Bleaker House

January 1, 2017
On a remote island, a young writer assesses her talents and her dreams.Completing an MFA degree at Boston University, Stevens was awarded a three-month fellowship to travel anywhere in the world to work on the novel she was determined to write. Deciding that she needed complete solitude, she chose to travel 9,000 miles from her native England to the Falkland Islands--in winter. In her delightful literary debut, Stevens chronicles life among the penguins and caracara birds on Bleaker Island, population 3, where for weeks she was the only inhabitant. "I wanted to find out everything about myself," she confesses, "not just the profound and often boring things to do with childhood memories and self-respect, but also the practical stuff, like what my first book will actually be about." But that revelation eluded her as she concocted a trite narrative about a young man who travels to the Falklands in search of a father he thought was dead. Stevens intersperses chapters from the novel-in-progress and, as she readily admits, it is indeed dreadful. The memoir, though, is fresh and spirited. She spent several weeks in Stanley, the Falklands' capital, a desolate city with "no cinema, no theatre, no evening entertainment" except for seven pubs. "By ten o'clock most nights, everyone is exceedingly drunk," she learned. And often they drive their Land Rovers into one of many deep drainage ditches. Stevens was eyed with distrust by residents who believe "that foreigners who come in and ask questions are bad news." Journalists and Argentinians are especially suspect. The owners of the guesthouse on Bleaker Island were welcoming, though, and Stevens learned how to spin yarn from sheep's wool, herd pregnant cattle, and find her way home in a fierce storm. Lively flashbacks round out a memoir that might have been too tightly focused on desolation and failure. At the end of her island experience, she reports happily, "I have freed myself of a bad book. I will write a better one now." This engaging debut fulfills her confident prediction.

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April 1, 2017

Memoir, travelog, writer's lament, Stevens's book is a lot of things--a glimpse at an author's process, a rumination on loneliness vs. solitude, the consequence of a seemingly arbitrary choice (take a map, pick a place), and what happens when you try to survive on powdered foods and Ferrero Rocher for an extended period of time. Eat, Pray, Love this is not, though that does make an amusing cameo. Stevens isn't out to find herself; she's out to find her novel. She wants to thrive on extreme discipline and no distractions and travels to Bleaker Island in the Falklands to work. What happens in between is the story of creating this volume. In a curious, experimental blend of fiction, memoir, and story, this book takes the reader on an unexpected journey. You expect to discover a novel at the end, but instead you unearth a voice that is as unique as the rugged little island of Bleaker. VERDICT A treat to read, this book is definitely a genre bender, perfect for readers of literary fiction, short story collections, and/or creative writing memoirs.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017
This mostly memoir grapples with the messy, uncomfortable space where untested ideas meet reality. Stevens receives a three-month fellowship to write anywhere in the world, and she chooses Bleaker Island in the Falklands, in the South Atlantic, with the idea that an isolated, distraction-free environment will morph her into a focused writer. In reality, with only wind and penguins for company, she devolves into anxiety, defined by raisin counting and decreased productivity. Stevens decides her novel is a failure, yet she presents readers with a book that succeeds. Bleaker House is a chapter-by-chapter mix of travelogue, fiction, and personal essay, and all of these elements interact in satisfying ways. Knowing about the workshops and life events that shape her tales makes reading them even more compelling. Comparisons to Cheryl Strayed's Wild (2012) are inevitable, as both books present women on solitary journeys that test their physical endurance, and from which they emerge transformed as people and writers. Stevens does not dive as guts deep as Strayed, but like so many before, she travels around the world to locate herself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)