November Grass

by Judy Van Der Veer

In the light of the declining sun, amid the muffled sounds of grazing cattle, a Southern California cowgirl considers her life. The language of November Grass , concise yet evocative, transports readers to the coastal hills of San Diego County, where hawks and jays, calves and kittens, and an assortment of backcountry eccentrics bring clarity to questions of birth, death, and love. In the new introduction, Ursula K. Le Guin writes, ''Van der Veer gives us a rural landscape as deeply known and lived in as Willa Cather's Nebraska or Sara Jewett's Maine. The valley ranches of John Steinbeck's Red Pony and East of Eden are natural comparisons, but Van der Veer's picture is truer, I think, to the patient obscurity of the lives and deaths of those who live on and from this austere land... Pain, suffering, grief are intense in her story, but not more intense than tenderness and praise.''

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

Reviews

[Myra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent introspective narrative. Very picturesque and lulling :)

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books I just pulled off the library shelf for no particular reason. I took it home because the forward was by Ursula K. LeGuin. She first picked it up as a paperback, drawn to it by a painting of hills on the cover and a blurb that inaccurately placed it in California's Great Central Valley, when she says it actually takes place farther south.

From LeGuin's forward: "For those who already love the hills and valleys of California, the poignant accuracy of the landscape and weather will be a joy...At first the book seems not so much a story as a serene autumnal mood piece, so subtly is it told by indirection and the lightest touches, so gently are we brought to heartbreak."

I liked it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful. A book of open space and deep thoughts.

[Ffiefvoley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book, wistful and achingly sad while at the same time incredibly joyful. A lovely reflection of rural life and a Psalm to its beauty, simplicity and also complexity.

[Theodora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book years ago and it was one of the first times I’d read truly beautiful writing, so I started a google doc with some of its quotes. That doc has grown a lot since then, and now I returned to this book as someone newly living among the November grasses of San Diego county. I think the writing resonated a lot more with me this time around, when a presentiment of loss has justttt started evolving into memories of it. Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read. Interesting to think how my feelings on animal care / suffering / use have evolved with lab work etc.

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prose was lyrical but story has not held up as well as I had hoped. I normally enjoy meandering stories of everyday lives interacting with nature, but this one disappointed me. I could not feel the character connected with nature as much as she reported what she saw. It became one dimensional and I wanted more.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a slow read. It's like a diary. There are troublesome stereotypes. . . But are "explained" by the decade in which it was written. It would be an interesting book for AP high schoolers to excerpt, I think.

[Alli Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A meditating read, short and relaxing.

[Glenn Younger · Rating 5 out of 5]

a spiritual geography based on the reflective life of a herder in Southern California.