At Home in the Woods

by Vena Angier

Vena and Bradford Angier were disillusioned with city life. Brad was a journalist, and Vena, a dance director. One day they packed up all their belongings and set off for a remote spot in the woods of British Columbia. This is the story of their first year "living the life of Thoreau today"--simply, happily and successfully.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Lifestyle, Outdoors, Memoir

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

Reviews

[Don Alesi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes you want to escape to the woods

A young couple who writes and work in the theater industry leave the big city and move to the far reaches of Canada. If you Are looking for tale of struggle and survival, then don't read this book. It's about the good things that living in a remote cabin can bring. The couple often quote writer Thoreau and his time in the woods. It takes place in the early 1950's. The book Reads like poetry and was nice relaxing read. Grab a cup of Pine Needle tea, curl up on your favorite recliner and enjoy this book while the rain pours outside.

[Terry Chatton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having lived in the small town of Chetwynd from the mid to late 70’s and having friends in the Hudson Hope area I visited often, I’m very familiar with the Upper Peace River district of British Columbia.
I first read this book in the mid/late 90’s and really didn’t give it much thought; in fact, I think I got bored and never quite finished it.
While downsizing a few months back, I came across the book in a box of old books ready for the donation bins, and thought, what the heck, I’ll read it again.
Time surely can change one’s perspectives!
As an aside, I have read a number of other “back to nature” books including Thoreau’s Walden which as noted in many reviews is liberally quoted from by the authors
I’m not about to denigrate the Angiers since both have passed away and cannot offer a rebuttal. I gave the book only 2 stars due to a number of basic issues I had with the story.
First off was how relatively easy they described their insertion into “wilderness living”—for 2 city folk from Boston who admitted to having minimal outdoor experience, let alone “survival” skills, hmmm, I do wonder. I’ve been an avid outdoorsman all my life and believe me, it can be very challenging to procure shelter, warmth, food and untainted water in the bush all at once. It takes a lsolid pre-prepared plan, a ton of time, a lot of work and plain old good luck(try gathering dry wood and making a fire when it’s been pouring rain all day)
Another reviewer notes Vena’s liberal use of Thoreau’s writings—my goodness, it got to the point where I wondered if I was rereading Walden with the Angiers’ Hudson Hope experiences substituted here and there in place of Thoreau’s experiences of day to day, season to season cabin and wilderness life!
In essence, this book should have been filed under Vena Angier as the author as she wrote the narrative and Bradford just commented now and then but, giving credit where credit is due, he did somehow always save the day when things got sticky
I will not list the numerous experiences the Angiers claimed happened to them I do question if many or all actually happened as described at all!!! ; after all, every author takes some literary license with the real facts. I’m aware there has been comments made that some(many?) of the experiences in the story were “borrowed” from various locals; that’s OK, I can live with that to a degree-keep in mind that the book was written to show Joe/Jill Public that a simple (sustenance) living lifestyle can be very rewarding in a number of ways—but, overall, in my opinion, I do think they made it all sound just a little too idyllic based on my own experiences.
The people I called friends who lived in the Hudson Hope/ Peace region that embraced a “alternative” lifestyle, were either descendents from a deeply rooted family heritage of living in the bush or were highly skilled individuals possessing a certain mindset and personality to embrace this kind of life and be successful doing so.
My final comment is to keep in mind the Angiers wrote 30 some books all told; so, they were definitely perceptive enough to recognize that their relatively short stay in the Peace River region translated into a cottage industry for themselves in the genre of “back to nature”, which, at the time, was a field almost wide open——kudos of course to Henry Thoreau and a few others that were at the forefront
My advice would be that if you are keen on reading At Home in the Woods, focus your attention on the narratives describing the awesome natural beauty of the Peace River area of British Columbia where Vena and Brad lived rather than how well (and arguably how easy), they mastered living (comfortably and thriving) in the wilderness.

