2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Within This Wilderness by Feenie Ziner (1978 1st ed.) 225 pages. 3.5 stars rounded up

This book is listed in the 1000 Books To Read Before You Die by James Mustich (2018).

SETTING: Proctor’s Island, British Columbia (near Tibbett’s Lake)

This is a true story of a mother who travelled to her son deep in the north woods of British Columbia to try and understand the generational gap that pushed him away at age 16. At the time, the U.S. was recruiting our young Americans to fight the Vietnam War, and his family moved from New York to Vancouver, Canada, for a few years. He was bullied for being American, and he was bullied for trying to prove he was anti-Vietnam War. He became disillusioned about life, quit school and left home to live alone. After seven years away, he finally invited her to come visit and see where and how he lived and survived.

Every child is different. Every child has their own inner turmoil and securities. It’s all about how they process them. Ben (Joe Ziner is real life) just simply felt like a failure. He couldn’t live up to the expectations of his parents, the U.S. government, or even civilization as a whole. In fact, he didn’t even believe in them.

This memoir only got a 3.5 star (rounded up) because I felt the writing was a bit reserved. She does say her son agreed with the writings and opinions of this book before being published. The good news is they did reconnect during her 3-week visit. It wasn’t easy going because it was so hard for her to not be so judgmental. Her true thoughts were that Ben, and the few squatting on Proctor’s Island, didn’t really have rights or a say as to what timber companies wanted to do with it. Although Ben seemed to prove to himself that he could survive on his own without all the rules and regulations of life, after seven years he did feel bouts of extreme loneliness and he admitted to missing and needing money, if even for basic food supply.

A quick Google search of the real Joe Ziner (a.k.a. Ben Ziner in the book) shows that he is back living in civilization again doing the one thing he loves to do most: art, just like his father, Zeke Ziner.

MORE ABOUT JOE ZINER AS AN ARTIST TODAY

https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/news/comox-valley-gallery-features-courtenay-a...

EXTRA NOTES

This thought by the author, as Ben’s mother, really stood out, and is so true.

P. 55: “You really ought to read Tolkien, Mom”. Perhaps I should have. Perhaps if I had, I’d have understood more than I did now what went on inside Ben’s head.

My granddaughter, aged 9 at the time, asked me to read two books last year that she really, really loved. So, yes, I read them because I wanted to know what moved her. If any of my other 9 grandkids were to even tell me about a book they enjoyed, I would definitely read it just to see what they are all about inside.

READ FREE at Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Within this Wilderness ( )