No comments about Forgotten Arts, Book 1 (Forgotten Arts).

5 comments about The Arrows Cookbook : Cooking and Gardening from Maine's Most Beautiful Farmhouse Restaurant.

1. Anyone who's ever visited Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine, knows the owners are sticklers for exquisite detail. From the views of the lush and meticulous one-acre garden out the freshly painted farmhouse windows, to the seasonal food artfully arranged on the plate, the experience is a treat for the eye as well as the palate. With the garden full of flowers, herbs, vegetables and heirloom tomatoes for inspiration, the food is creative and bursting with bright and subtle flavors.

   The owners' first book reflects this with a balanced presentation of recipes, gardening advice and personal details. Organized seasonally, the authors showcase Maine staples such as lobster, Maine shrimp and cod and halibut, fiddleheads and blueberries. But the fiddleheads come served in brown butter with Bundnerfleisch, a German cured beef (you could also substitute prosciutto or smoked salmon); the lobster comes in an Asparagus Soup with Lobster, Morels and Chervil, and the lobster salad is served, not with mayonnaise, but with Tomato-Tarragon Vinaigrette.

   The authors cross cultures freely and do not mind a little extra effort for a spectacular result. The skewers for the Chinese-inspired Grilled Lamb Brochettes on Basil Skewers with Spicy Basil-Cilantro Marinade, for instance, are basil stems left to dry over the winter.

   Each chapter opens with a short essay on the season and state of the garden (which provides 90 percent of the restaurant's produce) and business, then moves on to feature appetizers, main and side dishes, sauces and desserts. Recipes are prefaced with short, useful notes on growing (even in Maine, "tomatillos grow like weeds"), selecting (the best piece of bluefin tuna, for instance), variations, accompaniments, and cooking tips.

   Interspersed with the recipes are short gardening pieces - how to grow tomatoes or peppers, growing and using herbs, watering with soaker hoses, using up zucchini, making the most of a small space, edible flowers, saving seeds and lots more.

   But the food is what Arrows veterans are looking for here. For a tantalizing taste of summer, try a Sweet and Sour Fennel Salad or a simple plate of Marinated Tomatoes or a Sugar Snap Pea and Rock Shrimp Salad. Then maybe some Maine Sweet Clams with Risotto and Arugula, or Grilled Rib-Eye Steak with Herbs and Caramelized Onions. Accompanied perhaps by some Thai-Style Corn-on-the-Cob (soaked in coconut milk, grilled), or Yam and Leek Gratin, and your own Onion and Rosemary Focaccia. Topped off with Cinnamon Basil Shortcakes with Peaches or Blueberry Ice Cream or Steamed Raspberry Pudding.

   This is an attractive, personable, conversational book, as much fun to cook from as to browse. The recipes are not difficult, though some are time consuming and many feature ingredients you can find, but not necessarily at the local supermarket (but isn't a new discovery half the fun?). A delightful book and a kitchen inspiration.




2. This book is a must have. The recipes are fun and easy to prepare. When my family goes to their restaurant we are always treated as family. So many of the recipes are great that I can't even pick a single one as my favorite. What really puts this book into the next level is the way that they use seasonal ingredients. A must have.



3. As both a cook and a gardener, this cookbook is a treat. Oganized by season, the recipes use fresh fruits, herbs, and vegetables found in the garden and at the farmer's market. There are ambitious recipes that call for a lot of time and preparation, as well as extremely simple fare. The book also gives hints and instructions for everything from freezing berries and shucking oysters to building raised beds; even providing advice on whether or not to buy a greenhouse! You can plant the authors' "10 veggies that let you have a life," and then use their recipes to create such dishes as Red and Golden Beet Salad or the very simple Ginger-Roasted Parsnips. Armed with my seed catalogs and Frasier and Gaier's cookbook for inspiration and ideas (not to mention a slice of Super-Moist Apple Cake and a cup of coffee), I am looking forward to planning my garden for 2004. I can hardly wait until next year's harvest!



4. `The Arrows Cookbook' combines 156 recipes from the four seasons of the highly regarded coastal Maine restaurant with a experienced amateur gardener's recommendations on planting and running a large southern Maine vegetable garden for the restaurant. The book embodies the familiar mantra of using fresh, seasonal, local ingredients fortified by giving you the information you need to grow fresh, local ingredients. This is the special slant the book offers, as no publisher has yet gotten the chutzpah to charge $40 for a book without trying to give the reader something extra.

