Atchafalaya Houseboat

I regret missing the PBS special about Gwen Roland's book Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp, but I did hear her speak about her book on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

Thoreau's experiment at Walden Pond and his journals recording his close observations of nature do not contain the exuberance and pioneering spirit in Roland's book.

Gwen Roland, writer and editor, now works at the University of Georgia. She and her friend, Calvin Voisin,construct living quarters, grow and harvest their own food, hunt wild hogs, light oil lamps, collect fresh water, read poetry, fish, watch sunrises and sunsets, and endear themselves to locals . . . during eight years of living in the Atchafalaya basin.

Bayou Chene resurrects for her mystical memories of her grandmother's stories and her life growing up on a gravel road near Bayou Chene. The village she remembers at Bayou Chene no longer exists.

Roland also chronicles her experience as the cook on a 3300 horsepower riverboat on the Mississippi River to earn money for the swamp existence. Her daily menus consist of Cajun meals prepared for the crew. This Mark Twain experience allows her some free time to posit notions about relationships, people, small towns, and life on the river.

Falling in love with the riverboat engineer ends Gwen's relationship with Calvin. She and Preston marry, lose their fascination with willderness living and move to Breaux Bridge then to Georgia.

If you love Louisiana, this book should remind you of the uniqueness of our state.