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Surviving the Island of Grace: A Life on the Wild Edge of America
Reminiscent of the best of Matthiessen, Dillard, and Erlich, Leslie Leyland Fields's Alaskan memoir is an inspiring narrative of life in the wild.
"Surviving the Island of Grace" is a beautiful and haunting memoir of a woman who left the East Coast and moved to Alaska looking for a new life. In brilliant prose, Leslie Fields tells her story of adapting to life on a wilderness island without running water, telephones, or other 20th century conveniences. Here, as a 20-year-old newlywed, she is immersed into the world of commercial salmon fishing. With an unflinching gaze, she explores the extremes that define her new the beauty and brutality of commercial fishing, the startling land and seascape around her, the isolation, the physical labor, the intensity of communal island life. Among these extremes, she must find her way from a young woman to wife, commercial fisherwoman, and mother. She explores as well, perhaps most eloquently of all, her unique New Hampshire childhood and its role in preparing her for her life in the bush.
With its dramatic Alaskan setting and moving narrative, "Surviving the Island of Grace" is a poetic and powerful book.
"Surviving the Island of Grace" is a beautiful and haunting memoir of a woman who left the East Coast and moved to Alaska looking for a new life. In brilliant prose, Leslie Fields tells her story of adapting to life on a wilderness island without running water, telephones, or other 20th century conveniences. Here, as a 20-year-old newlywed, she is immersed into the world of commercial salmon fishing. With an unflinching gaze, she explores the extremes that define her new the beauty and brutality of commercial fishing, the startling land and seascape around her, the isolation, the physical labor, the intensity of communal island life. Among these extremes, she must find her way from a young woman to wife, commercial fisherwoman, and mother. She explores as well, perhaps most eloquently of all, her unique New Hampshire childhood and its role in preparing her for her life in the bush.
With its dramatic Alaskan setting and moving narrative, "Surviving the Island of Grace" is a poetic and powerful book.
330 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2002
14 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Leyland Fields
31 books133 followersWhen you see her, Leslie may be wearing a silk dress and fishnets or wearing Xtra-Tuff boots and mending fishing nets, depending on whether she’s at her fishcamp in the Alaska wilderness or on a speaking tour “Outside.” She’s happy in both places talking about the books, places and topics that move her most.
She's the multi-award winning author of 12 books, with her 12th forthcoming in April, 2020. (Your Story Matters) Her list includes Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt and the Seas; Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers; The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God (Cascade), Surviving the Island of Grace: A Life on the Wild Edge of America (Thomas Dunne), and Parenting is Your Highest Calling . . . and Eight Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt (Waterbrook), and five others. Her essays have won a number of awards and have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Christianity Today, Beliefnet, Books and Culture, Orion, etc. She takes on garbage, a theology of the body, culture-making, motherhood, narrative theology and points between and beyond. Her essays have won Pushcart nominations, the William Wilberforce Award and the Virginia Faulkner Award.
“As much as I love words on the page, I’m not fully satisfied until I get to speak them in person with others,” Leslie adds. She says she’s honored to travel and share from her passions nationally and internationally at conferences, universities, churches and retreats. With three master’s degrees, she has taught collegiate and undergraduate classes for many years, including six years in Seattle Pacific University’s MFA program. If she can’t see her audience, radio is a good second. She has appeared on more than 150 radio shows including Family Life Today, Prime Time America, Keepin' the Faith, Chris Fabry Live!
Leslie blogs at www.leslieleylandfields.com about life in her house, in the wild and on the road. She lives in Kodiak, Alaska with her husband and two teens. In the summer, her four older children return to their fishcamp island where cell phones don’t work, and where they all happily (sometimes) work together in commercial salmon fishing. You can reach her at leslieleylandfields@gmail.com
She's the multi-award winning author of 12 books, with her 12th forthcoming in April, 2020. (Your Story Matters) Her list includes Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt and the Seas; Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers; The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God (Cascade), Surviving the Island of Grace: A Life on the Wild Edge of America (Thomas Dunne), and Parenting is Your Highest Calling . . . and Eight Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt (Waterbrook), and five others. Her essays have won a number of awards and have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Christianity Today, Beliefnet, Books and Culture, Orion, etc. She takes on garbage, a theology of the body, culture-making, motherhood, narrative theology and points between and beyond. Her essays have won Pushcart nominations, the William Wilberforce Award and the Virginia Faulkner Award.
