Prairie Silence: A Memoir
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.48 (666 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0807045160 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 248 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Still, the literal and metaphorical prairie silence eventually drew her home for a monthlong stay at harvest time, “because eventually to resolve everything, to truly find peace, you must come to terms with the place your inner soul calls home.“ A heartfelt coming-out story as well as an eloquent elegy to a rural way of life that is rapidly vanishing from the American landscape. A true child of the prairie, she grew up on a farm in North Dakota, experiencing, as many of her generational peers, a love-hate relationship with the vast, stark terrain and the decaying small towns
Melanie lives in Minneapolis and works for Teach For America. She grew up on a farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota, where she spent her childhood wandering gravel roads and listening to farmers at church potlucks. Her work has been published in several literary journals, and she holds an MFA in creative wri
Judy McLean said Love This Book. A must read for anyone who wishes to gain some understanding of the benefits and challenges of growing up in a rural area as a gay woman. While this book has universal appeal, the references to the cities and towns, as well as to the well-known personalities of North Dakota, make this a must read book for those familiar with the state.. Nancy Rossman said Home and Heart come together. The lead for this memoir is about a gay woman coming out to her home town, which terrifies her. First I need to say that I am not gay but in reading further into the description I saw that Melanie was a farm girl, as I am. She grew up in rural (way rural) North Dakota where the nature of people was their deep connection to the land and to each other as good neighbors, but not interfering with each others lives. Like the black hills or darkness there was a certain silence. Once she had left the farm, a. Familiar, yet thought-provoking J Prairie Silence made me laugh, cry, nod my head, long for my home, and left me with a feeling of sadness for Ms. Hoffert and everyone else who has to hide their true self from those they love and care about. Many of us hide a piece of ourselves from others. Ms. Hoffert's courage in writing this book is not lost on me, and I have great respect for her. By writing this book, she has exposed her complete self to her hometown, and they will either wrap their arms around her and let her know she is welcome
While home, working alongside her dad in the shop and listening to her mom warn, “Honey, you do not want to be a farmer,” Hoffert meets the people of the prairie. In this evocative memoir, Hoffert offers a deeply personal and poignant meditation on land and community, taking readers on a journey of self-acceptance and reconciliation.. When the farmers ask if she’s found a “fella,” rather than explain that—actually—she dates women, she stops breathing and changes the subject. A rural expatriate’s struggle to reconcile family, home, love, and faith with the silence of the prairie land and its people Melanie Hoffert longs for her North Dakota childhood home, with its grain trucks and empty main streets. The prairie is a hard place to stay—particularly if you are gay, and your home state is the last to know. For Hoffert, returning home has not been easy. Her stories about returning home and exploring abandoned towns are woven into a coming-of-age tale about falling in love, making peace with faith, and belonging to a place where neighbors are as close as blood but are often unable to share their deepest truths. A land where she imagines standing at the bottom of the ancient lake that preceded the prairie: