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There Is A Season: A Memoir in a Garden
Book by Lane, Patrick
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
8 people are currently reading
412 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Lane
85 books39 followersPatrick Lane was born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, on March 26, 1939. He has no formal education beyond high school in Vernon, B.C. From 1957 to 1968 with his young wife, Mary, he raised three children, Mark, Christopher, and Kathryn, and began working at a variety of jobs, from common labourer, truck driver, Cat skinner, chokerman, boxcar loader, Industrial First-Aid Man in the northern bush, to clerk at a number of sawmills in the Interior of British Columbia. He has been a salesman, office manager, and an Industrial Accountant. In 1968 his first wife divorced him. Much of his life after 1968 has been spent as an itinerant poet, wandering over three continents and many countries. He began writing with serious intent in 1960, practicing his craft late at night in small-town western Canada until he moved to Vancouver in early 1965 to work and to join the new generation of artists and writers who were coming of age in the early Sixties.
In 1966, with bill bissett and Seymour Mayne, he established Very Stone House, publishing the new post-war generation of poets. In 1968, he decided to devote his life exclusively to writing, travelling to South America where he lived for two years. On his return, he established a new relationship with his second wife, Carol, had two more children, Michael and Richard, and settled first in the Okanagan Valley in 1972 and then in 1974 on the west coast of Canada at Middle Point near the fishing village of Pender Harbour on The Sunshine Coast where he worked as a carpenter and building contractor. In 1978, he divorced and went to work as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he began his life with the poet, Lorna Crozier. Since then, he has been a resident writer at Concordia University in Montreal, The University of Alberta in Edmonton, the Saskatoon Public Library, and the University of Toronto. He taught English Literature at The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon from 1986 to 1990, and Creative Writing at the University of Victoria, British Columbia from 1991 to 2004. He is presently retired from institutional teaching and leads private writing retreats as well as teaching at such schools as The Banff Writing Workshops, ‘Booming Ground’ at the University of British Columbia, The Victoria Writing School, and The Sage Hill Experience in Saskatchewan. He and his wife, Lorna Crozier, presently reside in a small community outside Victoria where he gardens and works at his craft.
His poetry, short stories, criticism, and non-fiction have won many prizes over the past forty-five years, including The Governor-General’s Award for “Poems: New & Selected” in 1979, The Canadian Authors Association Award for his “Selected Poems” in 1988, and, in 1987, a “Nellie” award (Canada) and The National Radio Award (USA) for the best public radio program for the script titled “Chile,” co-authored with Lorna Crozier. He has received major awards from The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Saskatchewan Arts Board, The Manitoba Arts Board, The Ontario Arts Council, and the British Columbia Arts Board. He has received National Magazine awards for both his poetry and his fiction. He is the author of more than twenty books and he has been called by many writers and critics “the best poet of his generation.”
As a critic and commentator, he appears regularly on CBC, the national radio service in Canada, and on numerous other media outlets across Canada.
He has appeared at literary festivals around the world and has read and published his work in many countries including England, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, China, Japan, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Russia. His poetry and fiction appear in all major Canadian anthologies of English literature. A critical monograph of his life and writing titled "Patrick Lane,” by George Woodcock, was published by ECW Press.
In 1966, with bill bissett and Seymour Mayne, he established Very Stone House, publishing the new post-war generation of poets. In 1968, he decided to devote his life exclusively to writing, travelling to South America where he lived for two years. On his return, he established a new relationship with his second wife, Carol, had two more children, Michael and Richard, and settled first in the Okanagan Valley in 1972 and then in 1974 on the west coast of Canada at Middle Point near the fishing village of Pender Harbour on The Sunshine Coast where he worked as a carpenter and building contractor. In 1978, he divorced and went to work as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he began his life with the poet, Lorna Crozier. Since then, he has been a resident writer at Concordia University in Montreal, The University of Alberta in Edmonton, the Saskatoon Public Library, and the University of Toronto. He taught English Literature at The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon from 1986 to 1990, and Creative Writing at the University of Victoria, British Columbia from 1991 to 2004. He is presently retired from institutional teaching and leads private writing retreats as well as teaching at such schools as The Banff Writing Workshops, ‘Booming Ground’ at the University of British Columbia, The Victoria Writing School, and The Sage Hill Experience in Saskatchewan. He and his wife, Lorna Crozier, presently reside in a small community outside Victoria where he gardens and works at his craft.
