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elleneam's review against another edition
4.0
An absolutely fantastic book; beautiful illustrations, and written like poetry. Tells the tale of Woody Guthrie's life, and of 1920s america; the dust bowl, migrant camps and poverty amid plenty. Yet it doesn't read like history, but is full of references and connotations of the world today.
tiffany_aching99's review against another edition
5.0
A lyrical, illustrated work in words and pictures that captures the essence and lead up to This Land is Your Land. Told in sepia, it gives back the soul of TLIYL and a little more, that was coldly cut with the censorship of the time. That soul Pete Seeger tried to restore, without context.
“These days, the criminals were not the outlaws in the hills, but the suits in their offices. You could rob someone by taking it from his pockets, but it was more efficient to not pay him in the first place.”
It takes a certain skill to be able to retell a story and give it so much life, in the way that Nick Hayes does here. The story fits well into his personal canon. If I had read this straight after the Book of Trespass, I could have only appreciated it more. Yet, this is told through the eyes of Woody, not Nick, as he retold the story of the Kinder Trespass the other book. It showed insight, it went inside his mind and provided much needed background into his upbringing.
Woody is fascinating, a wanderer. A right character, a rascal, a radical. Imperfect by all means, his heart is in the right place. This is a journey of finding his voice with as many ups and downs as the ruts and dunes in the background. He was angered by the abandonment of his people, and instead of just trying to scrape by, he decided to write about it as well. And when he started to make a profit, he felt guilty and gave back to the migrant camps and Hoovervilles.
I say that I regret not reading this sooner, but I started this up at the right time. I recently moved to London from Leeds, my hometown, I briefly moved back to after a spell of living abroad over lockdown. Once you move away from your home for the first time, you can never quite be settled ever again. I feel strangely rootless and lost, despite moving to London with a purpose: work.
On the road, I read nearly half the thing on a 3 1/2 hour coach journey back from Leeds to London. I had dived into it, sat on the wall of Leeds Minister while waiting for my actual ride that never arrived. I mused over the fact that in London, these things aren’t allowed to happen, and companies only get away with treating their customers like this because they are working class. You might argue that on a Flixbus you get what you pay for. But it’s not the price of the ticket - it’s the principle. It’s the treatment. It’s the lack of respect. It’s the knowing that they can get away with it, because these people rely on their service and have no other way of mobility. An added layer of irony, I was back in Leeds to pass my theory test - which I passed by the way!
It not only makes me want to read more of Nick’s work, but to seek out any biographical work on Woody, and learn more about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. We can learn from history and the more I read from this period the more I see how we still resonate with it.
“These days, the criminals were not the outlaws in the hills, but the suits in their offices. You could rob someone by taking it from his pockets, but it was more efficient to not pay him in the first place.”
It takes a certain skill to be able to retell a story and give it so much life, in the way that Nick Hayes does here. The story fits well into his personal canon. If I had read this straight after the Book of Trespass, I could have only appreciated it more. Yet, this is told through the eyes of Woody, not Nick, as he retold the story of the Kinder Trespass the other book. It showed insight, it went inside his mind and provided much needed background into his upbringing.
Woody is fascinating, a wanderer. A right character, a rascal, a radical. Imperfect by all means, his heart is in the right place. This is a journey of finding his voice with as many ups and downs as the ruts and dunes in the background. He was angered by the abandonment of his people, and instead of just trying to scrape by, he decided to write about it as well. And when he started to make a profit, he felt guilty and gave back to the migrant camps and Hoovervilles.
I say that I regret not reading this sooner, but I started this up at the right time. I recently moved to London from Leeds, my hometown, I briefly moved back to after a spell of living abroad over lockdown. Once you move away from your home for the first time, you can never quite be settled ever again. I feel strangely rootless and lost, despite moving to London with a purpose: work.
On the road, I read nearly half the thing on a 3 1/2 hour coach journey back from Leeds to London. I had dived into it, sat on the wall of Leeds Minister while waiting for my actual ride that never arrived. I mused over the fact that in London, these things aren’t allowed to happen, and companies only get away with treating their customers like this because they are working class. You might argue that on a Flixbus you get what you pay for. But it’s not the price of the ticket - it’s the principle. It’s the treatment. It’s the lack of respect. It’s the knowing that they can get away with it, because these people rely on their service and have no other way of mobility. An added layer of irony, I was back in Leeds to pass my theory test - which I passed by the way!
It not only makes me want to read more of Nick’s work, but to seek out any biographical work on Woody, and learn more about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. We can learn from history and the more I read from this period the more I see how we still resonate with it.
therightprofile's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
4.0
skandl's review
5.0
Poetic and moving, a reminder we live in a larger story that extends before we were born. I enjoyed reading this a few pages at a time to my son. We'd look up the many referenced songs and listen together.
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