Coast Range

Starred review from September 15, 2016
A collection of essays that focuses on the interaction between humans and the natural world in and around the Rogue River in Oregon, where the author spent six months doing a writing residency.The initial essay in Neely's first full-length book introduces readers to his style as well as subject matter. Superficially, the essay, which includes almost as much white space as print, concerns the "semi-worthless" beach agates the author has collected along the Oregon coast. On a deeper level, it explores the notion of the essay as collection, allowing quotations from the likes of Carl Jung and Pliny the Elder to rub up against scientific facts and personal recollections, sparking new meanings. Other such challenging pieces include a sly meditation on Coyote, both as animal and trickster figure, and an exploration of chanterelles. If this were Neely's only style, it might start to seem precious. But throughout these finely tuned essays that vary intriguingly in form and tone, the author shows that he is capable of more traditional, sustained pieces. One example is the chronicle of his experience with the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indians as they performed a ceremony releasing a cooked salmon back into the river, as well as that of a less-ceremonial jaunt with the local fish hatchery guys as he helped them pitchfork dead salmon into the river to enrich the depleted nitrogen content. Death and human intervention into natural systems--with its usual mixed results--are central to these essays. The collection culminates in a long piece about the months Neely and his wife spent on a homestead out in the woods. Here again, acute observations of nature and records of the human history of the place are at least as prominent as anecdotes of their life. Neely capably explores the complexity of his subjects with polish and finesse, looking carefully and thinking deeply.

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October 1, 2016

Essays focusing on the coastal regions of California and Oregon introduce readers to the plants and animals of the area and their roles in the environment. The author, recipient of the 2015 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award, has written for magazines such as Orion, Audubon, and Mother Jones and conveys scientific facts in a lyrical style. A collector of natural objects since his California childhood, Neely presents chapters on chitons (marine molluscs), agate, salmon, hummingbirds, coyotes, gold mining (with dredges along the Rogue River), wild mushrooms, hummingbirds, bears, deer, and newts. Living in a mountain cabin while supported by a writing fellowship, Neely had time to explore and reflect on his surroundings and will inspire YA as well as general readers. VERDICT Fans of Joseph Wood Krutch, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir will enjoy these essays even if they are not familiar with the specific geographic area.--Judith B. Barnett, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2016
Neely's fascination with a huge swath of the Pacific Northwest coastal range is evident in this quiet essay collection that focuses on small details described in carefully studied prose. Writing about Northern California and Oregon, Neely delves into some familiar subjects (salmon and hummingbirds) while also devoting pages to more esoteric topics, such as collecting beach agates. His six months living off the grid in a writer's residency cabin on the Rogue River (part of the time with his wife, artist Sarah Bird) is chronicled in a lengthy essay that touches on history, nature, and no small degree of self-awareness, as his isolation proves to be mind-altering on multiple levels. This is the sort of introspective writing that will appeal strongly to readers seeking to gain a deeper appreciation of their environment, and those with curiosity about or longing for the region he knows so well. Neely clearly spent a lot of time watching and listening, both to the people and animals that call the area home, and his observations have real staying power.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)