Overview

At times heartbreaking, at times harrowing, All the Leavings navigates the rugged terrain not just of the rural Oregon land where Laurie Easter has forged an off-the-grid life, but of the ragtag terrain of the human heart. At once quiet and searching, these essays lay bare the experience between mother and child, between living and dying, between the human world and nature. This is a book about love -- for the child who faces a health crisis, for the friend dying of aids, for the one entangled by addiction who then disappears -- while also examining the tenacity of the human condition. From one woman's perspective as a mother, wife, and friend, All the Leavings will take readers inside a wild Oregon rich with natural beauty, while asking questions and seeking answers, capturing an interior life and the cinematic beauty of the West in prose that is, ultimately, a redemption song. From the narrator's homebirth of her second child in an off-grid cabin to sojourns with cougars to the alternative community that grieves together the loss of one of their teenagers to suicide, place figures prominently in this non-linear, loosely chronological essay collection. All the Leavings employs a multitude of forms to probe the boundaries of mother-daughter relationships, privacy and secrets, guilt and forgiveness, crushing grief and abiding love. It will interest readers of memoir and personal essay, those who have suffered loss and grief, and those who appreciate place-based writing, particularly set in the Pacific Northwest.

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9780870711220

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Reviews

What is the color of leaving? Laurie Easter asks in this tender collection of essays that explores love, loss, and grief in all their many hues. She shows us there is no one answer to that central question, but instead builds a kaleidoscope that reflects the brilliant and broken-hearted nature of life itself. --Brenda Miller, author of A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form At one point in her compelling book of essays, Laurie Easter writes that she's never understood grace in a spiritual sense. Yet these essays are full of grace - the kind that comforts the runaway, the meth addict, all those who are lost. These essays are set mostly in the rural Pacific Northwest, which is to say her empathy isn't ethereal, but deeply grounded. So while she may deny it, Easter lives grace, and has the lyrical words to spread it. -- Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences Dazzled by her prose, and startled by what living off the grid involves--(the bathtub is where?)--I was blown away from the git-go with a respect for Ms. Easter's courage and endurance. She has loved, and she has suffered loss, as have we all, and she writes of both. But the strength and beauty of her language, combined with a rare generosity of spirit--the willingness to be vulnerable--transform these pieces into something more than essays, that makes of each a kind of offering. I absolutely loved this book. -- Abigail Thomas, author of What Comes Next and How to Like It Laurie Easter's essays illuminate the splendors and perils of a life shaped by wilderness, open-heartedness and the bold decision to live on one's own terms. All the Leavings dives headlong into stories of loss and an unusual life and does so with poise, humility and grace. An astonishing and exquisite debut. --Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread

"""In this beautiful and poignant collection, Laurie Easter shows just how rich all the leavings of life can be. Both intimate and expansive, honest and vulnerable, sometimes stark but ultimately hopeful, All the Leavings reveals -- with beauty and grace -- the unexpected gifts that emerge from each parting. These essays glow with love and loss; through them we are illuminated by wonder, gratitude, and wisdom."" --Randon Billings Noble, author of Be With Me Always ""What is the color of leaving? Laurie Easter asks in this tender collection of essays that explores love, loss, and grief in all their many hues. She shows us there is no one answer to that central question, but instead builds a kaleidoscope that reflects the brilliant and broken-hearted nature of life itself."" --Brenda Miller, author of A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form ""At one point in her compelling book of essays, Laurie Easter writes that she's never understood grace ""in a spiritual sense."" Yet these essays are full of grace - the kind that comforts the runaway, the meth addict, all those who are lost. These essays are set mostly in the rural Pacific Northwest, which is to say her empathy isn't ethereal, but deeply grounded. So while she may deny it, Easter lives grace, and has the lyrical words to spread it."" -- Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences ""Dazzled by her prose, and startled by what living ""off the grid"" involves--(the bathtub is where?)--I was blown away from the git-go with a respect for Ms. Easter's courage and endurance. She has loved, and she has suffered loss, as have we all, and she writes of both. But the strength and beauty of her language, combined with a rare generosity of spirit--the willingness to be vulnerable--transform these pieces into something more than essays, that makes of each a kind of offering. I absolutely loved this book."" -- Abigail Thomas, author of What Comes Next and How to Like It ""Laurie Easter's essays illuminate the splendors and perils of a life shaped by wilderness, open-heartedness and the bold decision to live on one's own terms. All the Leavings dives headlong into stories of loss and an unusual life and does so with poise, humility and grace. An astonishing and exquisite debut."" --Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread"

In this beautiful and poignant collection, Laurie Easter shows just how rich all the leavings of life can be. Both intimate and expansive, honest and vulnerable, sometimes stark but ultimately hopeful, All the Leavings reveals -- with beauty and grace -- the unexpected gifts that emerge from each parting. These essays glow with love and loss; through them we are illuminated by wonder, gratitude, and wisdom. --Randon Billings Noble, author of Be With Me Always What is the color of leaving? Laurie Easter asks in this tender collection of essays that explores love, loss, and grief in all their many hues. She shows us there is no one answer to that central question, but instead builds a kaleidoscope that reflects the brilliant and broken-hearted nature of life itself. --Brenda Miller, author of A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form At one point in her compelling book of essays, Laurie Easter writes that she's never understood grace in a spiritual sense. Yet these essays are full of grace - the kind that comforts the runaway, the meth addict, all those who are lost. These essays are set mostly in the rural Pacific Northwest, which is to say her empathy isn't ethereal, but deeply grounded. So while she may deny it, Easter lives grace, and has the lyrical words to spread it. -- Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences Dazzled by her prose, and startled by what living off the grid involves--(the bathtub is where?)--I was blown away from the git-go with a respect for Ms. Easter's courage and endurance. She has loved, and she has suffered loss, as have we all, and she writes of both. But the strength and beauty of her language, combined with a rare generosity of spirit--the willingness to be vulnerable--transform these pieces into something more than essays, that makes of each a kind of offering. I absolutely loved this book. -- Abigail Thomas, author of What Comes Next and How to Like It Laurie Easter's essays illuminate the splendors and perils of a life shaped by wilderness, open-heartedness and the bold decision to live on one's own terms. All the Leavings dives headlong into stories of loss and an unusual life and does so with poise, humility and grace. An astonishing and exquisite debut. --Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread

Author Information

LAURIE EASTER lives off the grid in southern Oregon. Her essays have been awarded fellowships by the Vermont Studio Center and Playa, listed as notable in Best American Essays, and published in many literary journals and anthologies. She holds degrees from Southern Oregon University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. All the Leavings is her first book. laurieeaster.com

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