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The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating: A True Story Hardcover – Aug. 24 2010

by Elisabeth Bailey (Author)

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In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Tova Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her encounter with a Neohelix albolabris—a common woodland snail.

While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own place in the world.

Intrigued by the snail’s molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, offering a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world can illuminate our own human existence, while providing an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.

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Product details

Publisher : Algonquin Books; 1st edition (Aug. 24 2010)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 208 pages
ISBN-10 : 1565126068
ISBN-13 : 978-1565126060
Item Weight : 272 g
Dimensions : 13.49 x 1.91 x 18.57 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #620,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #155 in Invertebrates
- #902 in Nature Writing & Essays
- #913 in Nature & Ecology Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
666 ratings

Product description

Review

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR NONFICTION (2012)

WINNER OF THE JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL (2011)

NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD FOR 2010 in Natural History Literature

BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD, FINALIST for Inspirational Memoir

TOP TEN ADULT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY BOOKS FOR 2010, Booklist

BEST BOOKS OF 2010: MORE OF THE BEST, Library Journal

GREAT TITLES TO ADD TO THE NYT BEST OF 2010, Huffington Post

Praise:

“Beautiful.” —Edward O. Wilson

“Universal, deeply felt, and with an enormously generous soul, the gently told story grants readers a heightened appreciation for the ever-shrinking, ever-fascinating, secretive parts of our unkempt world.” —Alexandra Fuller for The Daily Beast

“How interesting can a snail be? Entirely captivating, as it turns out. [Bailey] is a marvelous writer, and the marriage of science and poetic mysticism that characterizes this small volume is magical.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“[Bailey] found comfort in an unlikely companion--a tiny snail, whose micro-doings are the source of a surprising philosophy.” —Entertainment Weekly

“An exquisite meditation on the restorative connection between nature and humans. . . Bailey's slim book is as richly layered as the soil she lays down in the snail's terrarium: loamy, potent, and regenerative.” —The Huffington Post

“[A] small, quiet masterpiece, already destined to become a classic.” —Washington Times

“A spare, beautifully quirky grace note of a book.” —Family Circle

“Though illness may rob us of vitality, sometimes it can also help bring us understanding---albeit in improbable disguises . . . Perhaps there's something to be said for moving at a snail's pace.” —NPR.org

“This elegant little gem is a triumph.”—Maine Sunday Telegram

From the Publisher

Best Books of 2010 --Huffington Post National Outdoor Book Award for 2010 in Natural History Literature Top Ten Science Titles for 2010 BookList Editors (American Library Association) "A finely-crafted eulogy to a common woodland snail and a moving endorsement of the human spirit." —Sir John Lister-Kaye, naturalist, Scotland "A miniature masterpiece."—The Independent "Wait, did you say a wild snail? As opposed to domestic? Well, I'm intrigued." --"Books for Dudes," Library Journal "What starts as an improbably story becomes an irresistible one . . . this elegant little gem is a triumph." --Maine Sunday Telegram "[Bailey] honors the gastropod with a poetic history of its short, astonishing life." --MORE Magzine Riveting. --DownEast Magazine "One sweet story" --Indie Next List "Beautifully written."—Daily News

From the Inside Flap

Inside-flap copy: If rapt attention is a kind of prayer, then this is a prayerful book. Bailey pays homage to splendors small and humble enough to fit inside a terrarium." --Scott Russell Sanders

From the Back Cover

THE EARTHLY ADVENTURES OF A WOMAN AND A GASTROPOD

Winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature

“Brilliant.” —The New York Review of Books

“How interesting can a snail be? Entirely captivating, as it turns out. [Bailey] is a marvelous writer, and the marriage of science and poetic mysticism that characterizes this small volume is magical.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“[A] gem.” —Susan Stamberg, NPR’s Morning Edition

“Survival, resilience, and intellectual curiosity . . . Deeply moving. . . Extraordinary.” —Literature and Medicine, the journal of the Institute for the Medical Humanities

“An exquisite meditation on the restorative connection between nature and humans . . . As richly layered as the soil she lays down in the snail’s terrarium: loamy, potent, and regenerative.” —The Huffington Post

“[A] small, quiet masterpiece, already destined to become a classic.” —The Washington Times

About the Author

Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s essays and short stories have been published in the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, the Missouri Review, Northwest Review, and the Sycamore Review. The hardcover edition of The Sound of Wild Snail Eating was a Barnes & Noble Discover title, an Indie Next Pick, and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Bailey has received several Pushcart Prize nominations (in addition to the awards listed above), and the essay on which this book is based received a Notable Essay Listing in Best American Essays. She is on the Writers Council for the National Writing Project. Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, she lives in Maine.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Each evening the snail awoke and, with an astonishing amount of poise, moved gracefully to the rim of the pot and peered over, surveying, once again, the strange country that lay ahead. Pondering its circumstance with a regal air, as if from the turret of a castle, it waved its tentacles first this way and then that, as though responding to a distant melody.

