Growing Out of Trouble

by Monty Don

Monty Don's own experience of recovering from depression and maintaining his sanity through gardening led him to set up an unusual project. This book is not only an account of the work of the project but also a passionate plea for us to recognize some painful truths about modern rural life.

294 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 2006

About the author

Montagu 'Monty' Denis Wyatt Don is a German-born British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.

Reviews

[Ashlee Kirschner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate giving this review. I love Monty Don - like we will name our dog after him kind of love Monty Don. This book started out incredible, but I was so disappointed in it. After a brilliant start, the remainder and majority of the book is mostly short journal entries of workers in the program. It would have been much, much better being told mostly as a story with short snippets of journal entries here and there. There was little flow, the same type of entries were given many times.

I’m sorry. I will read other Monty Don books, will continue watching anything he hosts. I still think of him as “England’s Head Gardener” but I would not recommend this particular book about an amazing project.

[Sally McRogerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent and inspirational. Monty Don's idea that young offenders working on the land would ground them, literally and metaphorically, is not all roses by any means, or cabbages come to that! Most of the people who are referred have some kind of addiction. I think this was pretty predictable but it seems to have caught him unawares. The scheme was as successful as anything of this nature ever is given the bureaucracy involved, which he found frustrating to say the least. Have planned a secondary treatment centre along these lines. Have the staff, the property, the ideology already in place. Now I just need £1.25m and I'll be laughing!!

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having not seen the documentary at the time this was an interesting book about the preparation and filming.

Being a Monty fan and avid gardener it ticked a box about the physical process of preparing the land and as a mental health worker it portrayed the people involved in the project accurately from my experience.

It is a shame to read it 18years on and the systems not be in place that made social and financial sense from the book.

I liked Monty's honesty and transparency about his frustrations and joys, chuckling at his choice language at times which seem incongruent to his persona.

[Bibliotraveller · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚 Zilele aceste am citit "Growing Out of Trouble" de Monty Don, o carte care m-a surprins și m-a făcut să privesc lupta cu dependența de droguri într-un mod profund.

Monty Don este bine cunoscut în lume iubitorilor de grădinărit pentru că are mai multe emisiuni și cărți despre acest subiect. El a decis să își folosească resursele, faima și dragostea pentru natură pentru a dezvolta un proiect social ambițios în care a vrut să ajute tineri vulnerabili, dependenți de droguri, să-și schimbe viața prin grădinărit și prin creșterea animalelor. Era ferm convins că, prin contactul cu natura, cu pământul, cu animalele, acești tineri pot fi ajutați să regăsească drumul spre ei înșiși, astfel încât să găsească puterea interioară de a renunța la droguri.

Cartea oferă o combinație de momente emoționante și lecții de viață puternice, dar și atât de multe momente în care autorul descoperă cât de greu le e dependenților de droguri să stea departe de heroină, dar și cât de accesibile sunt drogurile și cât de repede poate cineva să recadă.

Este o poveste despre reziliență, speranță și puterea comunității, dar și despre cât e de important să ai privirea de ansamblu atunci când dezvolți astfel de proiecte.

📚 Urmărește Bibliotraveller pentru mai multe recomandări de cărți care îți deschid mintea și sufletul! ✨

#bibliotraveller

[Janet Bird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed too much of a struggle to me. I felt maybe he shouldn't have bothered with them all. Did they appreciate the effort and time etc. Wouldn't want to read this again.