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Braving Home: Dispatches from the Underwater Town, the Lava-Side Inn, and Other Extreme Locales – A Moving Journey of Rootedness and Devotion to Place
“Part travelogue . . . part meditation on the meaning of home” (Wall Street Journal), Braving Home introduces readers to some of modern America’s most unusual, unforgettable pioneers. The cub reporter Jake Halpern — dubbed the Bad Homes Correspondent by his colleagues — sets out on a journey to some of the most unforgiving locales in America. He wanted to understand the people who live there — and more importantly why they refuse to leave. What results is an irresistible portrait of outlandish places and their most loyal residents. Meet a firefighting hillbilly in Malibu; a video store clerk who lives in a snowbound high-rise in Alaska; a hermit whose house in Hawaii, formerly an inn, is entirely surrounded by molten lava.Written in an infectious style and with “swashbuckling spirit” (Christian Science Monitor), Braving Home is an affectionate and affecting tale of rootedness in America.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 22, 2014
Feb. 24, 2010: I can oddly relate to these people featured in this book. I especially feel a kindred spirit in Babs of Whittier, Alaska. I wish Jake Halpern would write another book like this, God knows there must be more people out there "braving home". Halpern writes very well. He seems like a humble guy. And he must be pretty nice since everyone seemed to like having him around. I'm really glad I found this book, I won't soon forget these stories.
Dec. 22, 2014: I wanted to re-read this book (again) because I had myself another hankering to visit Whittier. It just sounds so nice there: the snow, the wind, the isolation. Being tucked away and out of the way. I know I'd be one of the folks who could make it there. Jake Halpern always proves himself to be a most formidable travel companion. He's welcome to come by my place if he ever plans to write a follow-up to this book. I live in an 800 square foot cape built in 1940. It's me, my husband, our three little kids and no closets. I'd call that "braving home". But like these folks that Jake gets to know, we somehow make it work and the end result is a cozy but cramped little nest. I really love this book, and Jake Halpern is such a likable guy. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to do a spot of oddball armchair travel.
Dec. 22, 2014: I wanted to re-read this book (again) because I had myself another hankering to visit Whittier. It just sounds so nice there: the snow, the wind, the isolation. Being tucked away and out of the way. I know I'd be one of the folks who could make it there. Jake Halpern always proves himself to be a most formidable travel companion. He's welcome to come by my place if he ever plans to write a follow-up to this book. I live in an 800 square foot cape built in 1940. It's me, my husband, our three little kids and no closets. I'd call that "braving home". But like these folks that Jake gets to know, we somehow make it work and the end result is a cozy but cramped little nest. I really love this book, and Jake Halpern is such a likable guy. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to do a spot of oddball armchair travel.
January 7, 2008
This is a quirky little book that focus on a series of fiercely independent individuals (all in different locations including Alaska, Hawaii, and the South), who resist leaving their homes, and, quite literally, remain the last man or woman standing. Included are the stories of: a man who who lived out of his carport after the Hurricane rather than dessert his home (even though his town was officially evacuated); a woman in California whose family doesn't leave during wild fires, but instead stays to fight the fires using wetted down flour sacks; a man who returns to his old neighborhood in Hawaii that is surrounded by lava. But the story I enjoyed the most was of a woman who lives in an apartment building in an Alaskan town where the wind creates such a fierce wind tunnel that residents' doors are often suctioned shut and they can't leave their apartments. These folks seemed to live out an almost mythic American spirit of ingenuity and stick-to-it-iveness.
did-not-finish
September 21, 2019I chose to stop reading this book because, even though it was interesting, the F-bomb and other foul language is scattered throughout. Granted, it's always when the author is quoting someone. I was personally just not interested in reading it anymore.
February 28, 2011
Braving Home sounds like the title of a survivor’s memoir, so I approached this book cautiously. I’ve got nothing against survivors’ memoirs (Morbid Curiosity magazine stands as testimony to that), but I started reading Braving Home in the middle, picking the essay that most appealed to me, figuring that I could skip the rest if needed. After that first essay, I was hooked. Halpern’s description of sitting on the lanai in the dark Hawaiian evening, watching the lava flow all around him, guaranteed I’d read on to see where else he would venture.
My initial interest was piqued by the locales Halpern visits: a bed-and-breakfast in the midst of an abandoned subdivision on the shoulders of an active volcano, the canyons of Malibu — “wildfire capital of North America.” The only omission I found in the book was when he explored an isolated high-rise built by the U.S. military in Alaska which has become a self-sustaining town — and Ballard’s book wasn’t mentioned. Very disappointing, but a minor point.
