Just finished Another Country by Mary Pipher. Mary is one of my top three authors (Quindlen, Pipher & Glass) and an individual I would most like to meet someday. Her book Reviving Ophelia had a huge impact on what I want to do with my life and her instructive Letters to a Young Therapist has helped me discover exactly how I want to approach my professional life.
I loved Another Country in most respects. My favorite chapter was The Weariest River and included a good deal of poetry and metaphor concerning the subject of death. Pipher talked about the Japanese word wabi-sabi which captures the intensity of feeling two strong emotions at the same time. Wabi-sabi is the perfect way to describe the experience of death - feeling beauty and sadness simultaneously.
Whenever I read Pipher's material, I feel smitten with the world she describes. She quotes my favorite people (Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.) If I must find a fault with Another Country, it would be in its length. The editor could have pared it down quite a bit as the same themes were addressed again and again. There were a few typos that were a bit jarring for the reader.
And yet, Pipher did it again. She is a rare gem and I wish I knew her better.
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