Margaret Roach, who, until 2007, had a high level career with Martha Steward Corporation, chucked it all to live in her cabin in upstate New York. She went on to have an amazing garden and write about it in a blog – thus this memoir.

I wanted to like this book, but the meandering, diary-like-free-form writing was too difficult to get through. I now know more about frogs 🐸 that I ever intended, and it did nothing to help me understand her transition.

I persevered because there was much that was “quirky” and relatable (I suspect it’s relatable only due to my age and current situation) and I wanted to see it through to the end.

When asked why she left everything behind and if she was afraid, she answered: “Yes, but not as afraid as I was of drying up and blowing away.”

I enjoyed her humility and her courage: “You have to be a little brave to make changes, to try something, but you don’t have to be fearless”

I also enjoyed the reference to lessons learned through the principle of “Be Grateful to Everyone” (11th cent sage Atisha).

Would I recommend? Not sure...obviously I got something from it (and finished it!lol), but that middle section was grueling in its disorganization (of mind)...yet...I, too, long for that “small cabin” where “I shall have some peace there.”

My favorite quote: “Humbled or no, ‘gardener’ was the label imprinted on me when the souls were handed out, and so be it.” What a beautiful way to describe who she is/was at the core!

The title comes from my favorite Yeats’ poem: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core. ( )

Roach left her high-powered job with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to retire to her rural house in upstate New York. She had purchased the home many years previously and used it as a weekend getaway, but living there full time was decidedly different.

The subtitle of this book is Trading in the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road and I was expecting a memoir that explored the wonders of nature, gardening, wildlife and “neighbors” (who live a mile away).
Roach does include some of this. Her observations of the wildlife – including numerous birds, frogs and snakes – were interesting. She writes well, but mostly I thought the book was self-indulgent. Do I really care that she is still a size 2? Or that she used to power-shop, spending thousands of dollars in 15 minutes on designer clothes?

I think Roach hasn’t really come to grips with the fact that she’s no longer working at MSLO. She specifically asks at least 5 times: Who am I if I am not mroach@marthastewart dot com any longer? I got it the first time. I found her contemplations on life “alone” tedious. Her sporadic mention of neighbors and interactions with people were flat. She seemed to really have closed herself off from other people. Yes, she appreciated that Herb came to plow out her driveway, but she never seemed to connect with him … or with me.
( )

A bit too wordy for my taste. ( )

A bit too wordy for my taste. ( )

Unreadable. Chaotic. Unfocused. Meandering. Run-on. In the end, entirely put-down-able- in all senses of the phrase. I'm disappointed, because I really wanted to like it. ( )