   The tone of the book is heavily oriented to their rural Maine terroir in style and content. In Maine, the seasons play a much greater role in daily life than they do in California or even in Manhattan. Therefore, the book's attitude toward its product has neither the mystical reverence of Paul Bertolli or Alice Waters nor the high maintenance, high craftsmanship of Daniel Boulud or Eric Rippert. Even though there is considerable respect for ingredients and home brewed food making here in both the gardening in the Spring and Summer and ham curing done in the Winter. There is also no evidence of high tech houte cuisine (there are no prep or cook times or difficulties ascribed to the recipes) or of Napa Valley chic wine recommendations. This is Maine! This is boiled lobsters, boiled meat, and wild apple country.

   The asking price of $0.26 a recipe is a relatively high price for the average cookbook. Many very good books average out at $0.10 to $0.20 a recipe, list. What would make you willing to pay the extra toll for this book aside from the celebrity status of the venue?

   1. The recipes are good, simple preparations. Of the 156, there are:
   Appetizers 27
   Salads 22
   Main Courses 26 11 of which are for seafood
   Sauces 21
   Side Dishes 36
   Desserts 24

   The relatively high proportion of appetizers, salads, and side dishes to main courses is explained by the fact that the menu is different for each of the four seasons, based on what produce is available in that season. There are few or no tomato dishes in Spring and few strawberry dishes in Winter. The up side to this picture is that this book is a very good source for seasonal salads, appetizers, and side dishes. If one's limited cookbook budget was aimed at either seasonally or vegetarianism, this is a very good book. The attention to edible flowers is especially noteworthy.

   2. The gardening information is fairly complete for the straightforward vegetable garden. Its primary value is inspirational and getting one started in the right directions. A good bibliography of gardening texts is included. The supplementary books are needed, because these authors are amateurs. I found at least one botanical mistake, but it wasn't serious. The book's value drops off the further you live from the Southern Maine growing zone and the less space you have available to grow stuff. The greatest value of this part of the book is the inspiration it can give to save money by growing your own. I believe the frugality of restaurant operations and the way they treat their prima materia is one of the most useful inspirations for home chefs. The growing of herbs alone in a Manhattan apartment can probably save someone over $100 a year with a commensurate improvement in their cuisine. Check out the price of fresh basil the next time you are in the tomato aisle of your megamart.

   The photographs in this book are very gratefully limited to special sections and are of a reasonable quality. I have given up assigning demerits for photos, which have the center of a plate in focus and the front and back out of focus. All are about the food. No sous chefs hamming it up for the camera. Very commendable. One regret I have about the photography is that the book gives special attention to a very large arrangement at the restaurant entrance which changes at least seasonally, yet they give not a single photo of this great work, even after giving a detailed description of how to construct one. There are also many small black and white photos related to the text, but with no caption. Occasionally disorienting. Lastly, I miss a few more photos of their extensive garden and greenhouse(s). I start to get the sense that, like Emeril's recent cookbook, this book is aimed at being an elaborate advertisement for the restaurant.

   This is good and more than commonly useful book. At a discounted price of $30 or less, I recommend it.




5. When I need to plan a dinner for friends that are not foodies this is the first cookbook I choose. The recipes are delicious, easy to prepare and are not over the top. Every recipe has been meticulously checked and all have proven to be delicious. The book helps capture the feel of eating at the restaurant. The seasonality of the book's organization helps us northern new englanders plan an appropriate meal.

No comments about Polaroid (MA) (Images of America).

5 comments about The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century.

1. In the 20th century the study of the Puritan Origins of New England and the US as a whole, took a new start. Perry Miller was to 'blame' for this. With his studies of Puritans he has shown that Puritans were not as harsh, narrow-minded and alienated from the rest of the world, as was the image throughout the 19th and early 20th century. In fact especially the Puritans were very interested in new scientific and religious developments from the enlightenment onwards. They did however use them for their own purposes. In New England Mind, The Seventeenth Century, Perry Miller goes into this. He tries to explain how the Puritans tried to balance between hart en mind. How they incorporated new scientific developments into their worldview, yet never allowed for any limits on Gods authority and power. Miller succeeds very well in showing how their religion was a whole out of two very different parts and how they as humans found their in our eyes harsh religion consoling. This book only goes into the ideological legacy of the 17th century. If you would like to read more try the sequel; From Colony to Province. This is an excellent book, which opened up an entire era to our modern minds. Even though the ideas put for the floodlight are rather heavy-handed, Miller succeeds in explaining them clearly and even got me to smile.



