Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

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Top reviews from the United States

Jayne P. BowersVerified Purchase Catch It If You Can Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2017 How can you not like a nonfiction book that’s both informational and interesting? Entertaining too. Seriously, if I’d had exposure to texts that made science even remotely as engaging and intriguing as this one, I might have been become an ornithologist or entomologist. Who... See more How can you not like a nonfiction book that’s both informational and interesting? Entertaining too. Seriously, if I’d had exposure to texts that made science even remotely as engaging and intriguing as this one, I might have been become an ornithologist or entomologist. Who knew that the average size of all living animals, including humans, is almost that of a horsefly or that the average temperature of Earth is 57 degrees Fahrenheit? Not I, at least not until reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Dillard’s musings on life, both ours as humans and that of the planet’s inhabitants from muskrats to mites), trees, rocks, creeks, clouds, and mountains, give the reader a fascinating perspective on nature and on life itself. I’ll never walk out in the front yard again without thinking of the moles burrowing beneath the soil or the starlings let loose in Central Park in 1890. I’ll never stand beside a creek without remembering its rushing, fleeting nature being a metaphor for life. One thing I will remember is the admonition to “Catch it if you can….These are our few live seasons. Let us live them as purely as we can, in the present.”

This book was first recommended to me by some writer friends after I mentioned that I was reading (at that time) For the Time Being. “You have to read Pilgrim,” they all practically shouted at me. Now I know why. The prose, the information, the visual pictures of Tinker Mountain and its surroundings, the vocabulary (chitin, oriflamme, and bastinado for starters), and the references to spiritual and scientific sources make this book a must-read. 49 people found this helpful Helpful

Cx30Verified Purchase Life''s too short Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2018 Unreadably pretentious. Author uses a hundred words to try to describe what a good writer can say in 15.
While academics and such may enjoy such flights of fantasy, life''s too short to try to sort through this. 27 people found this helpful Helpful

Lisa SheaVerified Purchase A Verbal Meditation Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2012 It''s intriguing reading peoples'' reviews of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. The majority find it spellbindingly beautiful, a work of poetry, and well deserving of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize it was awarded. A small, vocal group insist it''s mind-numbingly dull, with no... See more It''s intriguing reading peoples'' reviews of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. The majority find it spellbindingly beautiful, a work of poetry, and well deserving of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize it was awarded. A small, vocal group insist it''s mind-numbingly dull, with no plot and no resolution. It doesn''t "go anywhere". In many ways I find that the story, and readers'' reactions, are quite similar to how meditation is perceived.

First, the basics. Annie Dillard married a poet, earned a Master''s Degree in English, and wrote her thesis on Thoreau and Walden Pond. For two years after she graduated she was writing, journaling, and painting. She then decided that in essence she should write her own take on nature, similar to Thoreau''s experiences. Where Thoreau was a man out in rural Massachusetts in the mid-1800s, Dillard was a woman, over a hundred years later, in rural Roanoke, Virginia. She felt there was room enough in the world for a fresh take on natural life.

And indeed she was quite correct.

This isn''t a "story" about a person starting Here and ending up There. It isn''t even a series of essays, as some readers have mistakenly assumed. Instead, Dillard is clear that this is a cohesive piece, organized chronologically, building and expanding on previous experiences and then moving forward. Dillard is not only keen in her insight into what is before her, but also amazingly well read. She can find the relations between the water before her and the Eskimo traditions, between a barely visible creature and the quotes of scientists from decades ago. It''s like sitting down at the side of a pond with your beloved aunt who has traveled the world, and hearing fascinating stories about how various bits of life relate to fascinating creatures far away.

The book is poetry, and one focus here is that *life* is poetry. Everything around us is beautiful and terrible and will be gone in the blink of an eye. Turn your head too quickly and it will skitter off, never to be seen again. The roiling crimson beauty of a magnificent sunset will fade into a smoky grey, and no matter how many sunsets you watch after that, none will ever be quite the same.

Is it "boring" to read about the fantastic myriad wonders that nature presents to us every day? That''s an intriguing question. Somehow our world has trained us to be obsessively attentive when a movie-screen freight train barrels towards a stalled car, but to turn away uninterested when a double rainbow shimmers into existence over a lake. We stare down at our smartphone screen in dedicated frenzy when a Facebook post blings into existence, but we ignore the real live human being before us who we could learn so much from. We want a start, a middle, and an end. But nature goes on, always renewing, constantly restoring, and I think somewhere many of us have lost track of that.

