Rough Beauty

Starred review from April 1, 2018
These outstanding autobiographical essays explore solitude, traumatic events, and a deep commitment to place.Auvinen (Film/Univ. of Colorado Boulder), former Colorado artist-in-residence and two-time Academy of American Poets award recipient, charts a decade of life "ordered by weather and wildlife" on the Front Range of the Rockies. She prized her independence, funding her writing with three part-time jobs and finding companionship in her husky mix, Elvis. But when her cabin burned down, destroying all her work in progress, she had to accept help and discovered that her small town was a true community. After the fire's climactic prologue, the book gracefully fills in events either side: her early years and how she rebuilt her life. Growing up, Auvinen felt oppressed by Catholic doctrine and her Air Force father's slaps. She gives excellent pithy descriptions of her family dynamics: "In my family, women were parsley on the plate--accessories"; "Men did things, women watched." When her parents' marriage ended, she and her mother and sister banded together; she even took her mother's maiden name in a power play that alienated male relatives. In the post-fire years, her mother's health problems were a major concern, as was Elvis' decline into old age. Anyone who has ever cherished and lost a pet will agree with her that this kind of love "is no small thing." The turning seasons ("March was thick with anticipation--the pendulum between winter and spring") and rhythms of small-town life form a meditative backdrop. Nature--whether gardening, camping, or close encounters with bears and a fox--speaks of wonder and solace. Toward the close, Auvinen writes of diving into a relationship with artist Greg Marquez, the book's illustrator, and a place enjoyed in solitude became one freely shared. The author has served a long apprenticeship--sensing life's patterns, becoming embedded in a human community, learning to give and receive love--and the result is a beautiful story of resilience perfect for readers of Terry Tempest Williams.A fine example of the hybrid nature-memoir.

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Starred review from April 30, 2018
“In the days after I’d watched my house burn, a great weight lifted,” Auvinen writes in this beautiful, contemplative memoir. After a fire destroyed Auvinen’s Colorado Front Range Rocky Mountain home and belongings when she was nearly 40, she moved to an isolated mountain community in the same state. “I felt strangely euphoric,” she writes, “no longer saddled with counting every penny for rent or bills, unburdened by a house full of goods that required care, cleaning, or mending. Mine was the ecstasy of the unencumbered.” She watched the seasons unfold, with Elvis, her faithful dog, at her side. It is Elvis—and her vital relationship with him—that’s at the core of the book. “Elvis had long been my eyes, my ears, but now I realized he was also my guru, my guide: His presence reminded me to play now, sleep now, explore now, be now.” Her narrative builds slowly but intensely. Auvinen shares rich details of mountain life: “Living wild succinctly arranges priorities: You make food, take shelter, stay warm,” her life lived “like a ritual, equal to meditation or the ritual I had of writing down weather and birds each morning.” This breathtaking memoir honors the wildness of the Rockies and shows readers how they might come to rely on their animal companions.

May 15, 2018

Reminiscent of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, Auvinen's memoir presents a compelling story of one woman's grit, determination, and sometimes madnesss while surviving 40 seasons in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Her journey toward mountain living begins with an all-consuming fire that destroys her home and the laptop containing her writing. The author depicts her difficult childhood with candor and openness and does not flinch when describing cruel incidents inflicted upon her and her siblings by their father. Auvinen traces her father's military career and how the family moved to California, Colorado, and Hawaii, struggling to adopt each place as home. As an adult, taking refuge in solitary surroundings with her beloved dog, Elvis, Auvinen reflects on her often contradictory needs for both isolation and community. VERDICT This memoir presents an engaging and uncompromising portrait of a woman seeking peace amid the untamed background of wilderness living. An essential purchase where memoirs circulate widely.--Mattie Cook, Flat River Community Lib., MI

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