2. Contrary to what a previous reviewer might have you believe, Miller's book is not a propaganda piece advocating Puritan theology; it's an examination of the intellectual history of America, specifically New England in the time of the Puritans. Americans all live under the shadow of the Puritans; to not understand this is simply ignorant. To attack a serious and brilliant scholarly work as though it were right-wing rhetoric is just plain silly.
   
   The Puritans are far too easy to caricature by our modern standards, but are much more complex and interesting to look at from within the context of their own times. Truly, theirs was an amazingly complicated (though logically tortured and ultimately impossible) faith to sustain. Few point out the complexities and contradictions of this faith from such an informed perspective as Miller. In my opinion, this is his masterwork.
   
   I implore readers to avoid the (incorrect) characterization that the modern right-wing ministers (Dobson, Falwell, etc.) are the direct intellectual descendents of such giants as Jonathan Edwards; Richard, Increase, and Cotton Mather; and Anne Hutchinson. Theology changes radically over time, and the Protestant Christianity being preached today is radically different than it was in the 1600s. Though the ideological foundation of this "New Jerusalem" called America was built by the Puritans, there are few ministers who now possess their eloquence, their willingness to sacrifice everything for their beliefs, and their dedication to their craft. (Not to mention a VERY rigid doctrine of predestination, much more rigid than you will find virtually anywhere in America today.) I don't advocate their philosophy or theology as something to live by. However, if your desire is to better understand the true Puritans and the history of America, it would be hard to do better than Perry Miller's great work on the subject.



3. 
   A PURITAN MIND is not the normal kind of book one would read about Puritan life in the 1600s, Colonial America, as it pulls more on quotes from religious Puritan documents. You have to already know the history of all the A, B and C-list people in Puritan history to appreciate this book.
   
   I'm a playwright who is focused on a story that crosses into the Puritans in their utopian society in Massachusetts.



4. Perry Miller (1905-1963) was one of the most important of the consensus historians of the middle part of the twentieth century and his work on the American Puritans was required reading for all students of history when I attended graduate school in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century" was one of his masterworks, exploring the intellectual history of the Puritans through a deep investigation of the thought of the Puritan divines. In this book, as well as its successor, "The New England Mind: From Colony to Province" (Harvard University Press, 1953), Miller asserted a single mind for America that could be traced to the Puritan belief system. Even while there was an "American mentality" it was tormented by self-doubt and a certain schizophrenia. He suggested that the spiritual unrest present among all Americans that may be traced to the early Puritans.
   
   This volume emphasizes the rise of a religious utopian experiment by the Puritans. He finds much of value that the Puritans bequeathed to the United States and suggests that America has always been about noble ideals accepted by all. Miller's consensus interpretation celebrated the long tradition of shared American ideals and values while de-emphasizing conflict. He believed that this made the United States and the people that made it up somehow better than everyone else. Miller questioned the ideas and people who challenged the cherished principles that he saw so well expressed in the writings of Puritan elites, noting in many of them strains of authoritarianism, anarchy, and narrow- and simple-mindedness of all varieties. Much of this approach to the American past in vogue when Miller was involved in his work advocated a basic idealism that he believed was in constant jeopardy from forces of fear, anti-intellectualism, and authoritarianism present in society.
   
   This is an important book, and having recently reread it, I find it still valuable as a statement of Puritan intellectual thought. Its creation of a single mindset, however, is certainly questionable. For instance, the "other" of Puritan society is not represented. What of the dispossessed, minorities of all types, non-Puritans, and women in Miller's recounting of Puritan thought? They are essentially omitted from the story and including their perspectives would certainly have altered Miller's account. His concept of Puritanism was essentially the same one that was offered by the elites of early New England. Nonetheless, this work represents a seminal statement in American historiography and remains worthy of consideration for any student of the subject.



