If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska @ richardeward.com

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska
by Heather Lende
from Algonquin Books

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• from light to literary...
  At first I found this book to be a fun, light read, something I could pick up when I just had a few minutes to sit and read. It reads like something you'd hear on NPR, small town tidbits. Yet, about 2/3 of the way through, the author slowly starts to delve deeper into her own thoughts, her own heart, and starts to reveal a part of herself that is not only dark at times, but is so honest you almost feel guilty, like you're listening in on someone else's confession.
  The last few chapters of this book are... more info

• Could have been great.
  I lived for several years in Alaska and my wife thought I would enjoy this book, which she got through Paperback Swap. I read the book during a recent illness and only finished it because I felt I had to, not because there was any epiphany to be gained in the last few pages. I realized this early-on, but kept reading only to learn more of the well-described and interesting people that are part of Lende's social circle. Alaska seems to bring out the best some of its citizens- and I have known some really... more info

• Memoir that shows beauty, danger, and community in small town Alaska
  Heather Lende is a freelance writer, commentator for National Public Radio, and obituary writer for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines, Alaska. "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" is a portrait of life in Haines--a small isolated Southeast Alaska town dominated by awe-inspiring wildlife, majestic mountains, and 1,800 people (give or take) who manage to tenaciously hold onto their rugged individuality yet know when to set their individuality aside for the sake of greater goods (e.g. families in need of... more info

• If You Died There, She'd Write About You
  Though I enjoyed reading about Haines and parts of this author's life, the preoccupation with death throughout this book was overwhelming. Death of relatives, strangers, friends, animals. Accidental death. Death by falling, by weather, by cancer, by boats sinking, by airplanes crashing. Fear of death. Near death. Funerals. Researching and writing obituaries. Anniversaries of loved ones dying. Even when it seems a chapter is going to be about a different subject, within a few pages it seems like death always... more info

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