Beyond the locations, I grew curious about the people inhabiting these out-of-the-way places. First of these was a gentleman living in a trailer on the site of Princeville, North Carolina, the first free black town in the country. Princeville sits on the floodplain of the Tar River, regularly wipes the town off the map. Despite that, Thad Knight — 72-year-old son of a sharecropper — moved back as soon as the floodwaters receded and began to rebuild his home. Halpern’s curiosity is about what drives a person like that. Why would anyone choose to stay in a place that might kill him? What about the notion of “home” that ties a person to a piece of ground, come what may?
Halpern does remarkably well at leaving himself out of his stories. Even though he is the viewpoint character, Halpern doesn’t seem interested in telling us about himself. His focus is on the people he meets. Still, one has to marvel at a young man who drives out to a often-flooded town, planning to camp without checking the weather forecast (it called for rain), and ends up sleeping in a total stranger’s spare room for a week. Halpern’s hunger for home — and desire to get the story — require him to time his visits during the height of the danger: hurricane season on Louisiana's Grand Isle or Malibu in August. While he doesn’t seem like anyone who might be useful when the wildfire comes, he does appear to be a good listener. Braving Home demonstrates that he’s a good storyteller, too.
My initial interest was piqued by the locales Halpern visits: a bed-and-breakfast in the midst of an abandoned subdivision on the shoulders of an active volcano, the canyons of Malibu — “wildfire capital of North America.” The only omission I found in the book was when he explored an isolated high-rise built by the U.S. military in Alaska which has become a self-sustaining town — and Ballard’s book wasn’t mentioned. Very disappointing, but a minor point.
Beyond the locations, I grew curious about the people inhabiting these out-of-the-way places. First of these was a gentleman living in a trailer on the site of Princeville, North Carolina, the first free black town in the country. Princeville sits on the floodplain of the Tar River, regularly wipes the town off the map. Despite that, Thad Knight — 72-year-old son of a sharecropper — moved back as soon as the floodwaters receded and began to rebuild his home. Halpern’s curiosity is about what drives a person like that. Why would anyone choose to stay in a place that might kill him? What about the notion of “home” that ties a person to a piece of ground, come what may?
Halpern does remarkably well at leaving himself out of his stories. Even though he is the viewpoint character, Halpern doesn’t seem interested in telling us about himself. His focus is on the people he meets. Still, one has to marvel at a young man who drives out to a often-flooded town, planning to camp without checking the weather forecast (it called for rain), and ends up sleeping in a total stranger’s spare room for a week. Halpern’s hunger for home — and desire to get the story — require him to time his visits during the height of the danger: hurricane season on Louisiana's Grand Isle or Malibu in August. While he doesn’t seem like anyone who might be useful when the wildfire comes, he does appear to be a good listener. Braving Home demonstrates that he’s a good storyteller, too.
September 8, 2007
Funny, moving, and consistently fascinating. I had no idea there was an indoor town in Alaska, or a crazed loner surrounded by lava in Hawaii...this thing is easy to pick up on the cheap, so what are you waiting for?
August 22, 2019
Author coming to BHS - journalist has a chance to fly anywhere in the world thanks to a relative who works at the airline and wants to find out why people stay in their homes despite horrible living conditions. Meet Thad who won't leave Princeville NC even though it's underwater or Babs who is one of a couple hundred people that lives in Whittier Alaska where they get 250 inches of snow a year and the wind is so bad you can't go outside for days/weeks. Or the big island in Hawaii where lava surrounds your house or the wildfires in Malibu or a small island in New Orleans, Louisiana. Super interesting.
May 26, 2018
Well-written and insightful, I would recommend this for a book club choice because it stirs up so many thoughts. The main question: why did these people stay in homes like their's?
August 26, 2019
Easy, pleasant read. Wished there might have been a couple more examples.
September 5, 2007
"I come from a family with a long history of leaving places."
A writer at the New Republic, Halpern found himself drawn to individuals living in unusual locales after writing a story on Centralia, PA, where a 40-year-old coal mine fire has been burning underground and most people have been evacuated by the government. Halpern grew up in Buffalo "best known as a place people like to leave" & while he has a little experience with the long-term residents of his hometown, he himself has lived a fairly peripatetic life.