5. Back studying American Puritanism with Darrett Rutman in the '70's it was acknowledged that Perry Miller was an alcoholic and that the only way to understand any of his works was to be s--t faced yourself. I love Miller's classification of Puritans as being "Non-Separating Separatists."

5 comments about A Dark-Adapted Eye.

1. This is one a kind books that haunted my mind long after my first reading back in the late 80s. It is also one of the very few books that I have actually reread years later and found it even more interesting the second time around. Plenty of other first rate authors out there--Lee Child, PD James, Reginald Hill, John MacDonald, Donna Leon, Robert Parker, Dick Francis, etc--but only very few whose works have worn well through time. Much less required a second reading.
   No need to rehash the plot for Ms. Vine's opus as plenty of others have already done so, however I need to give a nod to her marvellous ability to make these somewhat unsympathetic characters both interesting and fascinating. These characters could be anyone we encounter, so realistically are they portrayed. The nerrative itself should in theory have lost any suspense from the start, since we know from the beginning a great portion of the outcome, and yet by sheer imagination and talent Ms. Vine shrewdly pulls the reader ever tightly into her grasp so that we are actually racing through the end as all the "whys" are answered like rabbits being pulled out of a hat. Even more challenging is her ability of going back and forth from past events to present nerrative; instead of being disruptive Ms. Vine somehow ties these two strands together without ever losing a beat to increase the reader's interest.
   It is not necessarily an easy book to start--a great number of characters are introduced in the first few chapters--nor is it a fast paced one; however, once we catch the rhythm of Ms. Vine's nerrative, we are drawn into a world where family love literally kills and destroys, and nothing will matter until we reach the end of our reading journey. Don't expect anything fast paced in the Harlan Coben fashion (not a slight to Mr. Coben). But do read it and savor every moment.



2. "A Dark-Adapted Eye" was the first of Ruth Rendell's psychological mysteries published under the name "Barbara Vine," and it remains one of her best. Offering brilliantly-realized character studies and a finely-drawn portrait of British social mores and class insecurities in the 1940's, this novel fascinates from the very first page.
   
   Now in her 50's, and spurred on by the inquiries of a true-crime writer, Faith Severn recalls the scandal and tragedy surrounding the deaths of her two paternal aunts: Vera Hillyard, twin sister of Faith's father, John, and Edith (Eden) Pearmain, the twins' beautiful and much younger sister, whom Vera raised. Barely middle-class but "snobbish to the end," as Faith puts it, the sisters' determination to present the best face to a morally-judgmental world causes them to resort to a great deception when wartime freedoms result in disaster. Later, when the shallow and opportunistic Eden marries into the upper class, that deception comes back to haunt not only the two women, but also everyone else associated with them.
   
   Rendell's sensitive prose and talent for limning character have never been on better display than in this book. Readers who prefer plot-driven novels to subtle, psychological exploration may find "A Dark-Adapted Eye" boring or exasperating. However, the slow, meticulous explication of plot via character is what renders this novel so effective. Vera Hillyard -- an entirely unsympathetic, ridiculous, but somehow fascinating figure -- drives the story, while Faith's thoughtful attempts, first as a bewildered child, then a developing adolescent growing towards intelligence, and then as an experienced woman, to navigate and analyze the secrets and lies of her family and the era in which she grew up are compelling. The nature of the "mystery" will be guessed by many readers long before Rendell reveals it, but pages will continue to turn because the reader has been drawn into a world and a family that exert a magnetic hold on the imagination.
   
   "A Dark-Adapted Eye" became an unfortunate television production in which the original story was badly-mangled and distorted. Read the novel; don't bother with the film.



3. Barbara Vine, A Dark-Adapted Eye (Plume, 1986)
   
   Ruth Rendell has always been one of those authors I could take or leave; I pick up one of her novels now and again and read it, find it relatively interesting, and tell myself I'll start pursuing her novels with a bit more fervor in the future. I never do. (This is no fault of Ruth Rendell's. I do it with many authors, because I'm horribly scatterbrained. Half the reason I started writing reviews was so I could remember if I'd read any given book five years afterwards.) I had never tried the Barbara Vine books, however. I decided to rectify that with A Dark-Adapted Eye, which I hear mentioned favorably on a relatively frequent basis. And, well, now I've tried it. And the phrase that kept coming to mind was "textbook dull." Not as in Rendell read a textbook on how to write a dull novel, but as in Rendell actually attempted to write a textbook, and the result was A Dark-Adapted Eye.
   
   I'm all for language as thick as clotted cream sometimes. There are books I've read, and loved, that have required me to have a dictionary sitting next to me so I can look up words that have never crossed my eyes before. (This happens more often than not in translations. Give Toril Moi's translation of Julia Kristeva's phenomenal Powers of Horror a try sometime.) Make me work as hard as I need to for it, but reward me now and again. Wendy Walker sprinkles a new delight every few pages in her work. Gunter Grass makes me laugh myself sick, when he's on his game. With Cormac McCarthy, the difficulty of the language is part of the appeal; he can weave the words in such a way as to hide the things in a scene he doesn't want you to see until he's good and ready simply by painting the scene in the type of language one would expect from a doctoral thesis. Rendell-as-Vine, on the other hand, has produced a thick, ungainly mass of text that never gets beyond the level of simple exposition. Well, actually, I'm sure it must at some point, or no one would have ever finished this book. But I got to the point of frustration long before I actually defenestrated the blessed thing. I kept going, hoping something would actually happen before I got somewhere that actually had an openable window, but such was not the case. And so out it went. From now on, I'll stick with Rendell's own ego. (zero)



4. From the outset of this powerful psychological novel, the reader knows that someone is going to be executed--in this case, Vera Longley Hillyard, the aunt of speaker Faith Longley Severn. Vera has been found guilty of murder, but this novel, unlike traditional mysteries, does not reveal who the victim is or why the murder has occurred until the end of the novel. Nearly a third of a century has elapsed since Vera's hanging, and it is only at this point, when an investigative reporter approaches members of Vera's family for information for a book, that Faith and the others in her family reveal the small bits of information they have separately kept to themselves for dozens of years.
   
   Set in the middle of the twentieth century, the novel focuses on the lives of the seemingly close Longley family. Faith's father and Vera were twins, and Vera took care of their much younger sister Eden when Eden was a teenager. Though Vera eventually married a soldier and followed him to India, she and her son returned to Laurel Cottage, the family home, to care for her father. There she had a "miracle baby," who could not have been her husband's. Eden, by then, was a young adult, a volunteer Wren during the war and no longer at home, but with Eden's marriage and return to the area of Great Sindon, she and Vera were drawn together once again.
   
   Unexpected conflicts, tensions, jealousies, and resentments evolve through the story Faith tells about the family and through the family's letters, documents, and memories. Barbara Vine, a pen name for Ruth Rendell, is perceptive and realistic in recreating family tensions while keeping key information secret until the end. The mystery is particularly enhanced by the Faith's openness, a sharp contrast to the privacy of Vera. As the action moves back and forth from the present into the past and then into the earlier past, the reader fills in the gaps about life in this family, and as each character, more than thirty years later, now feels free to share hitherto private information, the horror, along with the reader's insights into the characters, grows inexorably.
   
   In the end, the complete interactions of the family have been revealed, pieces of the mystery have been resolved, and Vera's life and the reasons for her crime and execution become clear. Vine's ability to manipulate the reader's own perceptions while creating psychologically believable characters, make this a powerful novel, full of suspense. n Mary Whipple



5. I expected a good mystery novel, since it got Edgar award, but I did not get it, that is why it gets only 2 stars, otherwise it is reasonably good book. I especially like the inside into the life in England before, during and shortly after the war

2 comments about Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past, Including Museums, Historic Sites, Pubs, Music, Dancing, and Much More.

1. This comprehensive peek at the culture behind America's most Irish city is fascinating if you are interested in Irish American history. I was impressed by this "labor of love" by the author, and his tribute to the city's Irish community is heartfelt. Particularly interesting are the inclusion of not only photos and great content, but a guide to interesting destinations, Irish pubs, events and other reasons to visit Boston. A great gift for anyone with kelly green blood in their veins, I bought three for Christmas gifts! Thanks, Michael, for such a sincere and thorough chronicle of this important Boston community.