“As much as I love words on the page, I’m not fully satisfied until I get to speak them in person with others,” Leslie adds. She says she’s honored to travel and share from her passions nationally and internationally at conferences, universities, churches and retreats. With three master’s degrees, she has taught collegiate and undergraduate classes for many years, including six years in Seattle Pacific University’s MFA program. If she can’t see her audience, radio is a good second. She has appeared on more than 150 radio shows including Family Life Today, Prime Time America, Keepin' the Faith, Chris Fabry Live!
Leslie blogs at www.leslieleylandfields.com about life in her house, in the wild and on the road. She lives in Kodiak, Alaska with her husband and two teens. In the summer, her four older children return to their fishcamp island where cell phones don’t work, and where they all happily (sometimes) work together in commercial salmon fishing. You can reach her at leslieleylandfields@gmail.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
June 11, 2012
I think I'm only able to judge this story so harshly because I make my own living in the AK commercial fishing industry AND I spent five years living in remote Alaska (year-round) with my family of four.
A poor girl from NH (loser dad and a mom who makes it by restoring houses) meets Duncan, an AK fisherman, while in college. They married young and spent 15 seasons going to Bear Island off Kodiak to set net fish with his family. She writes alot about life threatening situations and gale force winds and being in a wood skiff. I doubt it's like that as often as she makes it sound but that impression makes an exciting book. She really emphasizes how her husband cuts her NO slack when she's working in the skiff - (BIG SPOILER ALERT HERE) one day she has a miscarriage while working; he drops her off on the beach and she cleans up the blood and he told her to "Hurry Up" and she got back in the skiff. I'm sorry, but NO stupid salmon would have allowed me to be treated that way!
I was angered that she struggled with her identity...am I a worker (packer of fish) or a woman (laundry & food). She found it impossible to be both. To me, it didn't sound like she liked either one. It sounds to me what she likes is "being different" - she sounds happiest when she writes about being in the city and teaching English and Writing.
By the end of the book I dislike her husband and think his family is probably a weird "clannish" group (not unusual in the AK bush). the mother-in-law didn't seem to welcome or help her. The author was silent to that relationship and since she and Duncan moved to the island next door I assume it's strained.
I'm surprised she titles this book "Surviving..." as if this uncontrollable thing happened to her. It should have been called "Finding" or "Choosing" or "Reconciling". Maybe the title choice was a PR thing.
I did enjoy her long and frequent discourse on laundry. It rang true and brought back my own memories.
The last page said she now knows she was looking for "wholeness and freedom"..."I know now that what I was looking for was not something that can be found, not in a place or person - it must be made, and it is made out of whatever is around you, whatever is given to you". I did like that thought. She compared her life to a barnacle - a creature entrapped but protected by its shell. I find that a sad conclusion.
Many of the stories in the book seem "off". Like when they were set to go into town & planes couldn't fly so they went camping instead....I know how much work it is to go to town...you'd just go the next day - not switch gears and go camping. The other "off" thing relates to her spiritual references. The entire book is about her close calls and frustrations. She doesn't even make herself sound like a good mom. I didn't read any spiritual growth....definitely not very "other centered". The concept of Grace from God can only be found through a spirit of thankfulness...I just didn't pick up on that at all!
A poor girl from NH (loser dad and a mom who makes it by restoring houses) meets Duncan, an AK fisherman, while in college. They married young and spent 15 seasons going to Bear Island off Kodiak to set net fish with his family. She writes alot about life threatening situations and gale force winds and being in a wood skiff. I doubt it's like that as often as she makes it sound but that impression makes an exciting book. She really emphasizes how her husband cuts her NO slack when she's working in the skiff - (BIG SPOILER ALERT HERE) one day she has a miscarriage while working; he drops her off on the beach and she cleans up the blood and he told her to "Hurry Up" and she got back in the skiff. I'm sorry, but NO stupid salmon would have allowed me to be treated that way!
I was angered that she struggled with her identity...am I a worker (packer of fish) or a woman (laundry & food). She found it impossible to be both. To me, it didn't sound like she liked either one. It sounds to me what she likes is "being different" - she sounds happiest when she writes about being in the city and teaching English and Writing.
