CoffeeAndThorn reviewed The Struggle for Eden by Malve von Hassell
Review of 'The Struggle for Eden' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
As one who spends her best hours pulling nettles on wasteland in a corner of the (who owns the land anyway? I don't know) world, I felt I had found a family when I read this book. It is a book about people who do this thing, not as I do it, alone and as a bit of a meditation on solitude, but in a community fashion, with other humans. A book about people who cultivate little patches of unused urban soil, for as long as they can before the bulldozers come. A book about people who cultivate communities as well as plants - and sometimes artwork and families.
It's a precarious activity. Since the book was first published, in 2002, most of the gardens it describes have disappeared - built over and forgotten. That never means it wasn't worth the effort. Something that gardeners know is that it's always …
As one who spends her best hours pulling nettles on wasteland in a corner of the (who owns the land anyway? I don't know) world, I felt I had found a family when I read this book. It is a book about people who do this thing, not as I do it, alone and as a bit of a meditation on solitude, but in a community fashion, with other humans. A book about people who cultivate little patches of unused urban soil, for as long as they can before the bulldozers come. A book about people who cultivate communities as well as plants - and sometimes artwork and families.
It's a precarious activity. Since the book was first published, in 2002, most of the gardens it describes have disappeared - built over and forgotten. That never means it wasn't worth the effort. Something that gardeners know is that it's always worth the effort. And it never lasts. But just for a moment, it is there. That leaf. That flower. Like you. Yes - dare to know it - like your children. We're all mortal.
I first read this book a year or so ago, before it was available as an ebook. I am really pleased that it is now available to a wider audience - nothing has really changed since it was written, except the numbers on the calendar.