So, yes, settling in with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is like settling into a favorite chair on your back porch, sipping a delicious glass of wine, and watching with fascination as the golden-winged dragonflies perform an intricate mating ritual. It is spellbinding, and soothing, and fascinating - but one has to want to slow down and pay attention. One needs to mute the TV, turn off the cell, and be willing to breathe in the natural world which is all around us.

Well recommended. 210 people found this helpful Helpful

Jim BairdVerified Purchase A Natural Philosopher''s Diary Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2014 Five stars may be too many for this early volume in the Annie Dillard canon. It makes demands on the reader that are similar to those faced by a teacher reading a gifted student''s term paper: The book is dazzling but it''s also disorienting, like a travel adventure without a... See more Five stars may be too many for this early volume in the Annie Dillard canon. It makes demands on the reader that are similar to those faced by a teacher reading a gifted student''s term paper: The book is dazzling but it''s also disorienting, like a travel adventure without a map. Still, it''s a book that changes how the reader sees the world, and for that it gets highest marks.

This is a fairly easy book to read but a tough one to get through. It is simultaneously nature study, personal diary, Scripture commentary, mystical theology, field observation manual, and blank-verse poem. Annie Dillard was just age 27 when she wrote Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and it is very much a young writer’s book, poetic and enthusiastic. Such strengths are also weaknesses: at times the poetry can be a bit ornate, and the multitude of facts can be daunting. Still, there are significant rewards in this book, if the reader, like a seasoned traveler, is willing to follow the author wherever she goes.

How far will we be going? The word “pilgrim” in the title suggests a long-distance trek to a holy place. But when we start the first chapter, we find Dillard already at a creekside cabin in Virginia , where she will stay for a year. If we’re to join her as pilgrims, we seem to at the destination without even setting out. Notice, though, that she calls her cabin an anchorite’s hermitage. Studying and writing by night, silently watching by day, she is more hermit than pilgrim. For Dillard and her readers, the journey in this book won’t be measured in miles. The road we’re on goes inward.

How strenuous is this going to be? Dillard answers this one with a story from Genesis, the one where Jacob wrestles with God on the bank of a stream. The contest goes on all night. Like Jacob, Dillard waits by a stream, and for one strenuous page after another, she wrestles with creation and its workings. We watch horrified as an outsized water bug liquefies a frog, as mother insects devour their freshly-laid eggs, as reindeer are driven mad by clouds of flies. This will not be an easy trip.

What will we see along the way? Before we can answer that, we have to confront a key fact about Creation: It may seem like an extravagant, intricate machine, set in motion and then left to run on its own; but it really resembles, once everything is examined carefully, a thought, a series of ideas made real. There is Mind behind what we see. Much of the book explores all the amazing stuff that there is in the world. Say what you will, the Creator loves variety and loves “Pizzaz.”

But what’s the reward for finishing the journey? Death is what awaits us, of course; Life seems to require it, making room for what’s next. So, what will we do when we get there, with all we’ve seen along the way of pizzaz but also of blood and destruction? Here’s Dillard in the final chapter: “I think that the dying pray at the last not ‘please,’ but ‘thank you,’ as a guest thanks his host at the door.” 51 people found this helpful Helpful

ealovittVerified Purchase "The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed." Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015 Along with naturalist Edwin Way Teale who wrote four books about his and his wife''s 100,000-mile journey that crisscrossed America and its seasons, Annie Dillard is one of my favorite American nature writers. Her portraits are much more intimate than Teale''s... See more Along with naturalist Edwin Way Teale who wrote four books about his and his wife''s 100,000-mile journey that crisscrossed America and its seasons, Annie Dillard is one of my favorite American nature writers. Her portraits are much more intimate than Teale''s continent-spanning murals. She is a miniaturist who painted scenes from nature that have stayed in my memory for all the decades since I first read this Pulitzer-prize winning book.

Annie Dillard does not use pastels. Many of her scenes are painted in blood--''Nature red in tooth and claw'' as another poet would have it. Read the first scene in "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" where the author wakes to find her "body covered with paw prints in blood" and see if you can put this book down without reading further...or read the scene with the frog that didn''t leap away at her approach:

"He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked tent..."