By the end of the book I dislike her husband and think his family is probably a weird "clannish" group (not unusual in the AK bush). the mother-in-law didn't seem to welcome or help her. The author was silent to that relationship and since she and Duncan moved to the island next door I assume it's strained.
I'm surprised she titles this book "Surviving..." as if this uncontrollable thing happened to her. It should have been called "Finding" or "Choosing" or "Reconciling". Maybe the title choice was a PR thing.
I did enjoy her long and frequent discourse on laundry. It rang true and brought back my own memories.
The last page said she now knows she was looking for "wholeness and freedom"..."I know now that what I was looking for was not something that can be found, not in a place or person - it must be made, and it is made out of whatever is around you, whatever is given to you". I did like that thought. She compared her life to a barnacle - a creature entrapped but protected by its shell. I find that a sad conclusion.
Many of the stories in the book seem "off". Like when they were set to go into town & planes couldn't fly so they went camping instead....I know how much work it is to go to town...you'd just go the next day - not switch gears and go camping. The other "off" thing relates to her spiritual references. The entire book is about her close calls and frustrations. She doesn't even make herself sound like a good mom. I didn't read any spiritual growth....definitely not very "other centered". The concept of Grace from God can only be found through a spirit of thankfulness...I just didn't pick up on that at all!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2016
It was a family business that stretched back decades, but Fields's entry to commercial salmon fishing was incidental: she married a fisherman, and thus she became one. Surviving the Island of Grace is her chronicle through her own first years of being a wife and salmon fisher.
What's so interesting about the book, I think, is the contrast. Or rather, the contrasts. Fishing is hard physical labour, but the characters populating Fields's world are not uneducated; in the off season, they teach piano and Greek and English and Latin, live in cities, travel the world. In fact, says Fields, I was not afraid of slumming around the world, but this represented everything I feared: living in a small town, like the ones I grew up in; knowing everyone, losing privacy and anonymity (315). She loves her isolated summer life even as she struggles with it.
Fields also writes extensively about her childhood, filling in a number of important pieces for me. Before she went into any depth there, I'd been viewing her move to fishing as about as far as she could get from her upbringing—I'd assumed, I guess, that her family background was full of academics and upper-middle-class comfort and so on and so forth. Not so. To the outside world, it might have looked that way, but theirs was a constant, constant struggle to keep in the black. Much of that struggle was achieved through physical labour: buying a house, renovating it, selling it, buying another house. Months and months without heat. It's not the same kind of work as salmon fishing, of course (speaking of which: I could have used a bit more detail on the fishing itself, because I couldn't always work out what was going on when; or why they sometimes had to finish before, say, 9:00; or how many people were on a given boat), but it was a sort of preparation. (A complicated one—there's an intricate dance of Fields trying to prove herself, and struggling with being wife/mother/worker...a hard balance to find, and maintain.)
But when I chose all of this back in 1977, I did not know what I was choosing. I looked off now and saw a glacier to the east, the mountains hovering over the bay, their ridges sawing the air; I could almost hear distant rivers foaming to the wife gray Straits. It was as wild and clean and vast a place as when I first had come, but I hadn't known how or what to measure then. What if I hadn't come? I try to see who I could have been had I stayed in New Hampshire, but I can't see anything clearly, only the girl that used to be there: She is still not pretty; she is crying—no, she has decided she will no longer cry. Her face is blurred, but I know what she is looking for—wholeness and freedom. I came here with Duncan at twenty, certain I had found it in him and in this clean, cold ocean and green mountain island. I know now that what I was looking for is not something that can be found, not in a place or a person—it must be made, and it is made out of whatever is around you, whatever is given to you. (329)
What's so interesting about the book, I think, is the contrast. Or rather, the contrasts. Fishing is hard physical labour, but the characters populating Fields's world are not uneducated; in the off season, they teach piano and Greek and English and Latin, live in cities, travel the world. In fact, says Fields, I was not afraid of slumming around the world, but this represented everything I feared: living in a small town, like the ones I grew up in; knowing everyone, losing privacy and anonymity (315). She loves her isolated summer life even as she struggles with it.