2. From an engaging written history to a survey of historic and cultural sites, Irish pubs and gift shops, and annual events, any present or past Bostoner will find Michael P. Quinlin's Irish Boston: A Lively Look At Boston's Colorful Irish Past, Including Museums, Historic Sites, Pubs, Music, Dancing, And Much More an excellent purchase celebrating both the past history of the Irish in Boston and their present-day culture and influences. Especially notable are chapters which focus on famous and notable Irish personalities in Boston, making for a fine blend of history, biography and travelogue all under one cover.

No comments about Jane Austen: New Perspectives : Women and Literature; New Series (Women & Literature,).

2 comments about A Farmer's Alphabet.

1. This book is a beautifully rendered alphabet. The woodcut technique and style are very serene and beautiful to look upon. Mary Azarian has a great talent of which everyone should be aware.



2. Wow! This book is great! Mary Azarian's wonderful black ink woodcut illustrations of life on a typical Vermont farm. Book is large and is taller than the regular hardcover book. One illustration per page with the opposite page blank. Paper is very heavy stock in an ecru color with a texture to the paper (not your regular paper or cheap paper). Both upper case and lower case letters appear at the top left corner of the illustration, about 2 inches high, which is wonderful for teaching the letters of the alphabet. The word is spelled out at the bottom of the illustration with the first letter capital and the others lower case. Examples are: Jump (in the haystack), Lamb, Pumpkin, Rocker, Stove, and Zinnia. Simple farm life is shown and the illustrations are just great! Words are simple and easily understood by the young child who is learning to read. Illustrations are so fun and large that even a toddler who is interested in farm life would enjoy them. The parent can also make up a little story about what is going on in the picture if desired because there is enough going on and/or enough to describe a little ditty about the illustration. For example: the farmer and his wife are picking apples from the apple tree at harvest time, and placing them in the basket. Maybe they will make an apple pie or cider with the apples..... (you get the idea).

3 comments about Searching for Thoreau: On the Trails and Shores of Wild New England.

1. Great stuff. The author is a good writer armed with an intimate knowledge not only of Thoreau's prose and philosophy, but also Thoreau's terrain. People who are hikers and climbers familiar with New England landscapes will especially enjoy this volume.



2. This book was well written and offers some beautiful pictures of Walden Pond and the mountains, Lakes and streams of New England. The author's discriptions of the wilderness areas in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont made me want to go back and enjoy the places that Thoreau wrote about. It was refreshing to read that most of the places were still identifiable and produced a longing to go back and see for myself.
   
   Allan Odell, Redding, Ca.



3. 19th Century writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau has had an impact on the public imagination that endure down to this very day. The former editor of 'Vermont Life Magazine' and a student of Thoreau's writings from three decades, Tom Slayton has written and compiled seminal essays arising from his travels to the places associated with Thoreau. These deftly written, articulate, engaging commentaries are published collectively as "Searching For Thoreau: On The Trails And Shore Of Wild New England". The individual essays include Walden Pond and 'Walden'; A Walk in the Concord Woods; A Day on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers; The Mountains of Hme; Katahdin Means Greatest Mountain; Northern Main: Big woods, Big Question; Walking Cape Cod; Mount Washington, Two Times; and Conclusion: What's Left. Enhanced with a 'Chronology of Thoreau's Travels'; 'When You God: Tips on Tracking Thoreau'; a Bibliography, and a Sources list, "Searching For Thoreau" will aptly serve as an instructive guide for readers who would like to make their own way to those outdoor New England wilds that so inspired Thoreau in his time. A 'must read' for the legions of Thoreau fans, "Search For Theoreau" is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library collections, and as an addition to academic Thoreau Studies supplemental reading lists.

3 comments about Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More.

1. A very important body of photographs -- both artistic and historic -- framed by a text of the Travelling people's stories and a compact disc of the people in the book performing their music, over forty years ago. A testament to a great photographer's determination that brings to life a part of Ireland's immemorial past which has vanished in our lifetimes.



2. This work is truly profound. His composition is genius. The subject matter is an important cultural statement. Alen is without doubt a master photographer. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The reproduction is perfect. A hidden gem is the beautiful audio cd that captures the the music of these people. What a brilliant work!



3. A striking breadth of work that allows the viewer to see, hear, and feel the difficulty of life in concert with the beauty and light.