Rating: 
Summary: A COMPELLING ACCOUNT OF A FAMILY'S COURAGE
Review: Hunted or hunter? Hannah Nyala has been both as she relates in her sometimes chilling frequently hopeful autobiography. "Nothing can adequately prepare a human being for becoming another's prey," she writes. Yet for 19 years Nyala has been the quarry in a twisted game of cat and mouse. She has also been the hunter, saving lives as part of a National Park Service search-and-rescue team. Little in a bucolic childhood spent in southern Mississippi prepared her to contend with violence. The simple evangelistic Christianity embraced by her family taught her meekness, obedience, to turn the other cheek - even when it will be beaten bloody. Kevin seemed quiet and sensitive when they met at a religious camp meeting. They married several weeks shy of her high school graduation. She had entered purgatory. He beat her. Even when her waist was thick with child. Why? Because there were not exactly six ice cubes in his glass of tea. The cycle of bludgeoning accelerated, later laced with threats to kill their children, Jon and Ruthie, before dismembering her body. If hand towels were perfectly folded but the space between them was incorrect, Kevin might choke her until she lost
consciousness. "So after leaving him," Nyala writes, "no matter where my children and I lived, we deliberately hung our towels sloppily - not out of proposed rebellion, but as a marker: If we ever came in and found two hand towels folded precisely in thirds and hung on the towel bar with exactly one inch of space between them, it meant that he had been in the house. And might still be there." Knowing that Kevin is pursuing them, Nyala and her family live in terror. Her worst fear is realized when Kevin kidnaps their children. Numb with grief she can only put one foot in front of the other, turning to the mountains for spiritual solace and survival. The slow solitary process of studying footprints, tracking was her salvation. She learns to read broken twigs, bent grass, pebbles pressed into the earth, as well as to discern "The almost imperceptible trail a scorpion leaves behind." Eventually she met Frank, a park ranger who became her second husband. They move to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California's Mojave Desert. In graceful prose the author describes nature's world, the lush unexpectedness of desert flowers, animals scurrying to shade between rocks. She learns patience in the desert, and that "Tracking means learning to walk alongside, caring enough to reach out to other people." After being largely responsible for finding a lost child and the subject of attendant publicity, Nyala finds that her team mates regard her as competitor rather than comrade. Uncomfortable in this situation, she decides to pursue a college degree in anthropology. Being reunited with her children should provide the anticipated happy ending. But Nyala's life isn't written by the Brothers Grimm. Her marriage to Frank ends in an amicable divorce. While she is at last awarded custody of her children, Kevin is allowed to post bail. Her home is broken into sixteen times. She and the children find towels precisely folded in thirds hanging on the towel bar. Today Kevin is a free man. "Tracking marks my continued search for a safe place, while violence marks my repeated encounters with fear," she tells us. "Neither has yet canceled the other out." Nonetheless, Nyala's story is ultimately one of empowerment, growing strength, and survival. Point Last Seen is the compelling account of a family's courage, which speaks to all who love and seek to protect each other. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A COMPELLING ACCOUNT OF A FAMILY'S COURAGE
Review: Hunted or hunter? Hannah Nyala has been both as she relates in her sometimes chilling frequently hopeful autobiography. "Nothing can adequately prepare a human being for becoming another's prey," she writes. Yet for 19 years Nyala has been the quarry in a twisted game of cat and mouse. She has also been the hunter, saving lives as part of a National Park Service search-and-rescue team. Little in a bucolic childhood spent in southern Mississippi prepared her to contend with violence. The simple evangelistic Christianity embraced by her family taught her meekness, obedience, to turn the other cheek - even when it will be beaten bloody. Kevin seemed quiet and sensitive when they met at a religious camp meeting. They married several weeks shy of her high school graduation. She had entered purgatory. He beat her. Even when her waist was thick with child. Why? Because there were not exactly six ice cubes in his glass of tea. The cycle of bludgeoning accelerated, later laced with threats to kill their children, Jon and Ruthie, before dismembering her body. If hand towels were perfectly folded but the space between them was incorrect, Kevin might choke her until she lost
consciousness. "So after leaving him," Nyala writes, "no matter where my children and I lived, we deliberately hung our towels sloppily - not out of proposed rebellion, but as a marker: If we ever came in and found two hand towels folded precisely in thirds and hung on the towel bar with exactly one inch of space between them, it meant that he had been in the house. And might still be there." Knowing that Kevin is pursuing them, Nyala and her family live in terror. Her worst fear is realized when Kevin kidnaps their children. Numb with grief she can only put one foot in front of the other, turning to the mountains for spiritual solace and survival. The slow solitary process of studying footprints, tracking was her salvation. She learns to read broken twigs, bent grass, pebbles pressed into the earth, as well as to discern "The almost imperceptible trail a scorpion leaves behind." Eventually she met Frank, a park ranger who became her second husband. They move to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California's Mojave Desert. In graceful prose the author describes nature's world, the lush unexpectedness of desert flowers, animals scurrying to shade between rocks. She learns patience in the desert, and that "Tracking means learning to walk alongside, caring enough to reach out to other people." After being largely responsible for finding a lost child and the subject of attendant publicity, Nyala finds that her team mates regard her as competitor rather than comrade. Uncomfortable in this situation, she decides to pursue a college degree in anthropology. Being reunited with her children should provide the anticipated happy ending. But Nyala's life isn't written by the Brothers Grimm. Her marriage to Frank ends in an amicable divorce. While she is at last awarded custody of her children, Kevin is allowed to post bail. Her home is broken into sixteen times. She and the children find towels precisely folded in thirds hanging on the towel bar. Today Kevin is a free man. "Tracking marks my continued search for a safe place, while violence marks my repeated encounters with fear," she tells us. "Neither has yet canceled the other out." Nonetheless, Nyala's story is ultimately one of empowerment, growing strength, and survival. Point Last Seen is the compelling account of a family's courage, which speaks to all who love and seek to protect each other. - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful, compassionate, and presevering