Fields also writes extensively about her childhood, filling in a number of important pieces for me. Before she went into any depth there, I'd been viewing her move to fishing as about as far as she could get from her upbringing—I'd assumed, I guess, that her family background was full of academics and upper-middle-class comfort and so on and so forth. Not so. To the outside world, it might have looked that way, but theirs was a constant, constant struggle to keep in the black. Much of that struggle was achieved through physical labour: buying a house, renovating it, selling it, buying another house. Months and months without heat. It's not the same kind of work as salmon fishing, of course (speaking of which: I could have used a bit more detail on the fishing itself, because I couldn't always work out what was going on when; or why they sometimes had to finish before, say, 9:00; or how many people were on a given boat), but it was a sort of preparation. (A complicated one—there's an intricate dance of Fields trying to prove herself, and struggling with being wife/mother/worker...a hard balance to find, and maintain.)
But when I chose all of this back in 1977, I did not know what I was choosing. I looked off now and saw a glacier to the east, the mountains hovering over the bay, their ridges sawing the air; I could almost hear distant rivers foaming to the wife gray Straits. It was as wild and clean and vast a place as when I first had come, but I hadn't known how or what to measure then. What if I hadn't come? I try to see who I could have been had I stayed in New Hampshire, but I can't see anything clearly, only the girl that used to be there: She is still not pretty; she is crying—no, she has decided she will no longer cry. Her face is blurred, but I know what she is looking for—wholeness and freedom. I came here with Duncan at twenty, certain I had found it in him and in this clean, cold ocean and green mountain island. I know now that what I was looking for is not something that can be found, not in a place or a person—it must be made, and it is made out of whatever is around you, whatever is given to you. (329)
September 3, 2022
This memoir was wholly engaging and fascinating. Leslie met her husband-to-be in college, and as soon as they were married she joined his family in salmon fishing off of a small island in Alaska, something they returned to each summer. It was a grueling and physically taxing job, especially for a woman. The weather was brutal, the deadlines created great stress, the nets needed mending, there was little time for sleep. If that wasn't enough, the household chores required carrying buckets of water from afar and scrubbing clothes in prehistoric fashion.
There were times I felt angry at Leslie's husband, who required so much from her. At one point she miscarried and at another time she had to set aside her nursing baby to tend to the nets. It seemed inhumane and brutal, but Leslie worked through the pain, discarded the bitterness, and remained stalwart. This book is written from a perspective of deep faith, and is imbued with the grace of forgiveness and love. No one comes through to such victories easily, and the physical battles at sea mirrored some of the inner battles that needed to be won.
I will never look at a salmon the same way again! Great book.
There were times I felt angry at Leslie's husband, who required so much from her. At one point she miscarried and at another time she had to set aside her nursing baby to tend to the nets. It seemed inhumane and brutal, but Leslie worked through the pain, discarded the bitterness, and remained stalwart. This book is written from a perspective of deep faith, and is imbued with the grace of forgiveness and love. No one comes through to such victories easily, and the physical battles at sea mirrored some of the inner battles that needed to be won.
I will never look at a salmon the same way again! Great book.
July 10, 2009
I really liked this book. I grew up in Kodiak, Alaska and I knew about the place she spoke of and recognized alot of the names. It was a compelling story and as the daughter of a former fisherman it is one I continue to re-read. Leslie is an amazing woman, and an inspiration.
March 10, 2013
Brilliant writing and fascinating account of life on Harvester Island, Alaska. I am following Leslie's blog and Facebook account to keep up with her now that I'm done reading. Simply fascinated by this life so different than my own!
February 16, 2016
I came home just recently from a writers workshop that Leslie held on Harvester Island. I must have read the book 2 years ago and was amazed at how she wove her childhood into life in Alaska. She is a fantastic woman!
December 2, 2021
Another powerful memoir by Leslie Leyland Fields.
I enjoyed reading this memoir about the author’s life in the Alaskan wilderness. She revived my dreams of visiting Alaska with her enticing descriptions of that part of America.
Even though I’ve never been to Alaska, I could relate to the author’s struggles on many levels—from her childhood to her coming of age, college, marriage, motherhood, and more. She also captured my attention with her struggle with moving away from her family and settling in a wilderness environment—the wildlife, the dangers, and the adventure. I admired her vulnerability, exposed in the descriptions of her isolated life circumstances and relational struggles.
