Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Prompted by a move to Blacksburg, Va., for her husband's job, journalist Warnick set out to discover how a place becomes home, synthesizing research and personal stories into a guide to better appreciating one's community. She encourages choosing small businesses over big-box retailers, volunteering with local organizations and government, and participating in farmer's markets and group agricultural programs. Her feel-good stories of community bonding include a Kentucky town rallying to help a beloved grocer save his store and a New York City transplant's efforts to build an art center in the low-income, hurricane-ravaged upstate N.Y. town of Prattsville. Warnick's own charming journey finds her sheepishly distributing muffins on "Good Neighbor Day," learning to embrace Blacksburg's sports culture, and attempting to become a "regular" at a local restaurant. In the most emotionally affecting chapter, Warnick considers the effects of tragedy on a community, speaking with people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and with Blacksburg residents affected by the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Warnick's sociological research and anecdotal experiments provide an informative and entertaining read, along with an abundance of practical tools for those settling in after a move or just looking to shake things up in their hometown. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Company. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz clicks her heels and says, "There's no place like home," she invokes a longing for a particular place. It is this feeling of "place attachment" that journalist Warnick explores in her debut. The author's mission involves more than just understanding the emotion of connection, it is also about trying to determine if there are actions one can take to create attachment. Categorizing people as "movers" and "stayers," Warnick, a self-confessed "mover," delves into the psychology and sociology behind why people become "stayers," bound to one community. What she discovers is not earth-shattering; behaviors such as volunteering, civic engagement, and buying local all lead to a greater sense of belonging. Warnick experiments with these ideas to craft a plan to help her become more integrated into her most recent home of Blacksburg, VA. The result is two books in one: a well-researched survey of the literature on place attachment, and a how-to guide for readers wanting to fall in love with where they live. VERDICT Warnick shifts between sharing her stories and the results of her extensive research, crafting an enjoyable book for anyone who cherishes their hometown as well as for those who don't and would like to do so.-Michael C. Miller, Austin P.L. & Austin History Ctr., TX © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Don't like where you live? Socialize. Volunteer. Make lists. Or you could just move.It was the fact of yet another move that prompted this book, if in a roundabout way. Recounts freelance journalist Warnick, relocating from Austin, Texas, to the cold, rainy hills of southwestern Virginia stirred up some hard thoughts about place and community, thoughts that became harder when circumstances did. "Life in a smaller town was supposed to be simpler, but nothing was easy, not even the easy stuff," she writes. It wasn't just finding a new dentist and picking out a pediatrician, but also building friendships and connections to the placea challenge that all too many of us know, since, by the author's reckoning, the average American moves about a dozen times over a lifetime. So what to do? Warnick alternately goes deep, quoting from the eminent French philosopher Simone Weil on community, and shallow, making all-too-obvious true/false where-you-are lists gauging such matters as "I like to tell people about where I live" and "I hope that my kids live here even after I'm gone." It's the simplifying to the point of simplistic stuff that's maddening about this book, which has plenty of promise but not much in the way of execution. For instance, it may appeal to the privileged person who feels a little bad about the homeless guy down the street to give some thought to the negatives about where you live, but "volunteering for a gardening clubor starting an afternoon ballroom dance program at the local YMCA" isn't likely to ease the hardships of the homeless. There are many other recipes geared for do-gooder gentrifiers and lots of checklists, cheerleading, and the patently obvious ("Volunteering is, by definition, the thing we don't have to do"), but as to anything truly usefulwell, for that, you'll need to move on to another book. Well intended but unsatisfying. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
