Rough Beauty

Forty Seasons of Mountain Living

By: Karen Auvinen

Narrated by: Jayme Mattler

In the bestselling tradition of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Helen MacDonald’s H Is for Hawk, Karen Auvinen, an award-winning poet, ventures into the wilderness to seek answers to life’s big questions with “candor [and] admirable courage” (Christian Science Monitor).

Determined to live an independent life on her own terms, Karen Auvinen flees to a primitive cabin in the Rockies to live in solitude as a writer and to embrace all the beauty and brutality nature has to offer. When a fire incinerates every word she has ever written and all of her possessions—except for her beloved dog Elvis, her truck, and a few singed artifacts—Karen embarks on a heroic journey to reconcile her desire to be alone with her need for community.

In the evocative spirit of works by Annie Dillard, Gretel Ehrlich, and Terry Tempest Williams, Karen’s “beautiful, contemplative…breathtaking [debut] memoir honors the wildness of the Rockies” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Rough Beauty offers a glimpse into a life that’s pared down to its essentials, open to unexpected, even profound, change” (Brevity Magazine), and Karen’s pursuit of solace and salvation through shedding trivial ties and living in close harmony with nature, along with her account of finding community and even love, is sure to resonate with all of us who long for meaning and deeper connection. An “outstanding…beautiful story of resilience” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Rough Beauty is a luminous, lyric exploration, “a narrative that reads like a captivating novel...a voice not found often enough in literature—a woman who eschews the prescribed role outlined for her by her family and discovers her own path” (Christian Science Monitor) to embrace the unpredictability and grace of living intimately with the forces of nature.

I LOVED this book in so many ways

I loved the author’s descriptions of her mountains, the food she cooks and serves with such care, her friends, and, most of all, her dog. The narration is pitch perfect. Be warned, though. There will be tears to shed, and your heart may break. But this book is worth both the time and the tears.

Living out of the norm, and connecting to all nature has to offer, comes to life in this book

I love the perspective of how rough unfolds into peace and presence through the trials and tribulations of a beautiful strong woman.

Beautifully Written and Narrated

This book transported me into a dream of mountain living. Fulfilling by proxy the enduring connection with nature I always wished to know and obtain. The Author in so many ways told the story of my own heart. Probably the best articulation of the transforming love and relationship one can have with a dog that I've ever read. This is a wonderful book to live in and I'm just sorry it had an ending.

Author's Memoir

First, I need to say that Ms. Auvinen writes beautifully. However, I think I was expecting something a little different in this title. This memoir spends a lot of time on her painful childhood with a harsh father and a hurting family and her ultimate escape for solitude in the Colorado mountains. Overall I would say the story is more about her than about the mountains in which she lives. We are given a glimpse what life in those mountains is like, what the townsfolk are like but, it's really about the author's thoughts and feelings as she travels through these years.
There were two things that took away from my overall enjoyment of the book. First was the reader's voice. In my mind the author has a strong voice, yet the reader was somewhat nasally and ended each sentence with a gravelly down tone. I don't know why, but it quickly began to annoy me.
Secondly, I cried for the author's love of her dog. It was a very special relationship, no doubt. I have dogs and I get that. But, there was no similar emotion for her mother's life threatening illness. That came across as more of an annoyance to the author and something that forced her to have to interact with her family. It was hard for me to empathize with her story when she showed more love and heartbreak for her dog than for her mother.
All in all, I do like her writing style and I will look for other titles by Ms. Auvinen.

Enjoyable listen, transported to the rugged mountains of Colorado

Karen has tremendous facility with words.
As others have mentioned, I laughed and teared up many times listening to her poignant descriptions of love, loss and joy.

Th specificity and frequency of alcohol consumption is rampant throughout the book, a constant companion that conjures alcoholism yet she mentions it almost as though brag worthy. Not trying to come off as preachy but a heads up for anyone struggling with alcohol.