The Cliff Walk : A Job Lost and a Life Found

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Summary: it could happen to you
Review: A brutally honest and intriguing look at the stages we go through when employed. The writer wasn't just unemployed, however, his former life as a college professor was golden enough to give a deep-set but false sense of security that things would always continue to be that good. But whatever you chalk up other people's unemployment, too, you can't dismiss Snyder's with an easy explanation. Finally, he moves his wife and children and began doing manual labor. Snyder doesn't shy away from portraying his less than flattering side, but when he finally tells his son, "You do the work right even when you're working for a jerk," you're on his side all the way.

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Summary: Interesting inside view of a family struggle.
Review: Cliff Walk made me look at and change my attitudes about people who do manual labor as an occupation. The book is enjoyable because of the way it is written, almost at times like poetry. But that doesn't detract from the serious issues the author addresses. He takes the reader inside the family and his head as he attempts to deal with major issues like providing for four children and a wife after being fired and minor ones like his son's being upset about dad's bald spot. At times Snyder was almost too sensitive to his children's day to day concerns and yet not aware of his own needs. The author deals with issues everyone may have to confront at some point: how to deal with a total job change because there are not enough positions in the field for which you are trained. This truly is a book for our times

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Summary: it could happen to you
Review: don's book is not one you want to read wanting to be like him. life is rough, yet rewarding and offers so many pitfalls and obstacles that you're often cringing at whatlife can offer you sometimes.

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Summary: Reads Like A Novel
Review: Former English Professor Don J. Snyder's account of his dismissal from Colgate University and the somewhat indolent year he spent looking for similar employment take up the first 200 pages of this memoir. The remaining 60 pages or so deal with his finally dealing with reality--the reality of actually getting on with life, supporting yourself, and supporting your family (Dr. Snyder was married with four children during the time these events took place).
The story is well-told and moves at a fairly rapid pace in spite of the fact that not a lot is going on. The reader is provided many personal glimpses into Snyder's thought process, how he handled his dismissal (he was not picked up for tenure after three years and was allowed a final year of employment--during which he could have been more aggressively looking for a job; he was either overconfident, lazy, or in denial), how he finally gained some insights into what's important in life, and how he finally started working again. This memoir is at times moving, comical, and aggravating. Snyder is unflinchingly honest in telling his failings and how he dealt with unemployment. He's very insightful and not afraid to share his feelings on a multitude of issues important to him (his idea of success, what it takes to be a good father and husband, what life is all about). There's a layer of humor throughout the book (in the same sense that Richard Ford's Bascombe novels are humorous) and many of Snyder's observations about people and life (the section with his son at the golf course is an excellent example) are both on the money and amusing. Of course, the author spends most of his time talking about how quickly his family is running out of money and how many rejection letters are arriving in the mail. And this was a little aggravating--Snyder never seems to have a sense of urgency about finding employment (any employment!). He casts all his hopes on finding another teaching job (I still don't know why he didn't try and find a job teaching high school English) and never considers (at least not as told in this memoir) temporary employment while looking for a teaching job. His family, especially wife Colleen does a remarkable job standing by him and there are few indications of major confrontations. This is surprising considering the social ladder the Snyders fell from and Don Snyder's inability (refusal) to find employment. Nevertheless, he finally snaps out of it and is hired on with a crew building a mansion along the Maine coastline--hard work no doubt. Snyder's story ends as he describes this labor, his future work as a housepainter, and concludes with a few more personal insights as to what is important in life. Too bad it took him a year of sitting around to find out.
Overall, a very well-told memoir and a quick, worthwhile read.
Recommended.

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Summary: Liked it in the end
Review: I am in a situation similar to the character in the book to a lesser degree. So it was with great interest that I dove into this book. I was curious to read about Don Snyder's feelings and actions while he was unemployed. Probably many of us share his overconfidence about the ease of finding another job. And many of us subconsciously or not, look down upon those who have to earn their living in lower level jobs. Some of his thoughts and actions I could understand, some I could not. For example, why wouldn't he let his wife find a job and he stay home and watch the kids?(which would much harder than working, let me tell you!) And why didn't he take a job while waiting for responses from the colleges he applied to, since his wife wasn't working? And he stands by and watches his savings go lower and lower. Some of these actions caused me to lose sympathy for him while reading a good portion of the book. One could say he was arrogant and a snob. But by the end he learns valuable lessons about family, work, life, and himself. It does read like a story rather than a clinical assessment. A worthwhile read.

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Summary: very real story of self discovery with some humor
Review: I couldn't put this down. I had to laugh at some of his crazy antics, then felt like crying when it was so obvious that he was spiralling into the abyss. I wanted to scream at him at times, "Pull yourself together!!" Overall a satisfying and compelling read.

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Summary: Unflinching Honesty
Review: I loved this book and I thought that the author was bold and unflinching in his courageous look at how success had led him to become, in too many ways, a complacent snob. As an English professor he had, ironically, taught his students how to lead "the examined life" while he himself enjoyed the dubious luxury of living an unexamined life because it was so delightful and easy. I am an English professor and I do take issue with those reviewers who have implied that Snyder was somehow deficient, or he would not have lost his job. The reality of the job market in this profession is that for the most part excellence in teaching goes unnoticed and unrewarded. People get fired for many reasons and very few of them have to do with their own excellence. Most firings are because of the parlous financial situation most educational institutions, both public and private, find themselves in. The tenure system has left few openings for people to find new jobs. Sn! yder discovered that his self-image was too much defined by his job. He had to start anew in reevaluating what is important and realizing the paradox that he had never really absorbed the lessons he wanted his students to learn about the fallacies of the American dream and our notions of what constitutes success. In showing us his self-pity and the self-degradations, he is, I think, brave, not snivelling. He KNOWS how unbecoming and unworthy of himself and his family his descent into depression was. It is that awakening into self-knowledge that makes this book fascinating, instructive, and admirable. It is not only beautifully written, but Snyder's unflinching revelation of his own "heart of darkness" implicity forces readers to learn better how to "read" themselves.

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Summary: One of the best
Review: My husband and I both read this book a few years ago and agreed that it was one of the most profound memoirs we'd ever read. Snyder was born to write and we are blessed to have his thoughts recorded for posterity.

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Summary: Where is the next book?
Review: Snyder articulates what many of us know inside but are afraidto face. Joe Sixpack knows and lives this truth everyday. Many of thefakes, frauds, and phoney baloneys in suits and ties assume their easy living is granted and expected. My wife and I are both in education and my humble and limited experience confirms much of what Snyder says. Peter Brimelow in Forbes magazine noted that 9% of all Ph.D.s in subjects like English and political science are unemployed. With those kinds of numbers no wonder Snyder was cut. If he worked as hard as he says, and the students loved his teaching methods then he embarrased his peers. It is usually the good guys who get cut and the pressed and polished know nothings who get promoted. Snyder has learned a hard lesson. In reading the book there is much left unsaid. Maybe he will fill in the missing spots and treat us with a follow-up on his progress as he adjusts with his new found life. What happened to him is going to happen to me one day, when it does I will be better prepared and will see life in a whole new way. END

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Summary: Beautifully Written, but Frustrating
Review: The Cliff Walk reads as though you are listening to a friend.
I'm not going to write what happens in the book or what the theme of the book is, you can easily gather that my looking at the back cover. It is what lies within the words that is worth writing about.
Regardless how each of us here in life discover's it...the real secret to happiness is living in the "now", being happy with what you have and where you are.
In the end Don is not full of resentments and anger, he has realized the true beauty of life. You slow down enough to enjoy what is right in front of you, NOT, looking to the future to what you cannot see.
Great book.