⋙ PDF Atchafalaya Houseboat My Years in the Louisiana Swamp Gwen Roland C C Lockwood 9783540037002 Books

Atchafalaya Houseboat My Years in the Louisiana Swamp Gwen Roland C C Lockwood 9783540037002 Books

Download As PDF : Atchafalaya Houseboat My Years in the Louisiana Swamp Gwen Roland C C Lockwood 9783540037002 Books

Atchafalaya Houseboat My Years in the Louisiana Swamp Gwen Roland C C Lockwood 9783540037002 Books

This book is about a couple of young people who decide to go into the swamp in the 1970s to try to re-create the lifestyle of their grandparents in the Atchafalaya Swamp of Louisiana. It was a nice book, the descriptions were poetic; but, it seemed to me to be lacking in the meat-and-potatoes department. It was supposed to cover 10 years in the swamp but it seemed to me that it was 4 seasons in the swamp. She really could have provided more information, although the poetic quality might have been lost.


Tags : Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp [Gwen Roland, C. C. Lockwood] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In the early 1970s, two idealistic young people -- Gwen Carpenter Roland and Calvin Voisin -- decided to leave civilization and re-create the vanished simple life of their great-grandparents in the heart of Louisiana's million-acre Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp. Armed with a box of crayons and a book called How to Build Your Home in the Woods,Gwen Roland, C. C. Lockwood,Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp,LSU Press,0807130893,NAT000000,Regional Studies,Atchafalaya River Region (La.),Atchafalaya River Region (La.) - Description and travel,Atchafalaya River Region (La.) - Social life and customs,Atchafalaya River Region (La.);Biography.,Atchafalaya River Region (La.);Description and travel.,Atchafalaya River Region (La.);Social life and customs.,Boat living - Louisiana - Atchafalaya River Region,Houseboats - Louisiana - Atchafalaya River Region,River life - Louisiana - Atchafalaya River Region,Roland, Gwen,Swamps - Louisiana - Atchafalaya River Region,Atchafalaya River Region,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY General,Biography Autobiography,Boat living,General,General Adult,History,Houseboats,Louisiana,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE Regional Studies,Social Science,Sociology,Swamps,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY General,General,SOCIAL SCIENCE Regional Studies,Biography Autobiography,Atchafalaya River Region,Boat living,Houseboats,Louisiana,Swamps,Social Science,Sociology

Atchafalaya Houseboat My Years in the Louisiana Swamp Gwen Roland C C Lockwood 9783540037002 Books Reviews

I too like the water. Growing up in Charleston SC I spent as lot of time out on the water. However today there are too many people on the east coast. It is difficult to find peace and quiet unless go out during the week. I have wondered what it would be like to live in the swamp. This is my second time reading this book. I have enjoyed again
I learned a lot about the process of living successfully in the swamp on a houseboat. However, I was disappointed that there was no effort to delve more into the relationship between the main couple. Would have liked more of their personal conversations.
I read this book while on a houseboat in the Atchafalya swamp (really). It is a wonderful read and I recommend it. Gwen Roland is a beautiful writer, and I found myself lingering over and rereading passages because the word smithing was so intriguing and well done. The only other author I find myself doing that with is Mark Helprin.

Whether you ever go to South Louisiana or not, this is an interesting read.
This book was very easy to read.

Gwen writes with a very easy flowing format and keeps you interested and turning the pages.

I dont think life like this could be had in this day in age, but it was fun to dream and re-live it through her words

Great book and very fun to read. I've already recommended it to numerous friends
Atchafalaya is a difficult word to pronounce; a person has to make several attempts aloud but once you get it, it sticks with you. This small book about a priviledged time spent living in a Southern Louisianan Swamp tells an enjoyable story of what day-to-day life on an old barge-like houseboat was like. The writer, Gwen Roland was just a young lass when she decided to leave life behind in the big, congested city - abandon her graduate level studies and just live life as a simple swamp woman.

I say it was a priviledged time to be living out there on the swamp because no one lives there now. Those days are over and there's no going back, thanks to modern developments.