The whole book is filled with miniatures from Dillard''s pilgrimage at Tinker''s Creek. It shouldn''t be read through at one gulp, but savored slowly like a medieval Book of Hours. 13 people found this helpful Helpful

Lisa SchuremanVerified Purchase Loved it! Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2016 A wonderful book full of information about what the author observes on Tinker Creek, the inter-species relationships there, and stories she learned along her personal life''s journey. Stalking and observing muskrats sounded fun, but I wouldn''t have sat down and had a chat... See more A wonderful book full of information about what the author observes on Tinker Creek, the inter-species relationships there, and stories she learned along her personal life''s journey. Stalking and observing muskrats sounded fun, but I wouldn''t have sat down and had a chat with a copperhead, even if I did learn that a mosquito could bite it. Some of her sentences are structured in such a way that they paint word pictures and you can almost see Tinker Creek with its fish, mammals, birds, and other creatures. You have to take your time with this book otherwise you might miss something. 8 people found this helpful Helpful

A. Andrew JoyceVerified Purchase One of my favorites. Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2014 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a strange book (I mean that in an entirely good, Pulitzer-prize winning sort of way). Your sense of nature around you will be not only sharpened but also simultaneously destroyed: Annie Dillard brings so much to your attention that any ordinary... See more Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a strange book (I mean that in an entirely good, Pulitzer-prize winning sort of way). Your sense of nature around you will be not only sharpened but also simultaneously destroyed: Annie Dillard brings so much to your attention that any ordinary walk now seems like an adventure, filled with tiny events of huge importance that you are doubtless missing. This is a book about nature, and someone who loves nature and takes time to observe it.

This book is, at its core, not so much a book as a journal: a journal written by someone who has learned to see all of life in the small things. Rather than being disconnected essays, as some have claimed, this book is an entire, living story. Annie Dillard writes about seeing with a sense of urgency, as if when you blink the entire, elaborate picture will have vanished. There is an ambition in this book to feel.

You will be sucked in with no choice. There is no other writer who is so well able to tie tiny strands into a beautiful tapestry: especially when the tiny strands range from mountains to cicadas and locusts. This book is written in the revelry of experiencing creation bit by bit, leaf by leaf, muskrat by muskrat, mountain by mountain, galaxy by galaxy. But the writing is far from tedious. Rather, the sense of wonder — which you feel for an instant upon seeing something beautiful — is prolonged throughout the entire book.

The book is balanced in two halves: a Yin-Yang sort of perspective on the world. The author calls these the via positiva and the via negativa: two routes to seeing God in creation: one in the world’s grand intricacy and beauty, and the other in the raw power that kills billions of insects each year. Both halves have a chapter which forms the high-water mark, each of which counterbalance the other. The chapter named “Seeing” is the mark of the via positiva, which is all wiped out in “Flood,” to begin the via negativa, which climaxes in “Northing.”

You will never be able to take a ‘simple’ walk again (as if there is such a thing!). For both halves — the marvelous and the hideous — direct you to the glory of God’s creation. What is so exciting about this book is that it is not written from a ‘Christian’ perspective: faced with the glory of creation, Annie Dillard has no choice but to revel in the Creator and in His world. I highly recommend Pilgrim from Tinker Creek without reserve. It will challenge you. You will have a sharpened to the little things in creation. You will close the back cover and care a little bit more, which is absolutely a good thing. 6 people found this helpful Helpful

KiKi JVerified Purchase Amazing! Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2014 I wasn''t sure I''d be able to finish this book. I am decidedly not a nature girl, so a book so steeped in nature wasn''t something I thought I''d be able to wrap my mind around for 200 odd pages. I was wrong. While I''m still not so into nature, this book is amazing. I was not... See more I wasn''t sure I''d be able to finish this book. I am decidedly not a nature girl, so a book so steeped in nature wasn''t something I thought I''d be able to wrap my mind around for 200 odd pages. I was wrong. While I''m still not so into nature, this book is amazing. I was not as bored as I thought I''d be reading the musings of this woman wandering around the forest and the area surrounding the creek, discussing muskrats dragonflies, and locusts, etc. While that aspect of the book didn''t turn me away from it, but it wasn''t the most appealing either. While not wholly unappealing, it was also not apalling. It did make me look at nature in a different way and if I ever find myself camping, I''ll likely chase down small woodland creatures and study them like there will be a test the next day. The best part of the book for me were all the relevatory moments Dillard came to while watching and pondering these creatures, their existence as well as her own and the environment. The chapter "The Present" spoke to me in a way that I didn''t expect and said so many things that I think and feel about the present, but have never been able to elucidate. I am a highlighter, underliner, and margin writer. Anything that is enlightening, beautiful prose, a ponderable for later gets marked in some way in my books. This book is filled with yellow highlights and I can literally read those passages over and over again and find something new almost every time.