I also appreciated her openness about her faith, especially her stories about wrestling with difficult moments and decisions. I recommend this well-written memoir to anyone who enjoys reading about true-life adventures and faith stories.
I enjoyed reading this memoir about the author’s life in the Alaskan wilderness. She revived my dreams of visiting Alaska with her enticing descriptions of that part of America.
Even though I’ve never been to Alaska, I could relate to the author’s struggles on many levels—from her childhood to her coming of age, college, marriage, motherhood, and more. She also captured my attention with her struggle with moving away from her family and settling in a wilderness environment—the wildlife, the dangers, and the adventure. I admired her vulnerability, exposed in the descriptions of her isolated life circumstances and relational struggles.
I also appreciated her openness about her faith, especially her stories about wrestling with difficult moments and decisions. I recommend this well-written memoir to anyone who enjoys reading about true-life adventures and faith stories.
March 16, 2021
Wonderfully inspiring!
Loved the story ...an amazing life and an incredible woman. Loved the book and the author's style of relating her experiences.! 5 stars for the story!
Unfortunately, spell check has auto corrected numerous words incorrectly. Almost every page has at least one wrong spelling! This really interrupted my train of thought and totally distracted me from the storyline. It was hard focus back to the wonderful story.
Loved the story ...an amazing life and an incredible woman. Loved the book and the author's style of relating her experiences.! 5 stars for the story!
Unfortunately, spell check has auto corrected numerous words incorrectly. Almost every page has at least one wrong spelling! This really interrupted my train of thought and totally distracted me from the storyline. It was hard focus back to the wonderful story.
May 9, 2023
At the Festival of Faith and Writing in 2018, I purchased Fields’ just-launched anthology The Wonder Years then read Crossing the Waters, Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers, and her wonderful resource Your Story Matters. To understand her story, however, I needed to start at the beginning: Surviving the Island of Grace. What a story of courage, grit, faith, personal insight and growth! I highly recommend.
March 9, 2025
A memoir of uncommon grit and determination
A remarkable story that often kept me on the edge of my seat! Leslie has true grit and determination, making and yielding to a challenging yet rich life in a grand but formidable part of the world. It is a story beautifully told in a way you can imagine yourself right there with her. Fantastic read!
A remarkable story that often kept me on the edge of my seat! Leslie has true grit and determination, making and yielding to a challenging yet rich life in a grand but formidable part of the world. It is a story beautifully told in a way you can imagine yourself right there with her. Fantastic read!
April 16, 2024
I Want More
I love true stories and I especially loved this one. Authentic, beautifully written with loads of adventure included. It’s the kind of book I’d like to write one day, and definitely enjoyed reading.
I love true stories and I especially loved this one. Authentic, beautifully written with loads of adventure included. It’s the kind of book I’d like to write one day, and definitely enjoyed reading.
June 20, 2024
Immersive writing style and topic. A little slow and overly descriptive at times for my liking but overall I'm glad I read this book. Helped me realize I never want to try salmon fishing, and that Alaska seems equal parts beautiful and dangerous.
November 6, 2018
Great description of a life I can still just barely imagine despite Leslie's wonderful prose. Wow. An entirely different world.
March 31, 2020
Four stars because of the beautiful writing. It didn’t make Alaska or family salmon fishing beautiful- it made them real, and grungy, and exhausting.
September 29, 2021
This is the best reflective, meaningful book I've read in ages. I'm so glad a friend alerted me to her writing. I've already ordered three more of her books.
November 16, 2021
Gritty and beautiful
I loved this book. Everything that happened to Leslie feels so foreign, so other, but with her eloquent words, her raw honesty, and her decision to open the doors into her unique life, I got a little peek into the life of a woman who has lived a life so very dependent on the ocean, the weather, and the inter-dependent community of Alaska salmon fishermen and women. A study in courage and trust.
I loved this book. Everything that happened to Leslie feels so foreign, so other, but with her eloquent words, her raw honesty, and her decision to open the doors into her unique life, I got a little peek into the life of a woman who has lived a life so very dependent on the ocean, the weather, and the inter-dependent community of Alaska salmon fishermen and women. A study in courage and trust.
January 2, 2024
Still not sure how this ended up on my TBR, but it's nice to dive back into CNF and to discover Alaskan salmon fishing?
May 17, 2009
Leslie Leyland Fields didn't know what to expect when she married a commercial salmon fisherman and moved to a remote island in the Gulf of Alaska. This book is her story. The reader is alongside Leslie as she struggles to adapt to a lifestyle that is physically and emotionally demanding, lived out on a remote Alaskan island with no running water, electricity, or contact with the outside world.
She writes honestly of her struggles to live in this harsh environment while trying to build a marriage and, later, to raise a family. It's difficult life that challenges her physically, mentally and spiritually, but a life she learns to embrace as the years go by.
Her writing brings to life her trials as a twenty-year old newlywed adapting to life with her husband's family, inductee into the world of salmon fishing in wild Alaska, to new mother; each new role bringing a new set of challenges into her wilderness life. Like the waves sometimes threaten to swamp her fishing boat, challenges threaten to swamp her life as well. But she never quits; instead choosing to move through her challenges, emerging on the other side. At times bruised and battered, but never totally giving up. In that respect, this is also a book of hope, of working through the challenges instead of giving up.
She writes honestly of her struggles to live in this harsh environment while trying to build a marriage and, later, to raise a family. It's difficult life that challenges her physically, mentally and spiritually, but a life she learns to embrace as the years go by.
Her writing brings to life her trials as a twenty-year old newlywed adapting to life with her husband's family, inductee into the world of salmon fishing in wild Alaska, to new mother; each new role bringing a new set of challenges into her wilderness life. Like the waves sometimes threaten to swamp her fishing boat, challenges threaten to swamp her life as well. But she never quits; instead choosing to move through her challenges, emerging on the other side. At times bruised and battered, but never totally giving up. In that respect, this is also a book of hope, of working through the challenges instead of giving up.
January 21, 2020
Quotes to remember:
Life itself is grace.
Why is it so much harder to be alone when there's only two of you?
Life itself is grace.
Why is it so much harder to be alone when there's only two of you?
December 8, 2020
Fascinating Memoir!
I loved reading Leslie's story. Her experiences in Alaska are unlike any I have encountered in other memoirs. I am in awe of her strength and courage and her way of telling the story of her life!
I loved reading Leslie's story. Her experiences in Alaska are unlike any I have encountered in other memoirs. I am in awe of her strength and courage and her way of telling the story of her life!
June 27, 2014
Leslie Leyland Fields captivated me with her from-the-heart
descriptions of the wilds of Alaska, her relationship with Duncan (her husband) and her childhood memories. I appreciated her mental determination to keep working at the grueling tasks of salmon fishing amid impossibly long hours, high winds and dangerous storms.
Leslie and Duncan built (just the two of them) their 2,500 sq. ft. home on an uninhabited wilderness island during a winter season in Alaska. Since that time, they have spent many summers continueing their fishing and raising their children in that house.
Leslie's prose transported me to a rugged life in the wild - clear directional descriptions of traveling between islands, vivid details of picking the nets of three kinds of salmon, and the sensual elements of the natural surroundings.
Now when I see the pictures she posts on her Blog, I relate as if I've been there. I caught myself thinking, "Oh yes, I know where that is." I was truly transported by her words.
descriptions of the wilds of Alaska, her relationship with Duncan (her husband) and her childhood memories. I appreciated her mental determination to keep working at the grueling tasks of salmon fishing amid impossibly long hours, high winds and dangerous storms.
Leslie and Duncan built (just the two of them) their 2,500 sq. ft. home on an uninhabited wilderness island during a winter season in Alaska. Since that time, they have spent many summers continueing their fishing and raising their children in that house.
Leslie's prose transported me to a rugged life in the wild - clear directional descriptions of traveling between islands, vivid details of picking the nets of three kinds of salmon, and the sensual elements of the natural surroundings.
Now when I see the pictures she posts on her Blog, I relate as if I've been there. I caught myself thinking, "Oh yes, I know where that is." I was truly transported by her words.
