On All Sides Nowhere

by William Gruber

When Bill Gruber left Philadelphia for graduate school in Idaho, he and his wife decided to experience true rural living. His longing for the solitude and natural beauty that Thoreau found on Walden Pond led him to buy an abandoned log cabin and its surrounding forty acres in Alder Creek, a town considered small even by Idaho standards. But farm living was far from the bucolic wonderland he he now had to rise with the sun to finish strenuous chores, cope with the lack of modern conveniences, and shed his urban pretensions to become a real local. Despite the initial hardships, he came to realize that reality was far better than his wistful fantasies. Instead of solitude, he found a warm, welcoming community; instead of rural stolidity, he found intelligence and wisdom; instead of relaxation, he found satisfaction in working the land. What began as a two-year experiment became a seven-year love affair with a town he'll always consider home.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Will Dole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part memoir, part American History, part anthropology, and part philosophy. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As someone who grew up driving and hiking around Alder Creek (was just there with my brother last month) and living at the foot of the Benewah in the early 2000s, I found this a fascinating glimpse into life in 1970s Idaho.

Gruber, as an outsider, has the perspective to notice the peculiarities of life up Alder. But he doesn’t write them up sarcastically or condescendingly. He writes from a perspective of love for the place and its people.

Well worth the time.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

He had some thoughts on living in rural Idaho that I could relate to from my childhood and young adult years. There were some interesting characters and beautiful descriptions. It was a good book to read a little then put down for awhile.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in light of an impending move to Idaho, and it fit the bill for what I was looking for. It's a chronicle of a time the author spent living as a graduate student in Idaho, where he and his wife chose to get a house way out in the middle of the country. The main message here is that often the more isolated you become geographically, the closer you are to your community. It's clear that Gruber considers the time he spent there as some of the best, if not the best years in his life, and he openly tells the reader that he wrote this book as a bit of a love letter to his neighbors. In a time when political ideologies split our country dangerously, he reminds us that deep wisdom and intelligence are found in people who may have been written off by coastal America.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I was looking for someone's thoughts and experiences about life in rural Idaho and was rewarded by a book that not only proved very insightful but is so well written that is very hard to put down.

The author artfully paints a picture of what his experiences were through a series of anecdotal essays, all of which contain hidden gems of the practical aspects of such a life. His style is humorous yet meaningful. The book is full of literary references that make me want to seek them out and read them as well.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book somewhat goes in chronological order from when the author moved to Northern Idaho until he moves to Atlanta. He has an interesting way of describing his experiences about learning to live in a very rural area. He talks about Coeur d'Alene and Moscow, ID a lot, both towns that I'm familiar with, so I had a general idea about the area he was living in.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I've read this book of essays about living in Northern Idaho in the late 70s. It makes me feel like I'm at home again...