Review: I loved this book immensely. Loved how she wove her two tales into one, loved how she unflinchingly followed her heart, loved that she had the courage to finish her journey despite the immensity of the obstacles. The most important point this book brought out was how the legal system adresses domestic violence. Hannah and her children received little or no protection from the law. When women tell the truth about their lives it may increase our awareness to the point where women and children will no longer have to fight such lengthy, grueling and lonely battles. Hannah was fortunate and strong, were it not so her story would not have such a successful outcome. As she says, "As we track we too are being tracked. Every action, every inaction, every word and every silence leaves clear signs for the next generation....By learning to really see and listen to one another...we can overcome what would destroy us"
Rating:
Summary: Wind softened tracks . . .
Review: I ordered this book before it was published because I am a woman tracker too . . and her tracking interludes in the book are facinating to me . . but the rest of the book made me wonder if you can add domestic violence to any subject and get it published as that's such a trendy subject.. Also the book left many many questions. Was it fiction or autobiographical? It never says anywhere. She talks about studying tracking in Africa . . briefly, too briefly. For those of us who track it was like finding the subjects tracks lightly etched on the trail . . .just as the wind picks up. I hope she picks up her subject again from the dust particles and fills in the trail.
Rating:
Summary: A highly recommended read
Review: I read this book in one sitting, my heart in my throat, anxious to know if everything would turn out all right. The author has done a masterful job of constructing the narrative in such a way that you are constantly picking up her tracks, following them for a bit, losing them only to pick them up at a later date or place. Her prose is deeply moving without being overwrought. Some will be disappointed that there is not more here: there was clearly more story that could have been told. Yet in keeping with the central metaphor of the book, Nyala's story must be reconstructed by the reader based on the tracks she has left behind.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: My mom is starting to make me read more books. I don't mind, personally I love to read. When I frist started reading this book I thought she was a little whiny. But as I read on and on I started seeing she had alot of reasons to. I thought it was a very good book, and I congratulate the author for writing this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic true story of survival and strength.
Review: Point Last Seen is a fantastic story of one woman's personal survival, growth and finding strength within herself. Hanna Nyala, after escaping a young and very violent, sadistic marriage, compounded by the loss of her children who were kidnapped by their father, goes into the desert to find some peace and refuge. She becomes a tracker at a national park, searching for lost hikers, children at peril, and in the process finds strength and comfort for herself. Nyala's calm, non self-pitying rendition of her story is powerfuly affecting, for this reader at least and likely many others. The story was recently made into one of the better made for tv movies starring Linda Hamilton. Nyala's quiet but powerful use of words, and her comparisons of the methods used in tracking as a metaphor for finding one's own path are uniquely expressed and inspiring. This is an unforgettable book.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating autobiography
Review: POINT LAST SEEN is a fascinating autobiography not because it provides an insightful look at a female tracker rising above an abusive relationship, but because the nonfiction book lacks the polished skills of a professional co-author sanitizing any feelings out of the account. Instead this time the reader obtains the heart-felt inner soul of an individual seeking to better herself and her children through a skill learned from her grandmother that brings the author in harmony with herself, her family (except the ex) and nature. Hannah Nyala describes the duality of her life. Her anecdotes of locating individuals lost in the wilds are incredible, as these stories read more like strong fiction similar in a sense to her wonderful novel, LEAVE NO TRACE. She also describes her personal life starting as a Mississippi dropout to becoming a teenage battered spouse with two children to her escape to freedom and finally to tracking her abducted children when her husband and his goons kidnap them. Though lacking a professional sheen, biography fans will want to track down this strong account of a woman survivor. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyed this book
Review: The author is successful at depicting an abusive relationship and it was helpful to me to understand why a person would stay in such a marriage. The concept was intriguing as well and I enjoyed learning something about tracking. I began to lose interest in the tracking side of the story, however, in the middle part of the book. It seemed to be a little repetitive and too many of the passages read like a freshmen composition on tracking. The action sequences that dealt with tracking were exciting and fun to read. Good luck to the author in the future.
| 