His poetry, short stories, criticism, and non-fiction have won many prizes over the past forty-five years, including The Governor-General’s Award for “Poems: New & Selected” in 1979, The Canadian Authors Association Award for his “Selected Poems” in 1988, and, in 1987, a “Nellie” award (Canada) and The National Radio Award (USA) for the best public radio program for the script titled “Chile,” co-authored with Lorna Crozier. He has received major awards from The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Saskatchewan Arts Board, The Manitoba Arts Board, The Ontario Arts Council, and the British Columbia Arts Board. He has received National Magazine awards for both his poetry and his fiction. He is the author of more than twenty books and he has been called by many writers and critics “the best poet of his generation.”
As a critic and commentator, he appears regularly on CBC, the national radio service in Canada, and on numerous other media outlets across Canada.
He has appeared at literary festivals around the world and has read and published his work in many countries including England, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, China, Japan, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Russia. His poetry and fiction appear in all major Canadian anthologies of English literature. A critical monograph of his life and writing titled "Patrick Lane,” by George Woodcock, was published by ECW Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
April 30, 2022
There Is A Season by Patrick Lane
Patrick Lane has a wonderful way of writing that sounds like poetry. I enjoyed reading about his story of growing up in British Columbia Canada. As I have grown up in British Columbia, it definitely tweaked an interest. I did find the story line a little boring at times.
Patrick Lane has a wonderful way of writing that sounds like poetry. I enjoyed reading about his story of growing up in British Columbia Canada. As I have grown up in British Columbia, it definitely tweaked an interest. I did find the story line a little boring at times.
August 27, 2023
This is Patrick Lane's life story and in my opinion, his best prose work. A memoir that is beautifully written, rich, dense and evocative... so, not a quick read. The author's poetic sense of expression is present throughout and many pages produce for the reader, an experience that is deeply visual, intellectual or emotional. I'm sure that before long I'll be reading this one again.
November 7, 2017
This book I have passed on to many of my closest fellow readers. It touched me to the core. Most likely one of the most important books I
Have read in the past few years.. I also was born in Nelson BC and know much of this landscape; physical and emotionally.
Have read in the past few years.. I also was born in Nelson BC and know much of this landscape; physical and emotionally.
December 11, 2008
This is beautifully written: honest, full of great observations, a gardener's delight.
January 6, 2011
I should try reading Lanes’ poetry. I like his use of language very much. But in this memoir he felt so intoxicated with his own words, he sometimes went on and on without any thread of a story to hold me there. I love language, but I need plot more than just once in a long while.
I also felt betrayed by the idea that this is a memoir. It is more a confession and a diary. He does reminisce about his life, but it is done in such way that at times I felt I was eavesdropping in a soliloquy that was never meant to be heard by anyone.
Yet, yet..., there are some jewels in here. The few pages where he talks of his love of words are the best I remember reading from any writer explaining the same love. And the sincere sympathy he portraits for his father’s murderer does reveal something bigger about the man that Patrick Lane must be.
3 stars are maybe unfair. They only mean: “I like it” no more, no less.
I also felt betrayed by the idea that this is a memoir. It is more a confession and a diary. He does reminisce about his life, but it is done in such way that at times I felt I was eavesdropping in a soliloquy that was never meant to be heard by anyone.
Yet, yet..., there are some jewels in here. The few pages where he talks of his love of words are the best I remember reading from any writer explaining the same love. And the sincere sympathy he portraits for his father’s murderer does reveal something bigger about the man that Patrick Lane must be.
3 stars are maybe unfair. They only mean: “I like it” no more, no less.
July 21, 2018
Deeply encouraging to me that Patrick Lane shares his mother's last passionate words to him. "She held my wrist, stared straight into my eyes and said, 'At every turn, there's always something lovely.'" The magic metaphors of the garden, broken by memories of life's brutality, soothed like a balm. I sense a gentle instruction: Find the beauty in your life. Nurture it daily. Feel healing happen.
