The Peninsula

by Louise Dickinson Rich

"Most of us, I suppose, at one time or another experience a longing for another way of life...By chance, I have had that opportunity, and I'd like to tell you about it."

Genres: Memoir, History, Nonfiction

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Writer known for fiction and non-fiction works about New England, particularly Massachusetts and Maine. Mrs. Rich grew up in Bridgewater where her father was the editor of a weekly newspaper. She met Ralph Eugene Rich, a Chicago businessman, on a Maine canoe trip in 1933 and they married a year later. Mr. Rich died in 1944. Her best-known work was her first book, the autobiographical We Took to the Woods, (1942) set in the 1930s when she and husband Ralph, and her friend and hired help Gerrish, lived in a remote cabin near Lake Umbagog. It was described as "a witty account of a Thoreau-like existence in a wilderness home

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is where I grew up! My nana and my relatives of this small island community are all in this book. I'm honored she wrote about this place. It has always been my little slice of heaven on earth. My Great Auntie Ruth died at 101, gardening until she was 100. She lived just across the road from the cottage LDR lived in while staying on Crowley Island.

[Katherine Hauswirth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this (used) book while staying at Acadia National Park. Rich writes about land adjacent to Schoodic Point, where I stayed. All in all, I loved Rich's voice. I also got "The Natural World of Louise Dickinson Rich," and preferred that one over this, since the focus stayed on nature. The only negative comment I have about this book is that Rich is SO enthused about the people of Corea, Maine, that sometimes parts of the text can come across as just slightly cloying and one-dimensional. That said, I loved the book 90% of the time and it often made me long to be back in Maine, and also to live more simply and in more contact with the natural rhythms of the world. I found it interesting that Rich, who originally published the book in 1958, noted the prevalence of the longing for simplicity, even back then!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

After living on the peninsula, Louise writes a heartfelt description of the people and their lives, the land, the animals and more. Those who love Maine as she did will enjoy this book.

[Shirley Klooster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I smiled all the while I was reading this book! Author writes in a style that puts you "there" physically and emotionally. Love these people who are real, satisfied with their lifestyle as well as accepting of others and learn to live with the earth and the natural forces which they cannot alter.
Two impressive thoughts:
1. "One cannot live in true community with others until he has learned to live within himself."
2. "We can't go back into the past; but should we leave the past entirely behind us? Should we dismiss the primitive life of long ago as anachronistic ad of only academic interest? Was there not something there which we should try to preserve for the future? Did the people not possess things that we can't afford to jettison and forget?"

[Dory · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have said, this may not be the most compelling read of all of LDR's books, but I enjoyed it all the same. Her writing is evocative of a time now long past in rural coastal Maine, and I could see a glimpse of some of the places I knew decades ago. Her writing is warm and friendly and a little bit introspective. I wish I could time travel back to spend an afternoon with her in her cabin on the Gouldsboro peninsula, still a place of great, remote beauty.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was pretty slow going, although it is interesting to see the author change if you have read the previous three books in order. She has clearly grown a lot and you see more signs of faith than in previous books, which is interesting. She doesn't go into specific stories about the people in this place (coastal Maine...I forget the name of the town, but a bit south of Bar Harbor, I think), probably to preserve their privacy, but it makes the book a lot less interesting. There is a lot of history of the peninsula which, while well-written, is pretty slow. I liked this less than her previous three books.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best read while actually on The Peninsula. LDR proves once again that she's pretty timeless in her keen observation and commentary.

"Perhaps that is what I had come to the Peninsula to learn: that isolation is not estrangement from life, that across the void that separates man from man and from the wild things it is possible to flash a light, to transmit a voice, to send a glance or a thought; and that one cannot live in true community with others until he has learned to live with himself."

[Lisa Mckinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reminded how much fun it is to read Louise Dickinson Rich and what an awesome observer of the world she is.

[SheilaRaeO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vintage