While I believe Dillard is or at least at the time was heavily into Christianity, I did not find her heavy handed with the Biblical symbolism at all. As someone who is not hugely Christian, I still found her touch on divinity and creation beyond palatable and thought provoking.

Chapter 13: The Horns of the Altar: "I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wandering awed about on a splintered wreck I''ve come to care for, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty beats and shines not in its imperfections but overwhelmingly in spite of them, under the wind-rent clouds, upstream and down" (242).

It''s paragraphs like the one above that makes this book a staple and one that I''ve read over and over again and will continue to do so. 9 people found this helpful Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

AlanVerified Purchase Looking for answers about God by a small stream in Virginia Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2017 It may the bias of an old man, but I am amazed that this book was written by a twenty-seven year old. There is a stillness and centredness in it which I do not associate with the energy of youth. There is a contradiction in the title: classically, pilgrims move on - they...See moreIt may the bias of an old man, but I am amazed that this book was written by a twenty-seven year old. There is a stillness and centredness in it which I do not associate with the energy of youth. There is a contradiction in the title: classically, pilgrims move on - they are on a journey. Annie Dillard stays where she is - the whole book grows out of her year-long observations in a tiny bit of rural Virginia. The pilgrimage is an inward one as she reflects on what she observes in and around a creek that runs near her home. Occasionally she lifts her gaze to the horizon, but for the most part her attention is focussed on the small, even the minute, manifestations of life in the water, on the banks, in the bushes. And she reads scientific literature, so that her amazement about what she sees is enhanced by a deeper understanding of what is going on beyond her vision. Some of the nature writing is exquisite, some of it I passed over fairly quickly - it is a book you could dip in to if you wanted, although I found myself reading it from end to end. It must be a nightmare for a librarian to decide how to categorise this book on the shelves. Fundamentally, it is not a "nature book". Probably it would have to go under Theology. She is fascinated by the profligacy of nature; she is overwhelmed not just by the sheer number of creatures she find and their variety, but also by the exquisite and apparently unnecessary detail of, for example, a leaf or the fin of a small fish. The creator, she concludes, must be "a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital". At the end of day, however, its is not the profligacy of nature which stays with me, but its cruelty. There are two scenarios that she returns to several times. One is of a praying mantis munching the belly of a wasp which in turn is sucking the honey out a bee during its death throws. The other is of a frog being sucked dry to the point of total dehydration by a bug which has attached itself to the unfortunate victim. She notes that ten percent of al living creatures are parasitic. What sort of Creator has given us this world? What she sees is "an assault on all human value, all hope of a reasonable god." This is not a plea for atheism but rather a challenge to comfortable Sunday School images of a benign God who has created the best of possible worlds. And there are no easy answers for those like myself who hold on to a faith perspective on the big questions of life. I finished the book feeling quite overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of our world - and feeling rather more wary of the God I worship. He''s not to be messed with. 22 people found this helpful

JennyVerified Purchase Read it and ordered it twice more for my mother ... Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2017 Read it and ordered it twice more for my mother and sister in law! Its lovely. Something to read and think about and then read again. 5 people found this helpful

AineninuallainVerified Purchase A timeless classic about the art of observation Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2015 Wonderful study of nature and nature observation and individual engaged in nature observation. Beautiful style of writing, you are always there with the author, seeing what she sees, hearing what she hears and understanding her line of thinking. Following her mental...See moreWonderful study of nature and nature observation and individual engaged in nature observation. Beautiful style of writing, you are always there with the author, seeing what she sees, hearing what she hears and understanding her line of thinking. Following her mental acrobatics sometimes feels like watching swallows dancing in the summer wind...beautifully swift and totally fascinating. A study in mindfulness when that term wasn''t in fashion yet. 2 people found this helpful

Jess181Verified Purchase Beautifully written book Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2019 Really loved this - the first of this author that I have read, having heard many recommendations.

Mike BirdVerified Purchase An interesting thoughtful book Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2020 A great book it is a shame that young adults are forced to read it rather than discovering its joy of nature. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.