Balsamroot: A Memoir

by Mary Clearman Blew

Melding past and present into a moving narrative, Mary Clearman Blew imaginatively recreates the dry, dusty, sparsely populated Montana of the early homesteaders and of her aunt Imogene’s young womanhood. Striving to understand why her aunt chose a life alone, away from the ranch where she grew up, Blew evokes the rigors of her own growing-up years. We witness her yearnings for independence and escape; her own choices regarding marriage, divorce, and single parenthood; and the poignant reconnection with her daughter. A rich and unforgettable blend of intimate reflection, diaries, history, and local legend, Balsamroot reveals one of our top writers at her most personal and compelling.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

211 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Mary Clearman Blew is the author of the acclaimed essay collection All but the Waltz and the memoir Balsamroot. She is the editor of When Montana and I Were Young: A Memoir of a Frontier Childhood, available in a Bison Books edition. Her most recent novel, Jackalope Dreams, is also available in a Bison Books edition. She is a professor of English at the University of Idaho and has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, once in fiction and once in nonfiction. She is also the winner of a Western Heritage Award and the Western Literature Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

Reviews

[Denise DeRocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an endearingly personal experience for me to relive one of my favorite professor's voice, and to go back home myself to the familiar hills of Lewiston, Idaho and the brutality of the Montana high plains. Mixed in with personal accounts, this memoir recounts a favorite aunt's descent into Alzheimer's while juxtaposing her aunt's and her own histories. The writing is sparse and powerful; Blew'w personal insights are painful and poignant. A must read!!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how to react to this book. I felt as if I was listening to Mary Blew and don't really know what she was thinking--about her Aunt Imogene and about the men in her own life--and her daughters. Three generations of women in Idaho and Montana--with horses playing a big role in their lives.

The passages about Imogene's dimentia were heart breaking. I may try to find other book by Blew. What happened next to her? and to her daughters?

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the writing about landscape and the land. Wanted more about her aunt's life on the peninsula. Lots of stories here of family, dementia, strong women, and love.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, haunting. The sparse landscapes of Montana and Idaho are the perfect backdrop to a story about a niece watching her aunt lose her memory to dementia

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hearts are not had as a gift, but hearts are earned."

Such a beautiful nostalgic book about love, and family, and horses, and words left unsaid.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starts out in Port Angeles, Washington, where we stand with the narrator to look out onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca with an aunt who knows the shipping habits of various trawlers.

Soon enough, the narrative turns to the college town of Lewiston, Idaho, and to recollections of tough ranch life in mid-century, central Montana.

For me, the narrative went from what I thought was very clear and lucid, to a bit confusing, then on to clearer and more understandable. I think this was partly to illustrate the process of getting to know the aunt, and to show the process of recollection -- both by a person whose memory is relatively intact but has the failures that memory always has, and by the other person in the narrative, the aunt, who is developing dementia.

As is the case with most stories that involve dementia, this can be difficult. But I liked how accurately Blew captures the experience of living with a person who has dementia.

Aside from and intertwined with the action of getting to know the aunt and her dementia, there's the narrator's recollections of growing up in central Montana -- and her sympathetic speculations about her aunt's experiences growing up there too. The latter are based partly on terse but character-filled diary entries.

It's a book of the West -- but also a book about what happened to a family that emigrated from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to try to cultivate a ranch in Montana. It's fascinating in part because that Pennsylvania family tried so hard to replicate the order and verdant landscape of Bucks County, in the vast spaces of central Montana.

[Holly Foley (Procida) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several books of memoirs from non political or celebrity folks. Sometimes it is obvious why the person has not become famous, there isn't any thing very special about them or their story. Mary Clearman Blew is an exception. While her story isn't unique in that she describes the pretty mundane life story of her life including her aunt and daughter in the Midwest, the pieces she chooses to highlight are rather fascinating and well described. It has a very "tumbleweed" feel to it. It seems the path of her life is not as obvious and clear as one would suppose. Her aunt's love affair with an outlaw and her daughter's nice relationship and eager career choices are interesting topics. The person we learn the least about is the author herself. It was a really different read. I liked it.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this short memoir to be intelligent, personable, and full of sincere emotion. Since I know many of the places mentioned in the book, I had a special kinship with it as well. But I particularly enjoyed reading about the West, the land, the families. I also enjoyed how Blew writes just as much about herself as she does about her subject, her aunt, Imogene Welch. It reminded me of Doig's technique in Winter Brothers.

Imogene has her peculiarities and in this regard, she is the model for Aunt Sylvie in Marilynne Robinson's great novel, Housekeeping. As eccentric as she is, though, she is real; she has a personality coined in a divine mint.

I think this is a minor classic and could be taught in a class about the West, about memoirs, about families, about the Depression, about social customs, about a great deal of interesting topics.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of writing. Excellently woven story among generations of women in the West. I especially enjoyed reading about the Montana ranch days and the hardships associated with it. Often times it is a romantisized life, but Mary covers all the edges and gray areas, too. And then there's the reality of aging and caring for your loved ones. Every aspect of life is given voice here. Great read.

[Bev Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although there were some distractions in this book, I found it a compelling memoir.

[Lisa Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I really enjoyed this book. It is worth the time to read. Very engaging.