Anyhow, the author doesn't tell us why she chose to live with a man she didn't fall in love with and she usually refers to him as "the Beard," not by name. His name is Calvin, and there was no heavy romance or chemistry between the two of them. Or if there was a hot romance, she was discreet about it to a point of secrecy. It's funny how despite all the natural wonder those two individuals shared on the swamp, witnessing some of God's most beautiful spectacles of nature, they never married.
I'm sure they lived like man and wife, but Ms Roland deferred on those details.

She also left alot of details out that I would have loved to read about. For instance, what did they eat on a daily basis and what were some of her favorite swamp recipes? How does one eat gator meat,for example? I would like to know some recipes of hers that she resorted to while living upon a houseboat in the middle of marsh gas and silently swimming gators and other swamp critters.

The story is spartan, yet very interesting and she has a beautiful prose to read.
I am inspired to read Ms Rolands poetic proses; here's one sample for you
"Right on cue the Big Dipper appears full grown and diamond bright, looking for all the world like it's pouring the Atchafalaya River from it's bowl."
The reader can picture the two swampers laying lazily on a chair of their slowly drifting swamp boat, gazing skywards and witnessing the beauty of the celestial bodies as the world silently rotates on its axis, the Earth gathering inky blackness as the night sky goes dark.

I loved reading this tiny little book and I slowed my rate of reading so that I would NOT be done with it within a day. I wanted to slow it down, savor every tiny morsel of Ms Rolands' writings and visualize in my mind the type of rare lifestyle the two of them were enjoying - day to day.
I wished the book to go longer....that's what happens when a person stumble upons a quality writer; the reader has one request and that request is "MORE!"

Can I please have some more?

It's interesting to note that Ms Roland and her Houseboat Hubby lived in the swamp for 8 amazing years and then one day, it was over.

She spared us the details of the day she left the old barge they lived on - a barge built for two.
She went on to marry another man - and vaguely I recall she telling the tale on briefest terms - how she met and fell in love with this RiverBoat Man and remains married to him to this day.

I would have liked to read the personal dilemmas swirling about in young Ms Rolands' mind at the time of her split from Calvin and her flight towards the RiverBoat Man. She is a very intelligent and educated woman and I enjoyed reading her disciplined words.

Ms Roland opened up another story - the story of why it was more important to see the world - and NOT continue with her PhD. She says that living life on the swamp taught her more valuable lessons that if she were to plant her bottom behind a desk for the next few years; earning her PhD. Sometimes life is funner and more important outside of the classroom. This is a lesson that I won from reading this book.
It was an incidental lesson but I really don't want to go back to the university to start working on my Master's Degree - so this book has given me an excuse to NOT pursue it. Whew* And to think I was getting ready to start that boring journey - NO! Thanks to Ms Roland, I shall instead live my life and enjoy more time at the beach, where I really love to be witness to it's profound natural beauty and 100 shades of brilliant blue.

The author does still keep in touch with Calvin, her old Swamp Mate from years gone past.
They're still on friendly terms and why wouldn't they be?

Get this book and enjoy a completely different way of life on da Bayou!!!
I love this book coming from South Texas it's a true story and honest story of how some people do live on the river and in the swamp of Louisiana it's a wonderful book I may read it again.
I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. It is my favorite of all memoirs that ive ever read. It has a way of making you feel lime you are there,,,,,,and wanting to experience it all. She writes well and her story is interesting and captivating. I re-read this book several times a year because it is that good. I have bought other copies as gifts to give. I highly recommend.
This book is about a couple of young people who decide to go into the swamp in the 1970s to try to re-create the lifestyle of their grandparents in the Atchafalaya Swamp of Louisiana. It was a nice book, the descriptions were poetic; but, it seemed to me to be lacking in the meat-and-potatoes department. It was supposed to cover 10 years in the swamp but it seemed to me that it was 4 seasons in the swamp. She really could have provided more information, although the poetic quality might have been lost.