The locales he visits includes Princeville, NC - the oldest incorporated African-American US town that was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Floyd. Whittier AK is primarily one 14-story building, perched on a ledge of a mountain with a single tunnel entrance for train/car access. The lack of privacy and dark, windy winters send most folk running after 3 years. Jack Thompson runs a bed & breakfast in Hawaii - it's not terribly busy, because it's surrounded by lava. Halpern visits the last of the Malibu homesteaders: the Decker family has lived in one of the area canyons since the 1880's and has never fled from a fire. A barrier island in the Louisiana delta has faced its share of hurricanes, yet may not last through the end of the century.
Halpern proves himself more than a reporter - he stays with these "kooks" for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, showing them to be individuals with a strong sense of belonging, who can't imagine themselves anywhere else. His outlook is occasionally self-centered, but also provides insight into what it means to truly be "at home".
Recommended to anyone interested in human-interest stories with a touch of the unusual & very little syrupy-sweet sentiment.
Notes & Quotes
* Home = heaven in many Christian hymns - enforces the idea that an earthly home is temporary, yet somehow divine.
* Whittier AK - originally a military base - some compare it to the Overlook Hotel from The Shining
* Lava-side Inn - former subdivision now in a kipuka - area isolated by lava. Rain on active lava = steam whiteouts ... impossible to see.
* Malibu CA - wildfire capital of North America. -- "Fire is an irrepressible aspect of the region's ecosystem."
"Malibu hillbillies" = original families who don't flee from fires. Fight them "old style" - gunnysacks & barrels of water. Clear brush from around buildings (like everyone else should).
A writer at the New Republic, Halpern found himself drawn to individuals living in unusual locales after writing a story on Centralia, PA, where a 40-year-old coal mine fire has been burning underground and most people have been evacuated by the government. Halpern grew up in Buffalo "best known as a place people like to leave" & while he has a little experience with the long-term residents of his hometown, he himself has lived a fairly peripatetic life.
The locales he visits includes Princeville, NC - the oldest incorporated African-American US town that was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Floyd. Whittier AK is primarily one 14-story building, perched on a ledge of a mountain with a single tunnel entrance for train/car access. The lack of privacy and dark, windy winters send most folk running after 3 years. Jack Thompson runs a bed & breakfast in Hawaii - it's not terribly busy, because it's surrounded by lava. Halpern visits the last of the Malibu homesteaders: the Decker family has lived in one of the area canyons since the 1880's and has never fled from a fire. A barrier island in the Louisiana delta has faced its share of hurricanes, yet may not last through the end of the century.
Halpern proves himself more than a reporter - he stays with these "kooks" for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, showing them to be individuals with a strong sense of belonging, who can't imagine themselves anywhere else. His outlook is occasionally self-centered, but also provides insight into what it means to truly be "at home".
Recommended to anyone interested in human-interest stories with a touch of the unusual & very little syrupy-sweet sentiment.
Notes & Quotes
* Home = heaven in many Christian hymns - enforces the idea that an earthly home is temporary, yet somehow divine.
* Whittier AK - originally a military base - some compare it to the Overlook Hotel from The Shining
* Lava-side Inn - former subdivision now in a kipuka - area isolated by lava. Rain on active lava = steam whiteouts ... impossible to see.
* Malibu CA - wildfire capital of North America. -- "Fire is an irrepressible aspect of the region's ecosystem."
"Malibu hillbillies" = original families who don't flee from fires. Fight them "old style" - gunnysacks & barrels of water. Clear brush from around buildings (like everyone else should).
January 1, 2012
This book is about people who live in precarious locations. The author goes out and interviews several such people. They live in: Princeville, NC, a town that was destroyed by flooding during hurricane Floyd; Whittier AL, a windswept town isolated from the outside world on a peninsula; Royal Gardens HI, a subdivision that was overrun by lava flows from Kiluea volcano; Malibu, CA, where fires are a constant danger; and Grand Isle LA, a barrier island threatened by inundation from the Gulf of Mexico and hurricanes.
August 2, 2010
This is a fascinating look at those who seem so defined by the place they live, that leaving it is almost unthinkable. Mr. Halpern looks at several places which are less than ideal areas to call home, due to the frequency of natural disasters, or are quite secluded. My favorites were the man whose home is surrounded by lava from an erupting volcano and, the town of Whittier, AK (which is basically made up of a large apartment building).
May 30, 2010
Based on the standards of "number of times I read facts out to my husband", this book is a winner. The details of the house in the lava field, the Alaska highrise, the flooded town in NC...all really interesting. Life changing? Worth going out of your way for? Maybe not. Good trip reading. Sadly I couldn't finish the last story because it was set in Grand Isle, LA before both Katrina and the latest oil catastrophe and it made me too sad to think of what has surely been lost.
January 14, 2012
I can't help but be fascinated by the loners and hold-outs living in the dangerous and life-threatening places detailed in this book. I suppose that's the whole point though. There are people unwilling to give up their homes even if they're located on an active volcano or through a mountain tunnel. Some have good reason, like hiding from abusive exes, but most are just stubborn and so unwilling to accept change that they're now hermits in their own homes. Likable hermits though!
May 3, 2012
Not a bad book - but not for everyone. It took me a while to get through. In fact, I believe I read four or five other novels in the time I was working on this one. However, I do like to read non-fiction (particularly done by journalists) and this fits the bill. It's really like a long-form newspaper or magazine article - more accurately a series of them about people with an incredible attachment to home.
November 30, 2014
heard halpern on the longform podcast and picked this up - the notion of a "bad homes" beat at the new republic was an endearing concept. billed as a book about houses, but this is really a collection of character portraits - what compels anyone to live at the margins of society, anyway? the stories are a good ride, but there's no grand insight into humanity at the end of braving home - the answer we get is "stubbornness, mostly."
January 17, 2015
I really liked this book! I wish there had been more than 5 stories for the author to tell. I'm sure there are; perhaps travel money was his prohibiting factor.
It was written more than a decade ago. I'm really curious about what had happened to these 5 people since. Is Jack's house still standing? What did hurricane Katrina do to Grand Isle? Did Ambrose and the other storm riders brave out that storm? I'm going to have to do some research...
It was written more than a decade ago. I'm really curious about what had happened to these 5 people since. Is Jack's house still standing? What did hurricane Katrina do to Grand Isle? Did Ambrose and the other storm riders brave out that storm? I'm going to have to do some research...
July 17, 2007
A really fun excursion into the lives of 5 people living in extreme places. On a lava flow in Hawaii, for example. It's a pet peeve of mine that people choose to live somewhere that is totally unsustainable and generally not somewhere fit for human habitation. Los Angeles, for example. BUT, I will admit that this books rather tender portraits did soften me up a bit. And its well-written.
January 20, 2009
This was such an interesting book. about people who live in downright unhospitable places and their reasons for doing so. His writing is very descriptive and I felt like I was there right beside him when he investigated these places. I really enjoyed this book and am surprised more people haven't read it or heard of it.
June 9, 2015
Well written and a quick read, Halpern details the lives and unique personal qualities of five people who are place bound by circumstance, preference or destiny, in homes located in extraordinary situations: on a Hawaiian lava flow, in an Alaska vertical building, on a Louisiana flood plain and in the fire-prone canyons above Los Angeles.
June 14, 2007
very interesting story about people living in places that they shouldn't be! especially interesting after living in Mississippi after Katrina and seeing folks moving back to New Orleans. Was also friends with the author in highschool so I'm perhaps a bit biased!
February 14, 2009
I really liked this quirky little book. Jake Halpern told this tale of 5 people who cling to their homes not matter what along with a tiny bit of wonder why philosophy. This would be like a trip I'd love to take but probably am not brave enough. Its nice to know there are folks like this out there.
September 16, 2015
Great book---one of those piece-of-Americana type books. On the road with Charles Kurault type books. Now I have to do some checking and see if there are any updates on these folks and where they live. Sign of a good read is that it leaves you wanting more!
June 7, 2007
People live in some crazy places--in the middle of a lava flow, in a city enclosed in a giant condo. He paints a picture of a few of the people who practice "extreme living" on a daily basis.
November 10, 2007
It is beautiful and protrays all the goodness of humanity.
February 27, 2008
Riveting tales from folks who live near wildfires in California, hurricane zones, and lava fields in Hawaii.
July 27, 2008
I enjoyed reading this book. Not only did Halpern describe about these unique places, he did a follow up a year later which was kind of neat in and of itself.
Read
July 31, 2008I thought it was going to take forever for me to read because it was so slow, however it turned out to be a great read.
February 25, 2009
This is a fun quirky book that made me think about my definition of home.
January 10, 2011
An engaging, warmly reported account of home - no matter how off-putting. No answers given, but the quesitons are interestingly raised.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews