If Women Rose Rooted By Sharon Blackie & Women Who Run With The Wolves By Clarissa Pinkola Estes 2 Books Collection Set

Came highly recommended by a friend I admire. Sharon Blackie shares my sense of belonging in the natural world, especially the Celtic coast of Britain and Ireland and a connection with its landscape, past and its people but there it stops. She threads a narrative (she is a narrative psychologist) through the folklore to the modern world and the problems of modern life which is interesting and thought provoking, but simplistic – sometimes a non sequitur.Very well written, the ideas flow naturally around feminist themes much of which have validity – I agree, there are lots of things that would work better if they were organised from a more ‘female’ point of view rather than from a combative, domineering, controlling way of sorting things out – the legal system for one. However life is not that simple and never was.Rural life, subsisting on the edge of the Celtic world was not romantic, it was a painful struggle against the elements, incessant rain, starvation, disease and ignorance (and I’m an optimist). Our ancestors, I’m not sure about hers but mine were real, were in tune with the seasons and the weather and driven by endless imperatives. They may have felt at home and appreciated the beauty of the highlands and islands but left as soon as they could (as did Sharon) driven out by hardship and the small-mindedness of the depleted community or they died young of tuberculosis.It is a spiritual book, her writing is lyrical, the stories compelling, the modern biographical sections interesting, it gives one much to think about but it is sad that I fear the logic is flawed.