Eleanor Cowan, Author of : A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
Eleanor Cowan, Author of : A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
May 9, 2020
A very personal memoir of overcoming alcoholism and healing with the help of his beloved garden. The author rediscovers beauty in his everyday surroundings and reflects on his life.
December 4, 2014
I have not nearly the words to describe how Patrick Lane's life is a story told in this book he has written. His words play from each page and create a vision of his life that is filled with so many grievances and ongoing sadness but he often is only able to identify this as an actuality much later in his life. His demons were wrapped in a sheath of the glass bottle that he poured from inside of his soul each time he took a drink. But he did not know that until his life was almost spent. I have not read a book like his in a long time and his words leave me somewhat empty but in a good way. Empty in that my thoughts will fill that space and create a clearer understanding of his life and my life and the lives of mankind. It is a book that is also somewhat personal to me as I am able to relate to some of his wonderings of his early life. I am usually able to pick up my next book immediately upon finishing my last, but this book will require some time to coalesce within me. I wish I could sit with him in his garden…... and speak no words…..just exist in harmony.
August 27, 2008
Having received most of Canada's top literary awards and now a recovering alcoholic, he reviews his life using seasons in his garden as stepping stones to the past. He is now married to Lorna Crozier, another of Canada's foremost poets. It's a great gardening book with descriptions done in almost poetic language. At the same time the stories he intersperses of his past life are often painful.
February 23, 2016
I've given up on one book before and tonight adds a second. This one at this time isn't for me -- it's depressing and drags on so much so that my mind drifts while I read it and yet I've missed nothing in the mean time. Up for grabs.
March 26, 2013
This book was filled with beautiful imagery. This man almost made me not hate insects no small feat I must say! The book is poignant,heartwrenching and heartwarming.
April 15, 2018
The writing is poetic and brilliant so I can’t give it anything less than 5 stars. However, this was a very challenging read, and it is definitely not for everyone.
May 4, 2020
A masterpiece, a true achievement in life: Patrick Lane's memoir of his 62nd year is a magnificent read.
Shared with us here are new-born sensations, as well as the emergence of pivotal long-supressed memories, of a human being emerging from over 40 years of addiction.
Those decades were in no way "lost": Lane travelled the world, published books of poetry, and had marriages and children during those years.
Having avoided death (doubtless not the first time in his well-lived life,) for some reason this time he accepts the possibility that giving up chemical distraction might provide a new opportunity.
The reclamation, renewal and creativity of Lane's garden provides the template for the author's own specific trip around the sun captured in There is a Season.
HIGHLY recommended.
Shared with us here are new-born sensations, as well as the emergence of pivotal long-supressed memories, of a human being emerging from over 40 years of addiction.
Those decades were in no way "lost": Lane travelled the world, published books of poetry, and had marriages and children during those years.
Having avoided death (doubtless not the first time in his well-lived life,) for some reason this time he accepts the possibility that giving up chemical distraction might provide a new opportunity.
The reclamation, renewal and creativity of Lane's garden provides the template for the author's own specific trip around the sun captured in There is a Season.
HIGHLY recommended.
December 21, 2017
Patrick Lane’s memoir of a life that began in the abyss of what he presented in Red Dog, Red Dog and traveled through three marriages, five children, a father killed and a mother who never told him she loved him, 45 years of abuse of alcohol and cocaine to arrive at a garden and a life that has meaning with Lorna Crozier.
This is a powerful memoir and story which never becomes narcissistic, there is no Lane fighting the demons to a heroic finish, there are only the small day to day survivals.
This is a powerful memoir and story which never becomes narcissistic, there is no Lane fighting the demons to a heroic finish, there are only the small day to day survivals.
July 11, 2021
Lane is one of my favourite poets.
I love this book!
The poetry in the prose. The description of the garden, juxtaposed with memories of a working class, hard scrabble existence struggling to find poetry and meaning. His fight with addiction and alcoholism chronicled over his return from rehab over the course of 59 weeks of sobriety.
