Review: Mud Season by Ellen Stimson

Mud Season: How One Woman's Dream of Moving to Vermont, Raising Children, Chickens and Sheep, and Running the Old Country Store Pretty Much Led to One Calamity After Another by Ellen Stimson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finally finished a book for book club! We decided to read this in April at the height of mud season in Vermont. Although this was a quick read, it was also a bit annoying in that the author seemed to have an attitude that she was better than the locals and didn't want to "assimilate" at all. The community rejected her because she didn't accept them and she didn't seem to understand, or even want to understand, why her ideas weren't being accepted. Stimson did fully admit that she was always jumping from one project to the next, and while I understand that it's difficult to manage a store, especially in a town you're unfamiliar with, I couldn't help but be annoyed that she was making decisions based on her misconceptions of the area. She thought she knew what was best and made assumptions, rather doing her research and taking the time to figure out what the locals wanted. As a flatlander myself who moved to southern Vermont and eventually to central Vermont, I learned very quickly within a few months that I needed to adjust to my new community instead of the other way around. She just didn't seem to get that, or if she did then it wasn't conveyed very well in the book.

It was a quick, easy read in part due to her obvious lack of book writing experience. It often sounded like journal entries and an inner monologue. Some people enjoy that style, but it really turned me off because it took away from the story at hand.

Also, at some point I'd like to try the recipes she calls Vermont recipes in the back of the book. I laughed out loud at that section.