Reviews for Braving Home Pa

The average rating for Braving Home Pa based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-02-19 00:00:00 Gary Reed Feb. 24, 2010: I can oddly relate to these people featured in this book. I especially feel a kindred spirit in Babs of Whittier, Alaska. I wish Jake Halpern would write another book like this, God knows there must be more people out there "braving home". Halpern writes very well. He seems like a humble guy. And he must be pretty nice since everyone seemed to like having him around. I'm really glad I found this book, I won't soon forget these stories. Dec. 22, 2014: I wanted to re-read this book (again) because I had myself another hankering to visit Whittier. It just sounds so nice there: the snow, the wind, the isolation. Being tucked away and out of the way. I know I'd be one of the folks who could make it there. Jake Halpern always proves himself to be a most formidable travel companion. He's welcome to come by my place if he ever plans to write a follow-up to this book. I live in an 800 square foot cape built in 1940. It's me, my husband, our three little kids and no closets. I'd call that "braving home". But like these folks that Jake gets to know, we somehow make it work and the end result is a cozy but cramped little nest. I really love this book, and Jake Halpern is such a likable guy. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to do a spot of oddball armchair travel.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-06 00:00:00 Remco de Maaijer This is a quirky little book that focus on a series of fiercely independent individuals (all in different locations including Alaska, Hawaii, and the South), who resist leaving their homes, and, quite literally, remain the last man or woman standing. Included are the stories of: a man who who lived out of his carport after the Hurricane rather than dessert his home (even though his town was officially evacuated); a woman in California whose family doesn't leave during wild fires, but instead stays to fight the fires using wetted down flour sacks; a man who returns to his old neighborhood in Hawaii that is surrounded by lava. But the story I enjoyed the most was of a woman who lives in an apartment building in an Alaskan town where the wind creates such a fierce wind tunnel that residents' doors are often suctioned shut and they can't leave their apartments. These folks seemed to live out an almost mythic American spirit of ingenuity and stick-to-it-iveness.