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Vivid Air: Travels to a Further Shore

by:
Catharine Cool (Author)

ISBN: 0-7414-3697-3 ©2006
Price: $18.95
Book Size: 5.5'' x 8.5'' , 345 pages
Category/Subject: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs

Vivid Air, a memoir written in word-paintings, uses landscapes as the characters and color as the thread that draws you into the fascinating Asian cultures through which the author traveled.

Abstract:
Vivid Air is a memoir of the adventurous life of an Australian who encountered her American husband on a slow boat to Singapore. Meeting again as graduate students in London, they married and sailed first to the South Seas for fieldwork, then to a world now gone – a world of Imperial power and pageantry that once existed in Laos, Pakistan, Kathmandu, India, and the Philippines. Each chapter reveals the pleasures and risks of living in exotic cultures – from encountering the fascinating characters who were a part of that era - to facing the political upsets that accompanied a rapidly changing Asia.

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Customer Reviews

  An Insightful Look Back at a Life rich with Adventure and Humanism , 05/27/2009
Reviewer: Robert Cardinalli, Oct 19 2007
What a pleasure to find this set of memoried vignettes by a woman who has had life experiences most of us only conjure up in our imagination. Catharine Cool has given us a warm, insightful and introspective view on many aspects of her varied and complex life, juxtaposed against the backdrop of a period of post-WWII global social change. Her passionate pursuit toward finding the central artistic core of each culture she made a home in, gives the stories she tells a rare and wonderful twilight patina. Those of us familiar with these backdrops, can understand this interior landscape while in the context of the socio-political world we inhabit. The book is pervaded with the air of something lost, in the Australia of her youth, the Africa of her early married years -- in recounting the rearing of three fine children into adulthood -- and in the missed opportunities, such as the complex yet loving relationship with her mother in whose final years the author affords one of the most affecting portraits of internal solitude, joy with regret, and a compelling sadness for what might have been. I, for one, look forward to the author's upcoming work on the lives of her fascinating parents.

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  A Journey Shared, May 15 2007 , 05/27/2009
Reviewer: Rachel Crawford
Catharine Cool is a writer.. an excellent one; this book will not be overlooked. In this travel narative of the world's places and people there is drawn a life of honesty and love. A special woman in a special time. A moment that only returns in her memories and words. In this book I find passages that recall the steady flow of beautiful prose akin to Annie Dillard in PILGRIM'S CREEK.. The poetic word painting occassionaly rises to equal Alice Walker in her books, especially THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR! This book is a keeper. I love beautiful writing and this both filled my mind and touched my soul, Some of its poetry will forever sing in my dreams. This is the work of a mature and talented artist. I await more books by this author..!

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  Love! Travel! Adventure! , 05/27/2009
Reviewer: Willem L Weertman
"Vivid Air", March 18, 2007 Love! Travel! Adventure! An enchanting but true story of the life of a very talented Australian woman who, as a schoolgirl, falls in love with an American then later, as his wife, accompanies him on his assignments - sometimes dangerous - throughout the Far East. Sharing their lives with many different people and cultures, Catharine Cool writes in a lively, vivacious style of their experiences with insight and empathy. Providing inspiration for her painting talents are the many unique visual scenes of the faraway countries she became well-acquainted with. An excellent read for persons of all ages for its entertainment value alone, this engrossing book has special value in showing the benefits of understanding and working peacefully with others in this diverse world of ours.

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  Exotic Travels , 05/27/2009
Reviewer: Harold Haight
"Vivid Air" is certain to be of interest to those attracted to exotic cultures. It is written by an Australian woman, accompanying her American husband in a lifetime career of foreign service. As a memoir, it offers much of the warmth and personality of the author as she shares her interesting, and sometimes dangerous life, with her husband and children. There is much color in her portrayal of lands, nature and peoples in this fine book, but that is not surprising, as Catharine Cool was an accomplished painter long before she took up the pen to write "Vivid Air." Enjoy! Harold Haight

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  Vivid Lives in Vivid Places, , 05/28/2009
Reviewer: Carol O'Rourke
I had so enjoyed EACH IN HIS LONELY NIGHT, Catharine Cool's first book in her trilogy, that I looked forward to reading VIVID AIR. The second book is a delight as well. This writer, painter, poet, historian graciously takes us to parts of the globe she and her family lived and traveled in for many decades. She brings us with her not just with her stories, but with photogaphs of exotic places as they once were and with her paintings (the covers of both books are of her paintings). I recommend both books and look forward to the third memoir.

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  A Glimpse of the Rest of the World!, November 5, 2007 , 05/28/2009
Reviewer: Charles Destries "Charlie d'Estries" (Orchard Park, NY) -
Catharine Cool's 'Vivid Air' is a must-read for anyone interested in history, culture, spirituality, and most important... a human perspective rarely seen in what most Americans read. Her use of words are incredible when describing what she and her family experience. 'Vivid Air' is a personal memoir describing her life with her husband, living in Asia, while raising three children. It is the stuff most of us only fantasize about, but would never dare to do. Why 'Vivid Air' and her companion book 'Each in His Lonely Night' are not on a best-seller's list is astounding to me! I encourage those who are considering this book to dive in, open their minds and enjoy a kaleidescope of delicious reading

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