Rating: 
Summary: At Scotland's edge amidst wind and waterscapes
Review: "She wanted to leave. She was unable to see the point in being out on a shelterless rock in a meaningless sea, under a muffled grey sky, where there are no loos and no baths, where there is not even a little copse or spinney in which one can sit down and read, where the house itself is little better than a shed, where the wind blows and blows and where your husband is for some reason obsessed with every fact and detail of this godforsaken nowhere."Such is the enthusiasm for the Shiant Isles exhibited by the wife of Adam Nicolson, author of SEA ROOM. Adam is owner of these roughly six hundred acres distributed over three wave and wind ravaged islands in the Minch, that stretch of ocean lying between the Scottish island of Skye and the Outer Hebrides. Adam had inherited them from his father, who purchased them in 1937. The author does indeed examine every fact and detail that can be known or surmised about this edge on civilization's margin: the art of getting there by small boat, the migratory bird life, its human history as revealed by archeology and public records, its geology, its successive native industries over the centuries (farming, fishing, kelping, sheepherding), and its weather. Occasionally, there's unintended humor, as when he describes the labors involved in transferring some cattle off the island by coastal steamer: "The men waited below (the steamer) in the dinghy as the poor beast was lifted by its horns high into the air, bellowing at the indignity and with fear. Just as the animal was high above the gunwale, the men in the dinghy guiding it in by the tail, the bullock emptied the entire contents of its four stomachs over the men below. That was the last time any cattle were seen on the Shiants." Or, when he describes the equally valiant efforts of the rams (tups) sent to the islands to impregnate the resident ewes: "The tups are put on in November, about eight or nine of them for the three hundred-odd ewes, and are taken off in February, knackered (exhausted)." Yes, well, that's the plight of us males everywhere regardless of species. It's a tough and thankless but necessary job. Most of SEA ROOM is a sober narrative about ordinary life on, and the ecosystem of, the Shiants - ordinary with a capital "O". After all, through the centuries no more than perhaps thirty people have called the islands home at any one time. It was never the site of a great city, or the center of an empire, or the scene of heroic accomplishment beyond just making a life in a remote and inhospitable place. Indeed, the Shiants have lacked permanent human residents for the past hundred years. Thus, while Nicolson's magnificent prose makes the story reasonably interesting, it wasn't enough to earn more than four stars in my opinion ... that is, until the concluding chapter. It's because of these last pages, a heartfelt and poignant manifesto of the author's great and consuming love for this far-flung spot, a legacy for his son Tom, that I finally awarded five stars for the whole. "I was left alone in the silence, with the pale sun on my face, and, as the dogs nosed for nothing in the grasses, I started to fall asleep there to the long, asthmatic rhythm of the surf. The islands embraced and enveloped me. Twenty yards to my left the Viking was asleep in his grave ..."
Rating:
Summary: An Invitation to Enchanted Isles
Review: Adam Nicolson has invited us to his little islands of the Hebrides, the Shiants, in a fine book, _Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides_ (North Point Press). He writes: "I love the Shiants for all their ragged, harsh and delicate glory and this book is a love letter to them." It is one of the most persuasive love letters ever written. He knows the islands better than anyone ever has, and has conveyed what he knows in one fascinating chapter after another. There is plenty of intense pleasure he conveys about living on the islands themselves, but his love is not blind; within the pages about his season here are also large quantities of battering waves, rain, cold, inconvenience, and the droppings of rats and sheep. It is all described with a passionate attention to detail. He writes lovingly of other people, like the boatwright who builds him a Viking-inspired sailboat in which he can commute the 16 miles to his island, or the friends he visits on the mainland who insist on cleaning his clothes and his person when he visits, or even the local press that caricatures him as a bowler-wearing aristocrat supremely out of place. For further details on his islands, he has enlisted the help of various experts. For instance, from Czechoslovakia comes a team of archeologists to study one of the ruined houses on the islands. When they find a carve stone, he trucks it all over the British Isles, so that we get to learn the geology of the stone, the philosophy of hermits a millennium ago, and how such a stone might do for either a grave marker or a pillow. Within the excavation is also a binding strip, probably from a Bible, but Nicolson shows that "the replacement with a printed Gaelic Bible of a nurtured ancient stone was a symptom not of godliness but of empire, imposition, control and a sort of shrinking of life." People farmed on the islands for two millennia with a relatively good living. Nicolson's meticulous gathering of as much as can be known about the islands' history, however, shows that the insularity which was no obstacle for Vikings and hermits became a liability in the modern world where the Shiants had no closeness to markets and no access to the materials of modern civilization. Self-sufficiency was enough before 1600, but after 1800 there was no permanent inhabitation. Nicolson writes with humility about his ownership, which he realizes is due to chance. His father bought the islands, and gave them to him on his twenty-first birthday, and he will in turn give them to his son on his twenty-first. He displays the contingencies of theft, war, and murder by which we claim a parcel of earth as our own. He knows that in a larger sense the shepherds are closer to possessing the islands by gaining a living from them than he is having a simple deed of ownership. But he makes the case that his islands can do very well in an enlightened private ownership which recognizes that they are the possessions of the area and of the world. I wrote that he invited us to the islands, and this is a literal invitation. Read through this book and you will find his e-address (and for use after 5 March 2005, the e-address of his son) by which you can ask him for the key of the primitive little house he uses when he himself goes there. After reading this winning report on the islands that possess him, I bet he gets plenty of takers.
