The Last American Man
by Elizabeth Gilbert
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth GilbertEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2003-05-27
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of The Last American Man
Book Review: Awe inspiring story
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not a person who gives a lot of 5 star reviews. I like a lot of books but find few I absolutely love and stay with me for a long time -- but this is one of those books. I would venture to say this will be one of my top 5 books for 2009.
My book group selected it for our January read since we all liked "Eat, Pray, Love" and had the priviledge of hearing Elizabeth Gilbert speak this past fall. It had been in my "want to read" list for a while and I was thrilled when it was the choice. This was a book that I was totally engrossed in from the minute I picked it up. I was mentally transported into the story of Eustace Conway's life and found myself eager to finish it and yet sad when it was over.
As all can read in the product description, this is the story of one man's life who walks to the beat of a different drummer. It chronicles his childhood (I wanted to weep for this small, vulnerable child as I read along) and all the adventures and mis-adventures he has while growing into who he is at the age of 40.
I took a glance at some of the other reviews and have to say that many of the reviews seem to focus on whether or not the reviewer liked him as a person or not. If they liked him, the book got high praise and just the opposite if they found him to be irritating. I think that does a great diservice to the book that Elizabeth Gilbert has written and to the story of Eustace Conway. He is like any other human being in that he is flawed. There are mistakes he makes along the way, particularly regarding the relationships he has -- he is very demanding, opinionated and critical. However, many people who have great vision and achieve great things are not the most likeable or the easiest to get along with. Mr. Conway is just such an individual. While he is a man I wouldn't want to live with, I greatly admire his integrity and vision. The mark of a good book to me is one where I feel like I expanded by thinking by being exposed to concepts/people outside my comfort zone -- that definitely describes this book !
Elizabeth Gilbert does an outstanding job of showing us who this man is, warts and all. It is hard not to romanticize his life, but Ms. Gilbert is able to show us all sides of his personality and life. This isn't just a rosy picture of a mountain man -- this is a real portrait of who he is and what he does.
One great book !
Summary of The Last American Man
In this rousing examination of contemporary American male identity, acclaimed author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert explores the fascinating true story of Eustace Conway. In 1977, at the age of seventeen, Conway left his family's comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains. For more than two decades he has lived there, making fire with sticks, wearing skins from animals he has trapped, and trying to convince Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him back to nature. To Gilbert, Conway's mythical character challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be a modern man in America; he is a symbol of much we feel how our men should be, but rarely are.Subjects Books
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