if they are being forced into loving nature.
The book had its high points, where it tells tales of his many adventures, and then its low points, using modern things and being hypocritical. I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend someone read it.
Rating:
Summary: awful
Review: It's too bad that Eustace Conway's story had to be told by Elizabeth Gilbert. She's totally immature as a writer, and she doesn't know how to maintain any sort of distance from her subject. Last American Man reads like you'd expect it would, coming from a city gal who has a little romp in the woods with an outdoorsman. She is completely clueless. She retells Eustace's stories without skepticism. She quotes liberally from the work of Richard Slotkin, a hip scholar -- perhaps to bring some heft to this otherwise lightweight work. I travelled to Boone, N.C., shortly after the book came out and talked to folks who knew Eustace, had him in a class, etc. They thought the book was a laughable piece of trash, too -- a not-very-accurate picture of the man, and certainly not an accurate picture of that corner of Appalachia. Don't waste your time. (I notice that most of the reviewers here focus more on whether they like Eustace as a person, and not whether the book is any good. Which it's not.)
Rating: 
Summary: Much Ado About Nothing
Review: Eustace Conway is a radical minimalist who has lived independently for years in a teepee, rode a horse across the U.S. in record time and developed a school, of sorts, on his "primitive" farm, all in what proves to be a vain effort to escape the demons implanted by his abusive father. He is handsome, charismatic, sexually attractive to women, brilliant and sensitive to the environment, but a largely uncommunicative mental basket case. In the end, there is much more about him to pity than to admire or emulate. He cannot sustain relationships with women, his employees or siblings. He spends decades teaching others how to do without, but reveals to Elizabeth Gilbert that he wants to build his own house with "walk-in closets." Gilbert's breezy, well-written infatuation with the eccentric but creative Conway is ultimately unsatisfying and nearly pointless, even though he is an unforgettable character. While Conway's environmental concerns are noble, little of his knowledge or lifestyle is practicable for those who can interact within society. Who among us really believes utopia is making our own buckskin clothing, eating roadkill and using Stone Age survival techniques? And who has a personal 1,000 acre mountain retreat on which to do those things? The Last American Man evolved from a magazine article Gilbert wrote about Conway. Reading the book about Eustace Conway has a parallel to meeting the mountain man himself: the briefer the encounter, the more likely it is to be satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: The Last American Man
Review: The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert was a very interesting piece of literature that I thouroughly enjoyed. I think that at one point in every person,s life they envision what it would be like to leave everything behind and be free in the wild. The Last American Man took you there. At some points in the novel I could actually picture things as if I were there. I saw deer, trees, flowers, and the mountains. Sometimes I even felt the wind or the cold of the snow as if I were there due to the profoundness of imagery.
To those who are free spirited and want to get away from it all I would gladly recommend this book. It takes you to new places and opens you up to new adventures to the point that you can see yourself riding through open pastures or living in a teepee. The book opens you up to new thoughts and ideas about how to live your life. The way Eustace Conway portrays himself makes you want to be like him and unlike him all at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good!
Review: This book was very fascinating and interesting. I found a lot of enjoyment in reading it. Eustace Conway is a very unique individual. He has had many trials and tribulations. His childhood was extremely horrible. His father never acknowledged any of his accomplishments. This had to be very hard.I also feel that the author's voice was interesting. However, I feel that the author had feelings for Eustace. This book is not one that I would recommend for anyone under the age of 18. It had a lot of profane language. Overall, this book is one that I found pleasure in reading.
Rating:
Summary: Last American Man
Review: I thought the book was very interesting. Being a outdoor enthusiast it locked me in from the being. Stories of the Appalachian trail were bizare and entertaining. I wish he would not have turned out to be such a perfectionist like his Dad. It seemed at times that he was more interested in making money than living in the wild. Maybe the book would have been better if it did not go into the boring details of buying land and his search for a dream girl. At the end I did feel the same on some of his points on getting back into the wild.
|
