{"id":2584,"date":"2023-02-12T13:29:30","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T13:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2584"},"modified":"2023-02-12T13:31:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T13:31:46","slug":"from-upstream-to-downhill-really-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2584","title":{"rendered":"From Upstream to Downhill Really Fast!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hi Readers! Finished my third book of the month. You know how I am a hard-core fiction reader? Well, I think I forgot and tried to venture into something new. It was a truly surreal experience. I had read only one of Mary Oliver\u2019s poetry books before and I had not enjoyed it all. Now that I read these selected essays, I am pretty sure, I did not understand the poetry to appreciate or criticize it. Reading Upstream was a different experience altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Comprising a selection of essays, Upstream<\/em> finds beloved poet Mary Oliver reflecting on her astonishment and admiration for the natural world and the craft of writing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, finding solace and safety within the woods, and the joyful and rhythmic beating of wings, Oliver intimately shares with her readers her quiet discoveries, boundless curiosity, and exuberance for the grandeur of our world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This radiant collection of her work, with some pieces published here for the first time, reaffirms Oliver as a passionate and prolific observer whose thoughtful meditations on spiders, writing a poem, blue fin tuna, and Ralph Waldo Emerson inspire us all to discover wonder and awe in life’s smallest corners.<\/p>\n\n\n

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~~THOUGHTS~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I started reading the book, I was fascinated by the ingenious beauty of the writing. The first section was about nature yet also about life.<\/strong><\/mark> The vivid writing implores you to go on a journey of self-exploration. It\u2019s like watching the nature in slow motion through the pages but also ironically feels like you are actually there and not just reading about it. Be it the flowers that dance with the wind or the stream that glides gracefully or the springtime trees that emote wondrously. It is all such a treasure to read and behold. Every chapter in the first section is a masterpiece and then to end it with \u2018Of Power and Time\u2019 in which she is relentlessly truthful is simply otherworldly.<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes Section Two<\/strong><\/mark>, reading which you will feel that its leaps and bounds different than the first one. This is more directly about nature wherein she talks about fish, birds, turtles and so forth. This one was the hardest to read with one bizarre story after the other. It took me the longest time to read through this part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section Three, simply put, was Mary Oliver reviewing her favorite authors and poets’ works and quoting a few of their lines once in a while to fill the pages.<\/strong><\/mark> Because the writing style was academic and insightful, I enjoyed a few of the chapters, but I am not a person who reads Classics so I had no idea about the prose or the second, third and fourth level meanings behind those prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reading two not-so-great sections, I was prepared to just read through the rest in an afternoon, which I did. But, Section Four made somewhat of an average comeback.<\/strong><\/mark> This part was again about nature, but not in the gross manner as section two was. In this one, we actually read stories of spiders, crickets, birds, owls & bears. This actually was thought provoking and though these were nature stories, they were also about observation, patience, learning, perseverance and aging.<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, I have not much of a comment on Section Five. It was not long enough to have any kind of impact.<\/p>\n\n\n

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To summarize, I think that when you are an established prominent poet and author, you really do get the freedom to right whatever the hell you want, because readers will always find their own meanings from the twisted stories, rambling essays and pointless information. When I read the first section, I thought this would be a five star read, but alas. I should perhaps read Blue Iris, from where Upstream was selected. Anyway, I had my ups and downs with this book, in the extreme with high highs and low lows. I have rated Upstream by Mary Oliver at 3.5\/5 stars!<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Until next time,<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Readers! Finished my third book of the month. You know how I am a hard-core fiction reader? Well, I think I forgot and tried to venture into something new. It was a truly surreal experience. I had read only one of Mary Oliver\u2019s poetry books before and I had not enjoyed it all. Now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,23,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-book-reviews","category-mindscape-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/PSX_20230212_171923-02.jpg?fit=2500%2C2500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2624,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2624","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":0},"title":"Books Read in February 2023!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"February 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! Another month gone way too quickly. I read FIVE BOOKS across 1876 PAGES! I was quite happy with my reading this month. I read one big book, two mid-sized books and two shorter books. They were all wildly different from each other so I wasn\u2019t bored at all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SI_20230227_131503-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SI_20230227_131503-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SI_20230227_131503-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SI_20230227_131503-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/SI_20230227_131503-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1217,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=1217","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":1},"title":"Books Read in May 2021!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"May 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi\u00a0Readers! We are already on the last day of May! How was your month? It was incredibly hot & humid in Mumbai, which sure sucked. I hate summers & because of the whole covid scenario, we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0eat as much ice cream as we did earlier. Other than that, it was\u00a0a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MayReads-FI-scaled.jpg?fit=908%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MayReads-FI-scaled.jpg?fit=908%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MayReads-FI-scaled.jpg?fit=908%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/MayReads-FI-scaled.jpg?fit=908%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1451,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=1451","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":2},"title":"Happy International Translation Day!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"October 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":" Hi Readers! Happy International Translation Day! I am a bit behind schedule as this was on 30th September, but better late than never! This for me only means an appreciation post for all the amazing books translated to English from many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PicsArt_10-01-05.19.20-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PicsArt_10-01-05.19.20-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PicsArt_10-01-05.19.20-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PicsArt_10-01-05.19.20-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PicsArt_10-01-05.19.20-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1372,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=1372","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":3},"title":"Books Read in July 2021!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"August 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! 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