The climate of Vancouver Island made me envious of his 'winter' garden, coming into bud late January/early February. What a lush climate.
http://www.patricklane.ca/gardens/
I love this book!
The poetry in the prose. The description of the garden, juxtaposed with memories of a working class, hard scrabble existence struggling to find poetry and meaning. His fight with addiction and alcoholism chronicled over his return from rehab over the course of 59 weeks of sobriety.
The climate of Vancouver Island made me envious of his 'winter' garden, coming into bud late January/early February. What a lush climate.
http://www.patricklane.ca/gardens/
December 25, 2023
you might expect a lyrical poetic account from such a poet and this does not disappoint. It is a truly lovely account of his relationship with his garden over the course of a year, and what a year - learning to live sober after decades of addiction, and the search for understanding about the past that brought addiction with it. There is internal struggle matched against the struggles of life and death in nature, the seasons cycling as our lives do, as this life does. I would love to visit his garden and see for myself all the features he talks about.
October 12, 2021
This book is an excellent memoir of a recovering alcoholic, who also happens to be one of Canada's best poets. As expected, the prose is very poetic and descriptive. The contrast of Lane's recovery and his peaceful (yet confrontational) garden are what make some of the brutal stories bearable. This book needs editing though. There are portions that run on for far too long, having made the point just fine 2 pages prior.
August 12, 2019
A beautifully written memoir. After battling alcoholism for 45 years he arrives freshly out of rehab. into his garden on Vancouver island. Patrick Lane gives us a meditative look at the beauty of a well tended garden. Life is about pain and suffering, but also about joy and beauty. He made me feel these emotions with the beauty of his words on a page.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2024
I was interested in this book because he was from BC Canada. I found this book to be boring most of the time and in poem like language and mainly about birds and flowers. The part I found was interesting is when he talked about his life.
I am surprised I finished the book, for me it was a waste of time.
People who like stories done as poems might like this book.
I am surprised I finished the book, for me it was a waste of time.
People who like stories done as poems might like this book.
December 21, 2018
A lovely book. Deeply inspiring. It was definitely a rambling sort of memoir, but if you're into gardens, then I recommend it!
April 25, 2019
I loved reading this book. I feel like I have had the pleasure of sitting in his garden. So sad that Patrick Lane is no longer with us.
May 16, 2020
Place-based perfection. Visceral slice of life.
June 1, 2022
beautiful, poetic memoir, shines light on the struggles of addiction
October 26, 2022
Like nothing I've ever read before. Poetic and mystic. At times too much biology.
January 3, 2025
absolutely goated
July 18, 2025
Lovely writing but just not enough story.
May 22, 2015
Lanes use of language is beautiful and his memoir, told over the first 12 months of his life after stopping drinking, is more a gardener's diary and ode to nature than a memoir. His previous 60 odd years of life are, however, wound through the 12 months of gardening, but it is often frustrating, as the gardening diary and ode to nature drift and wind endlessly with too little recounting of his life. The person who told me about the book, suggested that it would be wise to read and re read some sections 5 times to capture the full message, but I am accustomed to devouring a story, racing to the conclusion with joy and anticipation.
I found I had to read a chapter and put it aside until the next day, and doing that, I was able to embrace and inhale his intent. A wanderer, like myself, he lived in over 80 places, and took comfort and found release from his guilt when he realized that his leaving two marriages and children in each was exactly the same pattern as his fathers life. His year of sobriety allowed him to revisit his life, find meaning from his experiences, and achieve some tranquillity and peace.
I was told in a recent work shop that a memoir, is the telling of a part of ones life in a way that delivers a message. What was Lane's message? Peace comes with sobriety, searching for meaning not the day to day hardships drive us to leave relationships and families that are not to our satisfaction, life's mysteries and meanings are to be found in our gardens, season after season, year after year. Ironically, he spent the last 25 years of his life with Lorna, with whom he is very fond, but they seem to cohabitate without conflict and without passion. He does propose and marry her some months after achieving sobriety.
A complex read that leaves the reader asking more questions than finding answers, much like many poems, but Lane was first and foremost a poet.
