Janisse is a very good writer . . . when she is writing memoirs. Less so on the chapters that I suppose she sees as straight ecology. And also less so when she makes some forced concluding comment at the end of the memoir chapters. Oh well. The concluding statement of the book was good.

Still, this book is well worth reading for her vivid, sensitive portrayal of her life growing up in what many would see as deprivation but which obviously isn’t what deprivation is about. It is also a great companion to A Handmade Wilderness, also about the longleaf pine region.