"It Takes a Village Idiot"

I just finished enjoying the book "It Takes a Village Idiot" by Jim Mullen. The author and his wife lived in Greenwich Village and enjoyed all the perks that urban life had to offer. When Mullen's wife bought a country house in the Catskills, a three hour drive from Manhattan, Mullen initially looked down his nose at the people and their way of life. The book chronicles Mullen's metamorphosis from die-hard New Yorker to a full-time resident of the Catskills. Mullen, with his self-deprecating humor, deftly makes life in the Big Apple look quite futile, while showing the beauty and meaning of living and working hard in the "Boonies."

This is no how-to book for persons hoping to make the move from the city to the country. Nor is it the journal of someone who deliberately left the city for an agrarian lifestyle. The author doesn't appear to be a Christian and some of the language is "colorful," but it's a funny and entertaining read, nonetheless. The longer Mullen spends on their Catskills property, the more poetic he becomes, but he never loses his sense of humor. I was ready for something light-hearted to read, and this fit the bill with just enough food for thought.

In a brief note at the end of the book, Mullen states, "There were six hundred working dairy farms in our...county when we started coming to the Catskills in 1987. There are fewer than two hundred today (2001)." After reading the book, you know that he thinks this is a shame. As do I.