I found I had to read a chapter and put it aside until the next day, and doing that, I was able to embrace and inhale his intent. A wanderer, like myself, he lived in over 80 places, and took comfort and found release from his guilt when he realized that his leaving two marriages and children in each was exactly the same pattern as his fathers life. His year of sobriety allowed him to revisit his life, find meaning from his experiences, and achieve some tranquillity and peace.
I was told in a recent work shop that a memoir, is the telling of a part of ones life in a way that delivers a message. What was Lane's message? Peace comes with sobriety, searching for meaning not the day to day hardships drive us to leave relationships and families that are not to our satisfaction, life's mysteries and meanings are to be found in our gardens, season after season, year after year. Ironically, he spent the last 25 years of his life with Lorna, with whom he is very fond, but they seem to cohabitate without conflict and without passion. He does propose and marry her some months after achieving sobriety.
A complex read that leaves the reader asking more questions than finding answers, much like many poems, but Lane was first and foremost a poet.
March 8, 2013
Kind of mixed feelings about this book. I really liked his writing style, and the parts where he was writing about his garden. It's all very calm and relaxing in tone. The only things I'm not as fond of were the 'flashbacks'. I don't want to say I didn't like them. It's not that, exactly - it's a memoir, and it's stuff that happened to the author. It's a huge part of the book, and it's not like I think he should have left it out of anything.
It's just that some of the stuff he writes about remembering I found... more than a little disturbing. I actually ended up putting this book down for a couple of weeks halfway through before picking it up and finishing it, just because I was wondering how much more stuff like that was going to come up. I guess an example -
It is a book I would recommend. Most of it is a very realaxing read, and he manages to make even his every day life as he wanders around his garden interesting to readers. He definitely has a very descriptive style. Just be prepared to read a few scenes that are going to be disturbing.
It's just that some of the stuff he writes about remembering I found... more than a little disturbing. I actually ended up putting this book down for a couple of weeks halfway through before picking it up and finishing it, just because I was wondering how much more stuff like that was going to come up. I guess an example -
It is a book I would recommend. Most of it is a very realaxing read, and he manages to make even his every day life as he wanders around his garden interesting to readers. He definitely has a very descriptive style. Just be prepared to read a few scenes that are going to be disturbing.
January 1, 2013
I had the great privilege of hearing Richard read from this book and then to have the opportunity to ask him the question afterward that was foremost in my mind: "If your daughter (who I knew he was estranged from) could say one thing to you, what would you want to hear?" He asked me to step out of the lineup of people waiting to sign his book, because he said that answer deserved more time and attention than the people waiting in line would have the patience for. We chatted for a long time but really, his answer, which I think is the underlying message of this great book was very simple "That she loves me and forgives me." He also told me what a gift it was that my own father, a recovering alcoholic had discovered sobriety and a greater respect for himself and his family in his mid-70's, as Richard said, near the end of his life. So back to the book, this is a meandering story through the author's journey to successful sobriety viewed from the perspective of his love of gardening and the rebirth and growing of beautiful things. I don't think this book is for everyone, but is absolutely a must-read for anyone who has stood on the sidelines or been deeply immersed in their own journey or the journey of someone that matters to them toward sobriety. It's a book of hope, forgiveness and acceptance. Loved every word.
December 1, 2016
Patrick Lane is mere months out of rehab after a 45 year love affair with alcohol and drugs, when he begins this memoir in a 'sober' attempt to seek some semblance of personal peace and redemption for his previous behavior towards the people he wronged in the past, most particularly two abandoned wives and five children. He chooses the metaphor of his garden to amplify his quest as he is both a brilliant gardener and a poet of great grace. His love of nature is all encompassing and steadfast as he juxtaposes the tranquility of his gardening with the acute horrors of his rough beginnings in the BC interior. But as beautiful and tender as the descriptions of the flora and fauna of his garden are, the flashbacks to his youth are largely self-indulgent and seem to be selected to sensationalize. Lane seems to lack insight into others, but is often lost in his own obsessions (which include women's shoulders and orb spiders). This is a dense poetic read that has much to offer the reader to think about, but there is also something disquieting about it, with spaces that need filling.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews