Now Go Home: Wilderness, Belonging, and the Crosscut Saw

by Ana Maria Spagna

How did a quintessential California girl end up earning her living in the Pacific Northwest with a crosscut saw? In Now Go Home, Spagna reflects on the journey that took her from a childhood in the suburbs of LA to a trail crew in Washington's North Cascades, where she falls in love with a place and, unexpectedly, with a woman.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Memoir, Essays, Environment, Biography, Wilderness

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Ana Maria Spagna is the author of nine books including PUSHED: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre forthcoming from Torrey House Press, UPLAKE: Restless Essays of Coming and Going and the poetry chapbook, MILE MARKER SIX, as well as THE LUCKIEST SCAR ON EARTH, a novel about Charlotte, a 14-year old snowboarder. Previous books include RECLAIMERS, stories of indigenous people reclaiming sacred land and water, the memoir/history TEST RIDE ON THE SUNNYLAND BUS: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey, winner of the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize, and two previous collections of essays, POTLUCK, finalist for the Washington State Book Award, and NOW GO HOME, a Seattle Times Best Book of 2004.

Reviews

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, fluid look at working in the outdoors—probably what I wanted when I read Dirt Work. Lots of back-and-forth between different kinds of working outdoors, growing up in California (not a good thing socially, apparently, if you're going to work in the woods in the Pacific Northwest), and eventually finding somewhere to settle (and someone to settle down with) in quasi-wilderness.

Other reviewers have described this in terms of essays, and although I didn't put that label on it as I read (if they originally stood alone, they interconnect pretty well now), it makes sense. Maybe a book to be read slowly, in smaller pieces, rather than devoured. (I am never going to be a person who can choose not to devour a book, but hey. I can dream.)

[Rita Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a kick-ass great read. The author takes you with her on her real-life journey through wilderness areas and a lifestyle that very few of us could manage to conquer but I would like to.
Spagna is so down to earth in her tone you can find parts of yourself throughout the book and her description of nature is so compelling you want to get into some boots and get out there.
The book transcends gender, geography and time; it takes you deep into the forest.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spagna's essays convey a sense of place and atmosphere that wrap around me like a warm blanket. Some of the chapters in this tome were from her earlier years in California and didn't resonate with me quite as much, but her time in the wilderness, her epic house-building journey and various other adventures were charming.

She is the writer I want to be when I grow up.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earthy, funny, and deep, Ana Maria Spagna's airtight essays transcend naturalist tropes to create a new genre: Cascadian humanism. Essential reading for lovers of contemporary creative nonfiction.

[JHM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I abandoned this book about a third of the way through because I got bored.

[Elizabeth Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Uplake about a year ago so was super excited to pick this up! Enjoyed it just as much as her other book. 4.5

[Bryanna Plog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic essays!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up while visiting the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State: Maybe in the gift shop of a National Park Lodge. Anyway, besides the charming challenge of the title, I was intrigued by the lesbian author. Seems to be a collection of essays previously published in a variety of outlets, and I like where the author is "coming from" as we used to say (does anyone still say that?). It was supposed to be a gift for a friend, but I decided to read it first, and now I foresee it being passed around to various friends and never actually becoming a gift for any one person. Which is fine, better that more people should enjoy it, right?

[Essemsee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is stylistically good. Concise, easy to read, and I love the subject matter having worked on trails with crosscuts and axes and having lived in the PNW. It's more the overall pathos. One of slowly succumbed to apathy. She loves the natural world enough to work and live in it but instead of a greater connection to the universe, her takeaway seems to be "well, I put in the time to 'protect' it, now get out and leave me be." Which is interesting considering her constant reprise of "I feel like an outsider, just let me belong." It's a fine read and all; I only wish she and her readers could come away from the book with something greater learned.

[Nancy Jainchill]

This is one of the better memoirs that I have read. It brings me to a place I have never been, with careful and effective description. And it captures emotions, perceptions, experiences that I think so many of us have, and which Spagna articates with clarify and impact. Statements such as "Goodbye is, I realize, as poignant as it is common" says so much. Spagna's honesty and self-discovery, are made particularly effective by the back and forth reflection from her life on the trail, to the contrast of growing up in southern California. This memoir has heart and adventure.

[Leanne Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful memoir that takes the reader into her life with stunning honesty and clear, concise writing and detail. I am lucky enough to live near many of the areas in Washington State she describes and it made me look at those areas with different eyes. She crafted an engaging, educational, entertaining and thoroughly worthwhile read in Now Go Home. I am normally a fiction reader but was recommended this book and am thoroughly glad I read it. It reads as fiction in it's captivating narrative and entertainment value, but has the added depth of real life experience. I highly recommend!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When I notice the flowers, what else am I missing? Should I define the trail by the flowers? Or by the red huckleberry meadows of fall, bears teaching their cubs to collect berries in one swipe of a paw? By the snowy corniced ridges of spring or by the gray stark granite of late summer? Complete this sentence: these mountains are. . . . That sentence would take too much time" (p. 35).

"Sometimes if you are less strong or less skilled, the only thing you can do to prove yourself is to not complain" (p. 122).

[Mila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth a read if you know any of the regions / occupations / kinds of people Spagna describes. I've lived and visited the places she loves, done trail work, and know the Forest Service trail (and other) crews intimately, so for me, this book rang true and made me smile as I read the minor, familiar details. I can't speak to its broader appeal, but it's a slim volume of essays, and it would be quite easy to give it a read in a day or two.

[Lora Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging glimpse into a life most of us will never experience. While both a glimpse into a personal view and a world apart from the one most live, the writer also connects her experience to larger life issues that affect us all.
Being familiar with the setting was an extra draw for me.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spagna's first book of essays in 2004. She worked for the trail crew for the National Park Service in the Northern Cascades, built a home near Stehekin, and shares her story and life in this nice collection. Refreshing, honest perspective of living in the "wilderness."

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cool book. Go read it. It's short essays about living and working in the Cascades in Washington. Oh yeah, my sister wrote it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book made me laugh out loud, and parts had me nodding in recognition. The author spoke at a conference I help plan and is warm, funny, and genuine.

[brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is me!

[Kathy Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book from Spagna a great deal, though I didn't love it as much as Potluck. But both are worth the time spent with the author.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely writing about the wilderness, about people, about herself.