[EThayer3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books about people packing up and moving to the woods in a cabin, far away from the fast life, intrigue me. This one takes place in the 1940's when a young couple leave Boston to live the life that Thoreau lived. Unlike Thoreau, however, they move to the the far lands of British Columbia, where any civilization is miles away with no easy way to get there.

This book was okay for me. What I would have liked to read about was more of their daily life, what their cabin was like, how they stocked it, their garden, what they did in the evenings, how they did their laundry, a floor plan of the cabin, etc. They obviously didn't have a bathroom but no mention was ever made of the "privy" they had to use or how they bathed. A map of the area would have been helpful also. They walked a lot and talked about neighboring lands. It would be easier to imagine what they were saying if it could be seen on a map.

Despite this not being one of my favorite retreat to the woods books I still would like to read some of the other books this couple has written.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brad and Vena Angier had always wanted to imitate their hero, Henry David Thoreau, and live a self-sufficient life in the wild. Instead they lived a dreary life in Boston - until the day they couldn't take it any more and decided to find somewhere wild to live. They decided on British Columbia, still largely unpopulated after WWII, and built themselves a log cabin in the woods, six miles from the nearest - very small - town. This book, written by both Brad and Vena, though told from Vena's point of view, is the story of their early years. I found it interesting, though sometimes a little overwritten, occasionally even gushing. They quote Thoreau constantly, as though they'd memorized Walden, and I found myself thinking that they were taking Thoreau very literally, perhaps too literally. Thoreau was not as isolated as Walden implies; he was only a few miles from Concord, which he visited frequently, and friends visited him at Walden just as frequently. The Angiers were not vegetarians like Thoreau, but hunted for meat. I have no quarrel with that, but wondered why the difference in outlook wasn't explained, or even touched on. The Angiers were good company, and I shivered for them when they went through a spell of -50 degree weather.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by Walden, a young couple from Boston moves to the wilderness of Hudson's Hope, British Columbia.

Copyright 1951. I feel like this spirit of high adventure is not so evident in today's America. A risky undertaking, sure, but aren't there more important things than being safe?

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying this book a lot. But as I read on I started to think that things were happening just a bit too easily for them. In fact, I believe a great deal of it was made up and once this is in your head it mars the enjoyment.
The speedy transition from city dwellers to backwoods people was at first surprising and then later, unbelievable.
Having said all this I enjoyed the description of this beautiful valley And how people lived their lives there.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why, they taunted, should we waste the best years of our lives earning money in order to enjoy a questionable freedom during the least valuable part?

My biggest gripe is just a small part of the book that talks about superstitious Indians, how can anyone who believes in any supernatural being criticize another persons beliefs as superstitious.

re-read first read in the early 1970s

[Joy Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book was written several decades ago, it is still a wonderful adventure in the wilderness with a young couple who want to live off the land. I read it when I was much younger, and just recently re-read it. It's still a wonderful choice if you love the wilderness.

[Fossil]

Copyright 1951

[David Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating...a true manual on surviving on one's own

[Danielle]

DNF

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me just say I didn't like the writing of this book. References to Thoreau on every page - "What Would Thoreau Do?" and unnatural dialog took me out.

Other books on the topic "Farewell My Subaru", "Better Off" are also annoying personal journals of people and their failed experiments of living on the land, off the grid and with nature.

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Not great writing. Copyright is 1951 by Bradford Angier, but it's written first person by Vena Angier. It's interesting to see how life was different and the same just 60 years ago.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Angiers use lots of Thoreau references to inspire their project. That's good as far as it goes. But there was very little of the transcendental thinking Thoreau used. I enjoyed the book on its own merit, as an adventure with purpose.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this as a Book on Tape. The Angiers wrote about their experience after they moved from the city to a remote area in the woods of British Columbia.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a spellbinding book about a period of living in the Canadian wilderness that I remember from reading 40 or so years ago.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassettes.

[Jan Vandermeer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read. I gained new respect for Vena who gave up a great deal to follow Brad and live his idealized lifestyle. In many ways a 1950's period piece.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

they were inspired by Thoreau. Great read.