THE DISCREET CHARM OF THOSE FROM AWAY

MAN BITES LOG: THE UNLIKELY ADVENTURES OF A CITY GUY IN THE WOODS
By Max Alexander
Paperback
263 pp. New York:
Carroll & Graf. $14.

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

To the best of my recollection, life has never been simple in Maine. Having lived in Maine for most of my forty-seven years (I spent one college semester “abroad” in Indiana), I feel I can write this with some authority. My family has been here for many generations, and their tales of living and farming in northern Maine lead me to believe that their lives were far from simple. When they lost their farm during the depression and had to move to Skowhegan to work in the mills, simple is not the word I would use to describe their experiences. Instead, their lives were filled with hard work and resourcefulness, of getting by with little education and not much money. My own life, while not as difficult as my forebears, has not been simple, and it, too, has been filled with hard work and resourcefulness.

Yet somehow, there is a pervading myth that life in a rural state is simpler and more authentic than life in the city. This is, of course, romantic hogwash, but it is a powerful myth that has drawn many people to the country and, by extension, to Maine. Taking their cue from Thoreau, who lived the simple life in the wilds of Concord, Massachusetts, and from Helen and Scott Nearing, who apparently had more outside help than they were willing to admit, young people flocked to Maine in the 1970s in the pursuit of a simple, agrarian life. When country living proved to be quite complex, many people gave up and left. However, some hardy souls did stay, and a small influx of simple-life wannabes continues to come to Maine in the hopes of escaping the so-called rat race.

Max Alexander, a writer and editor who worked in both New York and Hollywood, falls squarely in the tradition of someone from away coming to Maine to start afresh. Tired of long days that kept him away from his family, Alexander and his wife Sarah and their two sons moved to the Union area, a very beautiful place of rolling hills and blueberry fields. He and his wife bought “a parcel of inexact acreage slightly larger than the Vatican City and slightly smaller than the Forbidden City” and an old house in need of constant repair.

In Man Bites Log: The Unlikely Adventures of a City Guy in the Woods, Alexander tells the story of his move to Maine and outlines his troubles and his triumphs, his family and friends, his rivals. The book is a series of short essays beginning in 1999 and covering a span of five years. In his author’s note, Alexander tells us that most of the essays appeared in the Portland Phoenix, a small alternative newspaper from Portland, our biggest city.

As I read Alexander’s snappy essays, I was reminded, yet again, of the virtues and flaws so often associated with those who are “from away.” That is, energy and impatience, passion and aggressiveness, keen attention and condescension. Naturally, these descriptions do not apply to everyone who is from away, but they apply to enough people so that they give some measure of truth to the stereotype, and Alexander himself certainly fits the bill. At times, he made me laugh, but at other times, he made me grit my teeth, and I was engaged in a one-sided argument with him through much of the book.

First, the virtues. Despite Alexander’s status as a country wannabe and his ignorance of the effort, money, and time it takes to keep an old house and land in good condition, he seems to have a genuine love of the rural life and all the hard work that goes with it. He repairs the sheep shed, rakes blueberries, plants a big garden, and kills his own chickens and pigs. In one instance, he even collects roadkill—a wild turkey—and stuffs it with a dressing made of “wild rice, pecans, and cranberries cooked in maple syrup.” Alexander tells us “Technology is great, but sometimes manure is better.” Indeed it is, especially in a garden.

Along with a love of the rural life comes an affection for the land and the towns that support the farms and the people. Alexander recognizes that nothing exits without care, and eventually his concern leads him to run for third selectman, which entails “diligent door-to-door campaigning.”

Finally, Alexander writes vivid portraits of the people around him, his friends and family as well as his neighbors and adversaries. He does a wonderful job of chronicling life in a small town, with all its pleasures and discontents, and by the time the book is finished, the reader begins to understand, at least somewhat, the allure of country living.

Unfortunately, Alexander cannot swallow his displeasure when he discovers that the real Maine is not quite as pretty and as quaint as it’s advertised to be. Even though he feels “guilty” about it, he thinks that “trailers and their accessories…[are] a scar on the landscape.” He acknowledges that “trailers allow poor people to own their own homes” then adds “But do they have to be so ugly?” Alexander goes on to wonder plaintively, “Surely vinyl siding, faux plastic shutters and living rooms the width of a traffic lane are not the only solutions.” Well, right now they are, and the last thing people living on a modest income need is someone looking down on the place they call home.

His pushiness with one of his neighbors also made this Mainer shake her head. When Alexander learns that the people next door will allow part of a proposed ATV trail to run on their land, he heads over to ask them to reconsider their decision. He tells them he is concerned about the noise and his children’s safety. When his neighbors refuse, stating, “We have always shared our land. We’re from the old school—live and let live,” Alexander, to put it mildly, is not amused, and he fusses and fumes until the end of the essay. Plans for the trail fall through, but Alexander cannot get over his snit and will not speak to his neighbors.

My last bone of contention is a little more complicated. A running theme through part of the book involves Lane Construction Corporation’s plan to locate a “fifty-six acre granite quarry with a rock crushing operation and two manufacturing plants—one for concrete and one for asphalt” in Alexander’s town. This, of course, splits the community, with Alexander firmly on the side of those who oppose Lane Construction. Alexander then goes on to list the adverse environmental effects of such an operation, and not for one moment do I doubt the truth of what he has written. In addition, he makes a convincing case that the location is a watershed for the area, which makes the effects even worse.

However, as a society, we all make use, directly or indirectly, of concrete and asphalt. Even those of us who live in the country. Even Alexander. I can certainly understand why he wouldn’t want the operation in his town. Who would? But if it’s not in his town, then it must be in someone else’s town. My town, perhaps. Until we learn to live without concrete and asphalt, that’s the way it works.

Despite my complaints and grumping, I think Man Bites Log is a lively, engaging book, full of energy and ideas. In fact, it’s a little like all the people from away who have come to Maine and who have given as much as they have taken. Without them, Maine would be a calmer state, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a better one. 

 

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