[YQT]⇒ PDF Free The BeeLoud Glade Steve Himmer 9780984510580 Books

The BeeLoud Glade Steve Himmer 9780984510580 Books

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The BeeLoud Glade Steve Himmer 9780984510580 Books

read the Bee-Loud Glade in about three or four days. I'm a very slow reader. The book is a kind of high-concept book that falls right at the edge of naturalism and somethingess, much like Robert J. Lennon's novel The Castle. Both books are avery similar in that the bizarre concept in both books is plausible enough that I suspect some people might be confused about the intent of the book. Is this supposed to be real? In this book, an unemployed named named Finch, who works as kind of social media marketing blogger that becomes possessed by the simulation of other people's lives, is hired by a rich man (Mr. Crane) in the vein of the Randolph and Mortimer Duke in the movie Trading Places. Finch's job is to be a hermit in Crane's garden, and then to follow Crane's various whims. Crane wants his hermit to perform a morning meditation, to not speak, and eventually to grow and survive on the output for the garden. The novel follows Finch's gradual assimilation into the rich man's garden.

The style of the book also reminds of Robert J. Lennon and also Patrick Summerville. It is a contemporary novel that refuses to engage in the kind of linguistic execution of a prose style to support the themes of the book. I think this is a great way of handling a narrative like this, and I admire Himmer, Summerville, and Lennon's ability to write a clearly contemporary and fluid prose that doesn't really interfere or draw attention to itself. There seems a competing impulse in many very contemporary books where the writing -- each sentence -- has been molded and crafted like a kind of mosaic made of custom built parts. That kind of book has its own pleasure, but this tact seems just as useful to me, and also then works to support the friction between naturalism and something else (surrealism, expressionism, allegory, or whatever.)

Didn't realize my note would turn into a review: Here is the obligatory "on the other hand" part of the review: My only nit with the book was that I wish the narrative tension has been more tightly drawn. It was present. There is a mild drama in the collapse of Mr. Crane's empire. There is a the mild drama of Finch's relationship with Mrs. Crane, and more, Finche's learning how to live as a hermit. He has several "gates" set my Mr. Crane that could have been exploited easily to introduce a degree of "and what happens next" and instead the book I think takes the tact of telling the story from the POV of Finche's timeless hermit perspective. This lack in the sense of time removed any urgency from the book. It makes sense for the concept of the book, hence this is "a nit," and besides this is the spot in a review where the reviewer needs to say something negative.

There are a allegorical elements at play in the book, but I didn't bother to figure them out. It was enough for me to contemplate the fact that many, many professions in the emerging whateveryouwanttocallit-ism (globalism, post-capitalism, whatever) are created by the whims of the super-wealthy. To be a teacher of creative writing, a pilates instructor, or hermit are similar in their degree of abstraction from performing what have historically been very basic human activities: getting and eating food and making babies. And of course the irony is that the Finch the hermit, despite a massive salary, ends up nearly naked, in the dirt, foraging for food as if civilization has never existed.


Tags : The Bee-Loud Glade [Steve Himmer] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fiction. Finch is a daydreamer whose job as a marketer of plastic plants consists mostly of updating the blogs of the imaginary people he creates. Once new management steps in and kicks him out,Steve Himmer,The Bee-Loud Glade,Atticus Books,0984510583,Literary,Visionary & Metaphysical,Billionaires;Fiction.,Blogs;Fiction.,Hermits;Fiction.,Literature & Fiction Contemporary,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Billionaires,Blogs,Fiction,Fiction General,Fiction Literary,Fiction Visionary & Metaphysical,Hermits

The BeeLoud Glade Steve Himmer 9780984510580 Books Reviews

The Bee-Loud Glade is really about a guy named Finch that loses his corporate job and gives up on life. When he's offered a job by the super-rich Mr. Crane to become an ornamental hermit in Crane's garden, he jumps at the offer.

The rest of the book is concerned with Finch's life in Mr. Crane's garden. Finch is given an uncomfortable tunic, a cave in which he can sleep and seek shelter, and three meals a day. He must take a vow of silence, stop cutting his hair and shaving his beard, and cease bathing. Mr. Crane occasionally gives him instructions or inserts objects in his life. Finch is instructed to paint, to sit in trees, to meditate, to keep a small garden. He is given a wooden flute until it is taken away and then given back. A river is installed.

Yes, a river. Installed.

There's a certain amount of absurdity in The Bee-Loud Glade, but it fits so cleanly into the world that Steve Himmer has built that it's easy to be like Finch and just go with the flow. There's very little spoken dialog and most of the novel is made up of Finch's internal dialog.

When I had gotten through about a quarter of the novel I started to become concerned about how this hermit story was going to hold my attention for another 150 pages. I had nothing to be worried about because Himmer is up to something here. The Bee-Loud Glade isn't just a silly story about a hermit, but it's about being alone, religion, the absurdity of money and power, the nature of work, the distortion of fame, and the impossibility of true independence. With all of those big ideas, Himmer never gets preachy. He allows Finch naturally grow from a sad, gray little man to a man at peace with life and his surroundings.

The Bee-Loud Glade is Steve Himmer's first novel and I hope there will be many more to come. The writing is light and fun and while full of ideas, it never feels like he's beating you over the head. The ideas are not unique, but the way in which they are presented is fresh and with a dash of humor. I really enjoyed The Bee-Loud Glade and I'm looking forward to seeing what Steve Himmer does next.
This was one of the oddest books I have ever read. If you want to read about a man who aspires to be a modern day Hermit then this is the book for you. I have to admit the author's descriptions of the smells one incurs from not bathing, and skin irritations of a man living without protective clothing are extremely detailed. Truly I could have lived without them!
I enjoyed this little book out of all proportion - original, thought-provoking, and most of all it coloured my thoughts all the time I was reading it.
Himmer's fresh and intelligent novel is brave and funny. Truly original. I read it twice through in a single weekend! A gem.
I read this a while ago, but seeing this book pop up on a few year-end "best of" lists reminded me that I had yet to post a review here. This novel is a provocative and thoroughly enjoyable, the sort of read you to which you'll dedicate want to dedicate a snowy weekend. A wonderful example of the contemporary, pastoral (small f) fantasy.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the writing and the premise of the book, but parts of the story sort of annoyed me because they felt disjointed, and also because it seemed like things were left out that should have been included. I get that the author wanted the readers to use their imaginations and fill in some of the blanks, but the bottom line for me is that this book could have been so much better if it had been expanded a bit more in some places. I really wanted to give it four stars when I was reading it, but by the end, I felt let down.
read the Bee-Loud Glade in about three or four days. I'm a very slow reader. The book is a kind of high-concept book that falls right at the edge of naturalism and somethingess, much like Robert J. Lennon's novel The Castle. Both books are avery similar in that the bizarre concept in both books is plausible enough that I suspect some people might be confused about the intent of the book. Is this supposed to be real? In this book, an unemployed named named Finch, who works as kind of social media marketing blogger that becomes possessed by the simulation of other people's lives, is hired by a rich man (Mr. Crane) in the vein of the Randolph and Mortimer Duke in the movie Trading Places. Finch's job is to be a hermit in Crane's garden, and then to follow Crane's various whims. Crane wants his hermit to perform a morning meditation, to not speak, and eventually to grow and survive on the output for the garden. The novel follows Finch's gradual assimilation into the rich man's garden.

The style of the book also reminds of Robert J. Lennon and also Patrick Summerville. It is a contemporary novel that refuses to engage in the kind of linguistic execution of a prose style to support the themes of the book. I think this is a great way of handling a narrative like this, and I admire Himmer, Summerville, and Lennon's ability to write a clearly contemporary and fluid prose that doesn't really interfere or draw attention to itself. There seems a competing impulse in many very contemporary books where the writing -- each sentence -- has been molded and crafted like a kind of mosaic made of custom built parts. That kind of book has its own pleasure, but this tact seems just as useful to me, and also then works to support the friction between naturalism and something else (surrealism, expressionism, allegory, or whatever.)

Didn't realize my note would turn into a review Here is the obligatory "on the other hand" part of the review My only nit with the book was that I wish the narrative tension has been more tightly drawn. It was present. There is a mild drama in the collapse of Mr. Crane's empire. There is a the mild drama of Finch's relationship with Mrs. Crane, and more, Finche's learning how to live as a hermit. He has several "gates" set my Mr. Crane that could have been exploited easily to introduce a degree of "and what happens next" and instead the book I think takes the tact of telling the story from the POV of Finche's timeless hermit perspective. This lack in the sense of time removed any urgency from the book. It makes sense for the concept of the book, hence this is "a nit," and besides this is the spot in a review where the reviewer needs to say something negative.

There are a allegorical elements at play in the book, but I didn't bother to figure them out. It was enough for me to contemplate the fact that many, many professions in the emerging whateveryouwanttocallit-ism (globalism, post-capitalism, whatever) are created by the whims of the super-wealthy. To be a teacher of creative writing, a pilates instructor, or hermit are similar in their degree of abstraction from performing what have historically been very basic human activities getting and eating food and making babies. And of course the irony is that the Finch the hermit, despite a massive salary, ends up nearly naked, in the dirt, foraging for food as if civilization has never existed.