FLAT BROKE WITH TWO GOATS A memoir of Appalachia by Jennifer MC GAHA

                                              

Flat broke with two goats by Jennifer MC GAHA opens up with a beautiful family of 3 children, 5 dogs and a man &wife. How their lives move in a spacious cape cod style house and why &what made them to shift to a century old cabin in the mountains of western north Carolina is the dominant feature of the book.

The book carries with it the heaviness of overloaded burden of a family struggle &the various ways they tried to overcome it. “There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.” – Phyllis Battome.  Jennifer has altered herself.

I quote from page 89 of the book – “On those nights, everything piled into one heap in my mind: our tax problem, the foreclosure of our home. Bill’s death.  My grandmother’s death.  My grandmother’s empty house. My kids leaving home. The copperhead. Each event had jolted my centre, severed my sense of stability and security. Each thing collapsed into the other, mingling, overlapping, entwining, until I was unable to discern the greater trauma. Too much had happened at once. I was not safe.”

“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest.- Maya Angelou

Jennifer’s courage needs to be applauded and deserves a good appreciation.

‘House is a building for people to live in, were as home is a place where we love to live.” Leaving our loved home is a tough task and their experiences are quiet touchingly put into words.

This follows friend’s suggestions, children leaving home for their studies and Jennifer leaving for a new job.  Major turns and chain of troubles shakes and creates unrest. The author recollects her good old memories and finds it as a source of inspiration to cross her hurdles.

Couples are mostly two different people with different ideas, perspectives &from different backgrounds. The impact of this is normal in every one’s lives. But in this book the misunderstandings lead to a more complicated future for them. Here the author admires her grandparents who were married for seven decades. The details are in chapter VII.

Author has good insight of geographical features which reflects in her writings in the chapter VIII.  Mountains, snow, regional /country side description takes the readers to that location itself.

From the page 156, I quote, gradually, our lives began to wrap around the rituals of farm life.  All those things that at first seemed so complicated- regulating the chick’s water flow and food supply, mixing the right amount of oyster shells in with the feed, cleaning and sorting and labelling the eggs and so on, became part of our routines.’’ A thorough study &procedures of farm life

 The author has shared a recipe at the end of each chapter, the book has total of twenty five chapters. GOAT’S MILK CUSTARD and CAJETA are so fresh and interesting to note is the preparation of GOATMILK SOAP.

Many interesting facts about goats, raising goats, plus &minus of leaving close to nature, lost goats, naming goats &chickens, ‘Spring –Lamb”  are all dealt in an elaborate manner.

 Finally, ‘’Patience and perseverance have a magical effect, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish –John Quincy Adams.

(Thanks to NET GALLEY for providing the book)