Product Description

A woman writer's lyrical memoir of a summer with her artist husband in a remote Cape Cod dune shack. (ynthia Huntington's joyous memoir . . . captures Cape Cod's stark, sun-soaked natural beauty with unpretentious lyricism. - Elle)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122062 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 199 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Like a treasure from the sea, this memoir is polished, luminous and elemental. Poet Huntington and her artist husband, Bert Yarborough, spent three seasons in a single-room "dune shack" on a remote Provincetown beach she describes as "a place of such wild austere beauty that at first I had no word for its spaces, its dusty heat, the thrilling clarity of its air." Her exquisitely written journal recounts the just-married couple's adjustment to each other as lovers and artists, living in isolation and sensitive to the seasonal changes from May to September. Their solitude is broken by occasional guests, trips to town and visits with other summer migrants, who populate the shacksAoriginally built by squatters on the tip of Cape CodAslowly being reclaimed by the National Park Service as their owners die off. Called "Euphoria," for the wind, their wooden shack measures 12 by 16 feet, has no electricity, and is 40-minutes down the beach from the nearest town. By no means a tale of privation, Huntington's memoir is full of rich observations of the stars, birds, sea, vegetation, dunes, of time itself and of the author and her mate. Her words resonate with a poet's sensibility: she describes fish as "vital, immaculate bodies of streaming light, each one shining fire." Despite the unromantic jacket photograph and awkward end-of-summer publication date, those who admire this sort of quiet, pleasurable style or are in thrall to beach life will find this slim volume a great companion. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Where else but at the beach do people lie down right on the earth? This is just one of poet Huntington's insights in a nature journal that explores the three summers she and her husband spent some ten years ago in Euphoria, a 12' by 16' dune shack on stilts in a remote area of Cape Cod. Their days were orchestrated by the sun and the weather. Living without electricity, heating water with sunlight, and walking three miles to the local grocery store were conditions Huntington accepted without regretAshe believes these were the richest days of her life, when she fulfilled her greatest adventure of finding a home in the world. Huntington is a professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth and also teaches in the MFA writing program at Vermont College. Her writing, reminiscent of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's Cross Creek, is perfect all-season reading for nature enthusiasts and writers and especially warm reading for cold winter nights by the fire.AJoyce Sparrow, Oldsmar Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Huntington writes a beautiful, lyrical account, consisting of journal entries, of a summer spent on the back shore of Cape Cod in a tiny shack named Euphoria, which is nestled in a dune some 200 yards from the beach. It is the first year of her marriage, and, within the confines of one room measuring about 12 by 16, she feels her way around her new married life while working on her writing and exploring the natural world. Huntington makes detailed observations of the wildlife and then compares its uncomplicated existence to her current life experiences. Reading like a prose poem, The Salt House is a meditation on the meaning of permanence, ownership, and the concept of home while the dynamic environment of sand, water, wind, and rain continually moves and shifts, changing the landscape from day to day and hour to hour. Though sometimes falling into sentimentality, the writing is clear, intelligent, and full of wonder, awe, and appreciation for life's simplicity and the power of nature. Carolyn Kubisz

Customer Reviews

Too perfumy.
You can tell that the author is also a poet because this book is very, very perfumy. Very, very detailed. A whole chapter almost on the trails that a sea gull makes. Beautifully written but very little context. Should have instead been made into a 5 page short story. Would love to meet this person and be friends with her though. She would make a great next door neighbor it seems! :) If you like Barbara Kingsolver style writing you will probably love this book but if you prefer the Memoir style writing of Joan Anderson of A Year by the Sea (also taking place on Cape Cod) this isn't the book for you.

The Provincetown You Probably Didn't Know
Having lived in Provincetown year-round, I thought I knew the place pretty well, but 'The Salt House' opened my eyes to another side of life on the Outer Cape. I lived in town; Cynthia Huntington lived in a dune shack. In the book, Huntington gets to know not only the flora and fauna of the place, but also the history and people who have been there for generations. She also lucidly portrays two kinds of solitude: being alone with oneself, and being alone with another person in a remote place. Huntington's prose is clean, clear, and driven by the forces of real life. So is her poetry, which you should check out if you haven't already ('We Have Gone to the Beach,' 'The Fish-Wife').

A book I will cherish forever.
When I closed the last page of this book, I wanted to start at page one again. The Salt House is a beautiful, meditative work. Huntington has a true ability to distill life into its poetic essences. The semi-philosophical nature of the book makes it timeless, and therefore good for re-reading. If you like reading journals and letters, or if you are a lover of nature, this will be right up your alley.