The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

This book moved me deeply - many times, at surprising moments, and about a dizzying array of topics.It's impossible to breeze through this book. One Amazon reviewer described it as "lyrical"; another "like poetry." I'd agree with both - "prose-etry" if that's a word? While reading this book, MANY MANY times, I had to stop after a paragraph, catch my breath, re-read it - then put the book down altogether because the passages were so insightful, thought-provoking, and beautiful.About crossing the Mojave: "the heat and aridity can kill you, and if they do not, you might die from the intimidating despair evoked by a vast emptiness that is wholly indifferent to your existence." About wearing heirloom pearl necklace: "...I wear the pearls with sun-bleached cotton shirts on strolls to visit cliffrose in bloom, renewing their luster with my skin, remembering a stalwart lineage of pearl-wearers, their necks bearing strands of perfectly matched spheres on every occasion that mattered in their lives, from college graduation to tea dances for the war effort and weddings in dresses the color of gardenias...."Ellen Meloy doesn't just SEE color, she FEELS it; it provokes emotional connections - as does the contrast of one color against another - and she's able to describe it in a way that made me feel like I'm listening to someone talk about visiting another dimension. It also made me wonder, "I see color, why have I missed all that?" That's why we have writers. She has an uncanny ability to weave poetry with prose, her own intense connection with color, cultural observations, and humankind's connection to the planet into a sentence that stopped me in my tracks. Scores of times - literally. Her life's experience includes the desert, rafting, and a sojourn to the Caribbean and her learning about family history intertwined with slavery.As I was reading this book, I kept thinking, "I have GOT to meet this woman. And I have GOT to own something she has painted with her own hands." Alas, in doing research about an hour after I finished the book (and I'm a procrastinator!), I was deeply saddened to learn that she is no longer with us.I'd put this book in my top 10, and would recommend it to anyone. It would be great for a book club - but I'd recommend more than one session to discuss it! Get a copy, find a quiet spot, pour yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine, and savor each page. Prepare to "read, rinse, repeat" - because you won't be able to breeze through this book. You won't want to - you'll want to savor every page.

I stumbled on this book during one of those periods in which I become overwhelmed by an urge to go and sit in the desert. Such feelings come to me from time to time. Unfortunately this wasn't practical at the time so I sought to satisfy my longing vicariously. Hence my browsing Amazon and my discovery of this book. Prior to that time I had never heard of the author or her book.It's difficult to categorize this book. The best that I can do is describe it. It is a collection of essays in which the author muses about various geologies, mostly the southwest, her feelings about the outdoors and her relationship with color. But there are many, many digressions including such subjects as her personal history and the social/political nature of Utah. For the most part I found these digressions enjoyable. Like others have commented I found many passages in which her prose is almost poetical. There are sentences, paragraphs and whole pages that one is tempted to read out loud to anyone who would care to listen. But there are also times that the flights of fancy become a little bit too personal, a little bit too abstruse. It is for this reason that I give it only four stars.Having said that I would still recommend this book. It is best read when one is in a quiet frame of mind, with no expectation of plot or narrative. As such it fulfilled my desire to go and sit in the desert without leaving home. And I came to appreciate the author's approach to life, her love of nature, her love of being alone and her sometimes irreverent habit of contrasting the lyricism of the desert with the more humorous and profane aspects of life. Doing so only helps one appreciate to totality of life.At times I found myself wondering why anyone would feel compelled to write such a book. I'm sure the author would reply that a writer writes because she has to. Writing is an indispensable part of the author's life. A life that the reader comes to share. Perhaps this is why, when I discovered half way through the book that the author had died unexpectedly in 2004 at the age of 58, that I felt a pain inside.I'll probably read another book by Ellen Meloy. Hopefully while sitting on a mesa somewhere. With no expectations.

Ellen Meloy was on her way to major recognition as a memoir and adventure writer when her life was cut short at age 58. This book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, but may not have gotten the votes because of the unevenness of these personal narrations.THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF TURQUOISE is a loose linkage of personal essays, some might say memoir. There is very little on the subject of turquoise running through these writings however; it is a very tenuous theme at best.Meloy's sharp but undeveloped sense of humor gets the reader wondering where the words are headed sometimes. "Swimming in Mohave" is the best of the essays I would venture. In "Angry Lunch Cafe" however, the writing is reduced to tangential ravings that are pretty disorienting. The writing gets too witty, too expansive at times, almost like she's trying to fuse Terry Tempest Williams with Edward Abbey. It's not easy on the reader when certain passages have to be reread several times and still the meaning is elusive.There is an obsession with hyphenation that feels all wrong too. Meloy, who is primarily an artist, works the prose like it's a pastiche of elements, almost as if she's actually painting and not writing about painting. You can sense her striving for some real poetic prose, but some of the verbiage that results leaves too much head scratching.Yet, having said all that, her musings are solid, conveying a distinct sense of her life in the southern Utah desert and other locales. Ellen Meloy has left us with evocative descriptions of the life and terrains that filled her with love and passion. Parataxis The Cloud Reckoner Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

I read this book years ago, and bought it again recentely. It is classic nature writing, but so much more than that. A truely great writer.

It was like reading a beautiful paintingI loved it

Je l'ai lu d'une traite et ait eu un pincement au coeur lorsque je l'ai finis, tant j'avais envie que le récit continue encore. Dans un langage poétique, franc et humoristique, Ellen Meloy nous pousse à laisser nos sens se brouiller afin de "vivre" le monde dans sa diversité la plus grande et d'apprécier sa beauté sous toutes les facettes. Ce récit brillant nous permet de comprendre l'importance des couleurs, du langage, de l'amour d'un lieu et l'importance de vivre sa vie pleinement.Avec ses réflexions sur le désert, la mer, la pierre et le ciel, Meloy nous pousse à une introspection et une réflexion personnelle bénéfique.

My God, this book started so well I thought it was a hidden pearl. The turquoise faded after a few pages. Do not get me wrong. It's a good read, but if the author could have maintained the same prose throughout the book, I would have call it a Nobel for Colors.

Happy with my purchase and delivered quickly.