Green Shingles: At the Edge of the Chesapeake Bay

by Peter Svenson

Book Overview

Peter Svenson begins his elegant, idiosyncratic exploration of the Chesapeake Bay at the doorstep of his own home--a green shingled house perched high on Mitchell's Bluff, looking out across the Bay's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571199615
• ISBN13: 9780571199617
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Original, Articulate Tapestry of a Place

In middle age, Peter Svenson and his wife, K, have moved to Maryland from the Virginia farm that was the setting of Svenson's acclaimed book, BATTLEFIELD. They decide to make a bold leap, in terms of economics and lifestyle, and buy a house on the windy Tolchester bluff on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The title, GREEN SHINGLES, is derived from the house's distinctive roof. In graceful prose marked by a distinctive, articulate voice, Svenson by turns examines the natural science, maritime events, and public works that connect with his existence on that bluff, the beach 40 feet below it and, of course, the water. If you are turning to this book having just finished BATTLEFIELD, you should know that once again, Svenson does a bang up job of coaxing the history out of a place; he does thorough research and interprets it in compelling terms. This time, he also visits on tugs and a coast guard buoy patrol, profiling the tasks and life aboard the boats in the bay. You will find the pace of this book more languid, and in some instances the author more self absorbed in a curmudgeonly way. He takes time out to relate a homeowner's contractor from hell story and his skirmish with a local art show, the latter a provincial bruising it seems to his MFA trained sensibilities. This is indeed a different book from that first, but in the end, Svenson again delivers a fine, original performance that is a pleasure to read. You put it down convinced he is, after all, right about a lot of things.

Worthy of the Bluff

This is an excellent portrayal of life from the bluff of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. Mr. Svenson's observations are a fascinating read for anyone who loves the bay and the Eastern Shore. The stories of the workmen who were to build his garage and his "2nd Place" in the art show are classics. Be aware Mr. Svenson does come off rather pompous in his reflections. Also, in spite of all the detail Svenson gets into, he still somehow mislabels local towns and there county jurisdictions (Kent County, MD is just not that hard). Hopefully he is finally happy and at peace with himself on the bluff.

An Outsider Discovers the Eastern Shore

I liked this book. Because of its cover, first. Because of its writing, second. And because of its humor. Mr. Svenson takes himself seriously--as he should, being a Master of Fine Arts (MFA). But he lets his hair down when he describes what it took for him and his wife (at midlife) to buy their green-shingled house on a bluff overlooking the Bay. A lot of money, garnered from relatives. A lot of cleaning up...trash that pleasure boaters continued to throw toward his beach, and a rebuff by the art-league when someone hid an oil painting rather than display it. Mr. Svenson's voice is his alone. Put a dictionary close as you read. Stand near the window as he examines the morning's boat traffic going by. Envy him and his wife (why didn't he name her, "Katherine," instead of referring her as K?). It's a personal narrative that makes the skipjacks-and-oysters books on the Bay only the beginning. Here, under a green-shingled roof, is life-in-the moment. I thought I knew Chestertown, Centerville, and Rock Hall, the area the author writes about, but I know it much better now, through his eyes.