The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, The Gladyses, & Babe

by Alice Walker

Overview

Here is a glorious, offbeat, compassionate, and “eccentrically inspirational” (Kirkus Reviews) memoir in which Alice Walker shares her experiences raising and caring for a flock of chickens. In pieces that are by turns moving, thoughtful, and utterly captivating, Walker addresses her “girls” directly, sometimes from the intimate proximity of her yard, other times at a great distance, during her travels to Bali and Dharamsala as an activist for peace and justice. On the way, she invites readers along on a surprising journey of inspiration, strength, and spiritual discovery.

Uplifting, heartbreaking, and memorable, The Chicken Chronicles lets us see a new and deeply personal side of one of the most inspiring writers of our time. It is also a powerful touchstone for anyone seeking a deeper connection with the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595587749
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	04/03/2012
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.48(w) x 5.14(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe.

Hometown:

Mendocino, California

Date of Birth:

February 9, 1944

Place of Birth:

Eatonton, Georgia

Education:

B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, 1965; attended Spelman College, 1961-63

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xv

1 Pax Ameraucana, or the Chicken Chronicles 1

2 Who Knew What Would Happen Next? 5

3 Four Brown Eggs! Yaay, Space Nuts! 9

4 What Do Chickens Like to Do? 13

5 Perhaps You've Seen Her? 17

6 I Have a Persistent Thought About My Mother's Thumb 21

7 So I Thought We Would Just Go on Like this Forever 25

8 Thank You, Rufus! 33

9 Dear Rufus, Agnes, & Co 37

10 Flying 41

11 Girls! 45

12 How Many Lost on the Journey? 49

13 Gandhi Samadhi 55

14 Mommy is Not Pure! 59

15 The Old Fox 65

16 Enough Mother 71

17 Leaving You 77

18 St. Michael 83

19 St. Michael, Lover of Animals and Children 89

20 The Song Behind the World: The Nuns of Dharamsala 97

21 Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories 101

22 From: Poems for My Girls 111

23 Grandfather Gandhi—And Mommy's Experiments with Reality 113

24 A Few Kind Words About Stupidity 119

25 Bearded Ladies 125

26 In the Night Mommy Hears Mangoes Falling 129

27 Hi, Gladys, Gladys, Gladys, Gladys, Gladys 133

28 Automatic 135

29 Attachment 141

30 Mommy Writes About Hortensia 145

31 Mommy is so Thankful to Have You Appear 151

32 Gertrude's Neck 157

33 The First Day 163

34 Day Two 169

35 Looking Deeply 175

36 Even Bullies are Missed and Loved 179

37 Ha Ha, Ha Ha, Ha Ha! 183

Editorial Reviews

Rich, with offbeat, unexpected details… [an] ideal blend between earnestness and self-deprecation that makes this book so engaging.”
—The Washington Post

“With an eye for wonderment and plenty of surprising wry humor… The Chicken Chronicles is work bringing home to roost.”
—The Philadelphia Tribune

“[These] poignant and wonderfully eccentric short essays… illuminate some of life's weightiest lessons. Who knew all of this could be found in a backyard henhouse?”
—Utne Reader

From the Publisher

The book's success hinges largely on Walker's tone. There is deep sincerity in her gratitude and affection for her flock, along with an equally keen awareness that the idea of having a transformative relationship with chickens may sound a bit odd. It's this ideal blend between earnestness and self-deprecation that makes the book so engaging.
—The Washington Post

Sarah Halzack

Writers must imagine their audience. This seems a fundamental enough concept, particularly for a Pulitzer Prize winner like Walker (The Color Purple). The intended reader of these 37 chronicles, however, feels rather murky. At least that is, until it becomes clear that Walker is addressing her chickens. Beyond referring to herself in the third person as "mommy"-that would be the chickens' mommy-Walker describes a trip to India, confesses her "impatience" with and "withdrawal" from the original hens after new chickens arrive, and writes a poem in honor of Michael Jackson for her chickens, all with the tone and depth with which we typically address our pets or infants, which is to say the insipid baby-talk that no other human should have to hear, nor read. The title promises something intriguing-Walker's memories perhaps. Instead, the banal day-to-day is made even more simplistic for the sake of the "girls." Most readers would have been interested in Walker's thoughts on Gandhi or the Dalai Lama, but unfortunately these passages, like the others, remain insufferable. This time Walker's talking to her chickens and her chickens alone.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

In this, her 11th title, Walker invites her readers into her personal spaces to share in the joy and wonder her chickens engender and to witness the trials collectively endured. Nearly entirely vegetarian, Walker began her chicken coop to fulfill not so much practical needs as sentimental ones, as a hearkening back to the rural Georgia of her childhood. As an adult, enjoying the still-warm eggs her individually named chicken companions provide her leads to heartfelt, thought-provoking ruminations on sustenance from perspectives of both giver and receiver. Through 37 snug chapters, many of which originally appeared on the author's blog, Walker and her chicken "Girls" lead readers through explorations of nature and nurture and the intricacies of the intersections between this traditionally opposed dyad. One can readily conjure Walker as she comes inside from the chicken yard and writes down her thoughts and impressions. VERDICT Walker's use of the third-person diminutive "Mommy" to self-identify may not be to all tastes and lends to an overall tone here that may not appeal to some readers. Recommended for Walker's fans, readers interested in naturalism or spiritualism, YA readers, and enthusiasts of raising chickens.—Jewell Anderson, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ. Lib., Savannah

Library Journal

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of imparts life lessons and sage wisdom through the care and feeding of a delightful flock of chickens.

Walker (Hard Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems, 2010, etc.) realized that as a serious egg-lover, it would behoove her to "get to know the chickens laying them." She soon hatched an agreement with a family nearby to raise them together in the rudimentary Northern California wine country neighborhood where she's lived for 30 years. As offbeat as it may seem, Walker developed a profound attachment and an intrinsic contentment by befriending her nine "undeniably gorgeous" chickens. Often found crouched and crowing in her lap and balanced upon her shoulders, the author named each of them personally (Gertrude Stein, Babe, Rufus, Gladys, Glorious, etc.), contemplated their behaviors and researched their varietal breeds. The memoir is, in part, an assemblage of chronological entries from the author's blog, and spans from present-day farming time to her youth in rural Georgia, where she acquired an appreciation for animals and music. The second half of the book includes poems and letters she's written to the chickens while traveling. At their strongest, these short essays are illuminating and wonderfully wacky ruminations from the earth-conscious mind of a "run-of-the-mill mostly vegetarian person." Walker's sage, compassionate memoir is meant to be savored and contemplated; fans will appreciate the devoted nurturing of her feathered backyard brood as the embodiment of a lifetime spent cultivating peace, harmony and the "wonder and spontaneity of Nature."

Life-affirmative and eccentrically inspirational.

Kirkus Reviews