April 9, 2013
I struggled with this book and I'm not sure why. It's exactly the type of story I love, a strong independent woman making a life in Alaska while still travelling and having a career and creative pursuits. But often I found sections of the book boring and the descriptions trite, a little too forced. Her faith was obviously a key part of her experiences, but it felt as if she wasn't writing honestly about how she came to her faith, just squeezing in scriptures and moments of being grateful to god. I would have enjoyed more knowing how she grappled with her faith to explain the challenges she faced. She shared a lot about the struggles of being a woman in the situation and the challenges to her marriage. I was often disappointed by how she described being treated and how she handled, or didn't those challenges. I wished her for to be a stronger woman, but that isn't a criticism of the writing, simply a frustration with the story.
June 10, 2013
Surviving the Island of Grace is a memoir by Leslie Leyland Fields that flashes back to her childhood, but focuses especially on the challenges of marrying a man who fishes with his family for salmon every summer from an island off Kodiak, Alaska. It is at times a spiritual and reflective memoir, but the foreignness of this Alaskan life - its eighteen hour summer workdays out in dangerous waters, an occasional winter building a home by hand, its dramatic rescues and horrible losses - makes it adventure tale first of all. Fields and her husband Duncan do academic/legal work during the off-season and travelled around the world before having kids. She understands the otherness of the life she entered into and is an engaging writer and translator of her experiences to this desk bound city dweller.
Read
May 22, 2016I've known about Leslie Leyland Fields for a while, but had never read any of her works. This book about her experience moving to Alaska and becoming a salmon fisherman was an interesting one. I've seen the author at the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing and seeing her physically I wouldn't have thought she would be able to wrestle salmon and nets into boats. What an exhausting existence! She and her husband, Duncan, seem a bit like an anomaly to me as they are both very well educated (he a lawyer, she an educator), yet they also thrive on this very physical and demanding fishcamp existence.
The backstory of her life growing up was also very interesting and it seems clear to me that God prepared her growing up for this life in Alaska.
The backstory of her life growing up was also very interesting and it seems clear to me that God prepared her growing up for this life in Alaska.
December 21, 2008
This is the story of one woman's life journey. I enjoyed it in some places and in others, I was bored. Even though she won the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing, I felt this story was written in diary fashion. (Today we did such and such.) The author shows very little emotion and writes as if this were the story of someone other than herself. It has potential-set in the Alaskan bush,surrounded by water and unbelievable raw weather she describes the life of a fisherman during the salmon runs in teh summer.In my opinion,had she used vignettes or snippets of the ordeals and created some tension and emotional strength it would have been a much better story.
March 15, 2010
I really enjoyed the way this book was written. The author was able to weave her faith and trust into the story of her very difficult life; first as part of an extremely dysfunctional family in the eastern US and then her marriage as a 20-year-old and moving to a remote island in the Gulf of Alaska where her husband & his family were fishermen. I particularly liked the author's honesty and the fact that she didn't pretend that her faith and trust were always present! But ultimately she was grounded by them and they made all the difference.
May 10, 2012
Overall, I really liked this. I enjoyed the window into such a unique life, I appreciated the author's honesty with her struggles. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been better edited, I found the jumps back and forth in time and the abrupt transitions distracting. I think the writing could have been more personal, in spite of the honesty there was paradoxically a detachment, she reported hard facts but didn't do a great job evoking the emotion behind them. But still, I found her life inspiring, and not in a sappy way.
February 4, 2016
The adventures life throws at you
Great story about over coming challenges and adversity. It was fun to learn the craziness of fishing up in Alaska. 4 stars because at times it was copied up jumping time frame that made it difficult to follow from one section to the next and the spelling errors were distracting.
Great story about over coming challenges and adversity. It was fun to learn the craziness of fishing up in Alaska. 4 stars because at times it was copied up jumping time frame that made it difficult to follow from one section to the next and the spelling errors were distracting.
January 31, 2010
Very much enjoyed this book - about a woman "living deliberately" on an island off Kodiak island with her husband and them making their living fishing.
Read it on a cold stormy night with a hot drink and be grateful!
Read it on a cold stormy night with a hot drink and be grateful!
November 9, 2015
I read this because Cole read it for a class at Taylor and it sounded interesting. The life described is so HARD, cold, dirty, exhausting and dangerous that I came away with great respect for the author. I wonder how she can continue to choose life this year after year. The writing is beautiful.
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