Author/singer Elisa Korenne tells
a wonderful story in her memoir Hundred Miles To Nowhere. It’s the story of the
New York City girl who meets a small town Minnesota guy. Being of the later
type, I was naturally enthralled. Elisa
gets accepted to an artist residency in New York Mills, MN, and sees it as an
opportunity to broaden her songwriting horizons. Looking for true to life
Minnesota (fly over country Hicksville) experiences she starts by scheduling a
wilderness canoe camping trip with a local
outdoorsy insurance man. The fun part, reading about their romance, is the contrasts
of their two very different worlds, how
their relationship developed and was challenged by such different communities.
After her one month residency was
up Elisa and Chris carried on with a mutual
cross-country romance and finally it was Elisa who gave up subways, theater, City
Bakery cookies, and her Brooklyn apartment to become the 1,153rd resident of
New York Mills, a rural town ninety miles from the nearest metropolitan area,
Fargo, North Dakota. A few
highlight/lowlights were the gossips who knew her weekend plans before she
did. The postmaster who set up gigs for her behind her back. Chris expected her
to eat roadkill for dinner. The the uproar when the Finnish Lutherans in town
learned she was Jewish. And the furnace
dying at twenty-six below. Regardless,
Elisa moved to Minnesota and married Chris anyway.
I loved this book. It’s
insightful, funny and draws you right into the predicament of being a
transplant in different world. My own
experience growing up in the Twin Cities and spending my adult working life in
rural Minnesota was not quite as dramatic but still I could relate. The old and
new blend into an evolving you. Unafraid
you can meet the challenges and I believe see both the past and present
circumstance of you, your life and surroundings much more clearly… I highly
recommend this book…..
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@Barrie Summy
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
