I was intending to read only free samples on my Kindle all night, and not buy a thing – but this sample left me in the middle of the first essay with such a cliffhanger, there was no way I could leave it. So I actually bought this thing and read the whole thing, and ended up grateful it was only six essays.
The first one is about how the author couldn’t stop obsessing over this possibly-fake person who has given her a bad review on Goodreads. Apparently there is a world of book bloggers on Goodreads and elsewhere in the blogosphere who can make or break a book, and get very personal about it; and there is a world of people out there who cannot simply shut down their dang computer before things get wacky (that I knew).
NONE OF IT IS REAL, PEOPLE, I want to say – go step outside and breathe the fresh air!
So the next essay was about the author’s molestation in a shady massage parlor when she was a college freshman; and the jury trial she participated in to keep the man behind bars. This was gripping and sad. But she kept dropping one-sentence paragraphs of foreboding that didn’t end up leading much of anywhere.
Then there was a strange one about hunting and killing a feral hog I didn’t understand or enjoy. Then one about attending a Miss America pageant, which I enjoyed more; then a couple more wacky ones, including one about searching for a mountain lion, to end the mini-book.
I am usually really into the personal woman’s essay, but I don’t relate much to Hale and her weird dangerous wild animal obsessions. ( )
My life's journey has taken me from the streets of New York, up the Hudson Valley, to a little goat farm under Vermont's highest mountain.
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Tytania 
The first one is about how the author couldn’t stop obsessing over this possibly-fake person who has given her a bad review on Goodreads. Apparently there is a world of book bloggers on Goodreads and elsewhere in the blogosphere who can make or break a book, and get very personal about it; and there is a world of people out there who cannot simply shut down their dang computer before things get wacky (that I knew).
NONE OF IT IS REAL, PEOPLE, I want to say – go step outside and breathe the fresh air!
So the next essay was about the author’s molestation in a shady massage parlor when she was a college freshman; and the jury trial she participated in to keep the man behind bars. This was gripping and sad. But she kept dropping one-sentence paragraphs of foreboding that didn’t end up leading much of anywhere.
Then there was a strange one about hunting and killing a feral hog I didn’t understand or enjoy. Then one about attending a Miss America pageant, which I enjoyed more; then a couple more wacky ones, including one about searching for a mountain lion, to end the mini-book.
I am usually really into the personal woman’s essay, but I don’t relate much to Hale and her weird dangerous wild animal obsessions. (
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