Rating:
Summary: An Invitation to Enchanted Isles
Review: Adam Nicolson has invited us to his little islands of the Hebrides, the Shiants, in a fine book, _Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides_ (North Point Press). He writes: "I love the Shiants for all their ragged, harsh and delicate glory and this book is a love letter to them." It is one of the most persuasive love letters ever written. He knows the islands better than anyone ever has, and has conveyed what he knows in one fascinating chapter after another. There is plenty of intense pleasure he conveys about living on the islands themselves, but his love is not blind; within the pages about his season here are also large quantities of battering waves, rain, cold, inconvenience, and the droppings of rats and sheep. It is all described with a passionate attention to detail. He writes lovingly of other people, like the boatwright who builds him a Viking-inspired sailboat in which he can commute the 16 miles to his island, or the friends he visits on the mainland who insist on cleaning his clothes and his person when he visits, or even the local press that caricatures him as a bowler-wearing aristocrat supremely out of place. For further details on his islands, he has enlisted the help of various experts. For instance, from Czechoslovakia comes a team of archeologists to study one of the ruined houses on the islands. When they find a carve stone, he trucks it all over the British Isles, so that we get to learn the geology of the stone, the philosophy of hermits a millennium ago, and how such a stone might do for either a grave marker or a pillow. Within the excavation is also a binding strip, probably from a Bible, but Nicolson shows that "the replacement with a printed Gaelic Bible of a nurtured ancient stone was a symptom not of godliness but of empire, imposition, control and a sort of shrinking of life." People farmed on the islands for two millennia with a relatively good living. Nicolson's meticulous gathering of as much as can be known about the islands' history, however, shows that the insularity which was no obstacle for Vikings and hermits became a liability in the modern world where the Shiants had no closeness to markets and no access to the materials of modern civilization. Self-sufficiency was enough before 1600, but after 1800 there was no permanent inhabitation. Nicolson writes with humility about his ownership, which he realizes is due to chance. His father bought the islands, and gave them to him on his twenty-first birthday, and he will in turn give them to his son on his twenty-first. He displays the contingencies of theft, war, and murder by which we claim a parcel of earth as our own. He knows that in a larger sense the shepherds are closer to possessing the islands by gaining a living from them than he is having a simple deed of ownership. But he makes the case that his islands can do very well in an enlightened private ownership which recognizes that they are the possessions of the area and of the world. I wrote that he invited us to the islands, and this is a literal invitation. Read through this book and you will find his e-address (and for use after 5 March 2005, the e-address of his son) by which you can ask him for the key of the primitive little house he uses when he himself goes there. After reading this winning report on the islands that possess him, I bet he gets plenty of takers.
Rating:
Summary: A virtual vicarious visit.
Review: I feared that I would never manage my dream of living in a remote part of the Outer Hebrides, and then there was "Sea Room." With warmth and tremendous art, Adam Nicolson conveys every sight, every sound, every feeling, and provides facts and insights into every conceivable aspect of this estimable ancient place. His exceptional sensiblilties and his evident passion for full knowledge have led him to tell us not only about the Shiants, but also about ship building (past and present), sailing and seafaring, Gaelic as well as Norse languages, with plenty of legends, folk lore, music and poetry, geology, ornithology - he never stops, never holds back. And the best part is, it feels like reading a long, delightful letter from you dearest friend.
Rating:
Summary: A virtual vicarious visit.
Review: I feared that I would never manage my dream of living in a remote part of the Outer Hebrides, and then there was "Sea Room." With warmth and tremendous art, Adam Nicolson conveys every sight, every sound, every feeling, and provides facts and insights into every conceivable aspect of this estimable ancient place. His exceptional sensiblilties and his evident passion for full knowledge have led him to tell us not only about the Shiants, but also about ship building (past and present), sailing and seafaring, Gaelic as well as Norse languages, with plenty of legends, folk lore, music and poetry, geology, ornithology - he never stops, never holds back. And the best part is, it feels like reading a long, delightful letter from you dearest friend.
Rating:
Summary: A virtual vicarious visit.
Review: I feared that I would never manage my dream of living in a remote part of the Outer Hebrides, and then there was "Sea Room." With warmth and tremendous art, Adam Nicolson conveys every sight, every sound, every feeling, and provides facts and insights into every conceivable aspect of this estimable ancient place. His exceptional sensiblilties and his evident passion for full knowledge have led him to tell us not only about the Shiants, but also about ship building (past and present), sailing and seafaring, Gaelic as well as Norse languages, with plenty of legends, folk lore, music and poetry, geology, ornithology - he never stops, never holds back. And the best part is, it feels like reading a long, delightful letter from you dearest friend.
