// December 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // BookReviews
In the 1970s Dolly Freed lived of the land dirt cheap and plum easy. Living in their own house on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia for almost five years, Dolly and her father produced their own food and drink and spent roughly $700 each per year. Thirty years later Dolly Freed’s Possum Living is as fascinating and pertinent as it was in 1978. Tin House is reissuing the survivalist classic with a foreword by David Gates and an afterword by the author. After discussing reasons why you should or shouldn’t give up your job, Possum Living gives you details about the cheapest ways with the best results to buy and maintain your home, dress well, cope with the law, stay healthy, and keep up a middle-class facade — whether you live in the city, in the suburbs, or in a small town. In a delightful, straightforward style Dolly Freed explains how to be lazy, proud, miserly, and honest, live well and enjoy leisure. She shares her knowledge for what you doneed — your own home, for example — and what you don’t need — such as doctors, lawyers, and insurance. Through her own example, Dolly hopes to inspire you to do some independent thinking about how economics affect the course of your life now and may do so in the coming “age of shortages.” If you ever wondered what it would be like to be in greater control of your own life, Possum Living will show you — and help you do it for yourself.
1 out of 5 stars
I do not think homesteaders are crazy; heck, I aspire to be a homesteader. However, I think the author of this book is a bit crazy. She talks about “leaving the rat race,” but it seems she was never in it; what she really means is that her father (whom she calls Daddy throughout the book) left the rat race and her mother left them. She plans to have kids someday while continuing to live with her father and having a man either move in or “visit.” (Yeah, good luck finding a guy to father your children when you spend all your time at home with “Daddy”) And one of her ways of dealing with legal issues it to “catch your adversary’s attention” by doing things like throwing a brick through his window in the middle of the night. She mentions other people that she claims are making the homesteaders look bad, but does not realize she is one of them.
Since she was never in the rat race, you’d think this book has some helpful tips about starting homesteading without having ever been in the rat race; but sadly, it does not. The house she lives in was bought by her parents when they worked, and she says that one should work for a few years to buy a house and give it to their children. Personally I think a huge part of homesteading is being self-sufficient, and would not want my adult offspring dependent on me giving them a house.
Not only does this book not tell you how to start from nothing, it also does not tell you much of anything. There are a few tips, but certainly not $10 worth. More than once it tells you to go to read books about a subject, when if you bought this book you probably expected this book to tell you about the subject. The fact that this book was written by a 19 year old with a 7th grade education and a sense of entitlement (that she somehow manages to have while homesteading) really shows. This reads more like the diary of a sheltered girl than a book of homesteading tips.
If you are looking to begin homesteading, do not read this book as it will only sully your perception of homesteading and homesteaders. If you are a homesteader already read it to laugh at the absurdity, but don’t expect to get $10 worth of homesteading tips.