Rating:
Summary: A wander-full book
Review: Nicolson's style is so natural that I swear I hear his voice as I read. Sea Room is filled with emotion as well as science, both equally detailed, and it is never, ever dull. The author has done considerable research in developing this book - in detail it reminds me of a John McPhee book but with one big difference: Nicolson's passion for the subject jumps from the page. Sea Room is an exceptional mix of science and emotion. Adam Nicolson will take you on such an intimate tour of these islands that should you ever find yourself there you'll know where to find the fresh water springs, where 7th-century Christians worshipped and which cliffs are crumbling! I love roaming over open land, down creek beds and up hillsides and this book gives me that sense of freedom and wonder. If John Muir could have written like this about the land he loved so much the entire west half of the US would be a National Park. Sea Room is a wonderful, wander full book. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: The land owns us...
Review: Not the other way around. This was the greatest theme I took away from Adam Nicolson's "Sea Room," the story of the three tiny, uninhabited Shiant (say "Shant") Islands in the Hebrides of Scotland, which Nicholson inherited from his father (the famed author Nigel Nicolson, the son of Vita Sackville-West). Nicolson's approach to describing the islands for his readers resembles John McPhee's: it's an engaging blend of natural history (how were the islands formed?), human history (who lived here and why?), archaeology, and ecology (how do the animals and plants of the Shiants form a whole world?). The difference is that Nicolson's passion for place is quite specific: he loves the Shiants like one loves one's parents, infinitely and irreplaceably. You can't imagine him running off and writing a second book about another place. Nicolson's prose is lyric and detailed at the same time; despite the length (350 pages and more), the story never flags. At the end of the book, Nicholson defends his continued private ownership of the islands (many feel they should be a public trust); I wasn't convinced, but I respected his strong urge to transmit his love of the place to his son and future generations of his family. By the way, Nicholson publicly offers the keys to his cottage to anyone desiring to stay there (his e-mail address is in the book); but consider first that rats seem now to be part of the natural ecology of the place. But perhaps that won't phase you (it doesn't phase Nicholson a bit!).
Rating:
Summary: The land owns us...
Review: Not the other way around. This was the greatest theme I took away from Adam Nicolson's "Sea Room," the story of the three tiny, uninhabited Shiant (say "Shant") Islands in the Hebrides of Scotland, which Nicholson inherited from his father (the famed author Nigel Nicolson, the son of Vita Sackville-West). Nicolson's approach to describing the islands for his readers resembles John McPhee's: it's an engaging blend of natural history (how were the islands formed?), human history (who lived here and why?), archaeology, and ecology (how do the animals and plants of the Shiants form a whole world?). The difference is that Nicolson's passion for place is quite specific: he loves the Shiants like one loves one's parents, infinitely and irreplaceably. You can't imagine him running off and writing a second book about another place. Nicolson's prose is lyric and detailed at the same time; despite the length (350 pages and more), the story never flags. At the end of the book, Nicholson defends his continued private ownership of the islands (many feel they should be a public trust); I wasn't convinced, but I respected his strong urge to transmit his love of the place to his son and future generations of his family. By the way, Nicholson publicly offers the keys to his cottage to anyone desiring to stay there (his e-mail address is in the book); but consider first that rats seem now to be part of the natural ecology of the place. But perhaps that won't phase you (it doesn't phase Nicholson a bit!).
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book about a Beautiful Place
Review: There are many people in the world who daydream about islands, who read about them, who travel to them, for whom islands possess a powerful, magnetic pull---Adam Nicolson, whose father gifted him with the Shiant Islands on his 21st birthday, has written a book for all of us who have wished time and again for our own special island...but before we all break into a chorus of "Bali H'ai," let me warn you that Mr. Nicolson's islands, the Shiants, just off the coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, are anything but tropical, and far from daydream or fiction. Sea Room, while written without any overt romantic sensibility, nevertheless tugs at the heart-strings in a profound way which I'm having trouble describing to people... It's deeply-grounded in the gritty details of life in the Isles: poverty, isolation, the harsh climate, the difficulty in trade, transportation, and health care, the underlying controversies over the very idea of ownership of land and wilderness. It's just as strong in describing the strengths of family and interconnected community ties, the deep roots of regional history and archaeology, the spine-shiver of local legends, the sense of "otherness" which in Celtic lands is as close as the other side of your shadow... Perhaps the true beauty of this book lies in this paradox: in focusing so tightly on so small a subject, a place about which he cares so passionately, Nicolson touches something universal, creating something accessible (and engaging) to the wide, wide world. The language is lovely; the Islands are lovelier. And Nicolson's eldest son, who will be gifted with the Shiants in a year or two, is one lucky man.
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