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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		19%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Dorothyanne Brown

Wonderfully soothing

Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

The writing in this book is much like the story itself - soothing, slow moving, slipping into your consciousness like the gentle chewing sound of the snail in the title.
It is totally charming. But perhaps a bit too soothing. I read mostly at night before bed and I still haven't finished the book.
And now I want a pet snail....

One person found this helpful

Helpful

p.c.j

👏

Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2020

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Great read, shorter than I expected, but will read it again and recommend to anyone who enjoys nature and the little things in life.

Helpful

Barbara Priestley

Snail

Reviewed in Canada on March 21, 2018

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This was a such a moving story and well worth the read.

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STEVE

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2018

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Everyone should read this book

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Yong Kim

I think this is an wonderful book. It's an heart-warming story

Reviewed in Canada on October 25, 2017

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I think this is an wonderful book. It's an heart-warming story. Thank you so much. I've learned many precious life lessons.

Helpful

Louise Jolly

An Unusual Memoir!!

Reviewed in Canada on March 5, 2011

Elisabeth Tova Bailey is bedridden with a mysterious disease that has left her paralyzed but she finds meaning in her life through observing a small woodland snail!! The snail served as her entertainment, her connection to a world beyond her own suffering and gave her hope and strength to carry on and wait for her health to improve. Being bedridden she is cut-off from the world and lives like a "hermit" just like her snail.

Ms. Bailey does not complain about her illness, her time is better spent being curious about her snail and marvelling at how resilient it is. By watching so intently and being a studious pupil, Bailey tells us she wants to fight her illness but that wouldn't have been possible without her snail.

The latter part of the book reads more like a textbook on snails and other mollusks, but I would have liked to hear more of Bailey's life and her thoughts about her illness.

There is one line in the book that I will quote here because I find it is so very, very true. "Illness isolates; the isolated become invisible; the invisible become forgotten."

Anyone who reads this is going to love it and it's not like your typical memoir, it's a very different type of story which you'll thoroughly enjoy!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

gazelle

A Very Inspiring Book

Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2011

This is an incredible book. As I am also ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, though in a much less debilitating way, I could relate to Elizabeth Bailey. I find it very generous on her part to have spent all that little energy she has to share that exceptional experience. The rythm of the writing in a way is the rythm of the snail, calming, relaxing. But, at the same time, we are very much taken by the story of the snail's every day life. Elizabeth doesn't write much about her very serious illness, just enough to make us realize to what extent the snail plays a role in her life and how it helps her go through each day. For those who are ill and housebound, this book will help see life differently and bring some ligh in those dark moments. For those who are in good health, it will be a worthwhile pause in the frantic pace we live in... and you will look at nature, particularly a snail, much differently. Elizabeth with this book shows us that she is not only a talented writer, but also shows that each creature, even the very small ones, has a role on this planet.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Avid Reader

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating: Louder than you think

Reviewed in Canada on February 5, 2012

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating: A True Story - this book starts quietly and stays that way but don't let that put you off - it really is a beautiful and gripping story of one womans discovery of the secret world of snails while appearing to be at a complete dead end in her life due to illness- gradually very gradually the snail teaches her that there are many ways of being and that there is hope. You will learn more than you ever knew about snails but you will also feel uplifted in this courageous tale of recovery and discovery.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

FantasyFan

Gently humorous view of a snail

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2020

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I was unsure whether I would enjoy this book (I always read one and two star reviews) but bought it anyway on the recommendation of an American friend. I am so glad I did. It is a beautifully written account of the author's encounter and cohabitation with a snail given to her by a friend. How the snail brightened the bedridden author's days and enlivened her interest is a wondrous thing. Her gentle humour shines through her writing and her intelligent enquiring mind is like a beacon in the darkness. Maybe you have to love snails, which I do, but I did not find it at all boring; in fact the opposite!

tiggrie AKA Sarah

Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

Elizabeth Tova Bailey was struck down by a mystery illness which left her bedridden. A friend brought her a violet, with a passenger - a small snail. This book is the story of that snail's life, and the things the author learned about snails as she got to know her small friend.

I think this is a bit of a marmite book. If reading about a snail's sex life, for example, sounds like something you'd only do on pain of death, this is probably one to avoid. It's slow, gentle, informative, contemplative; Tova Bailey clearly did masses of research on snails, and there are masses of fascinating facts to be learned. For someone like me, who is interested in stuff like this, it was engrossing, if slightly disgusting at times... I'm no big fan of snails, and sometimes when talk of slime got too much I had to put the book down! I certainly have more respect for and interest in them now than I did when I started, though.

It's also a fascinating insight into chronic, crippling illness. For those who have suffered in similar ways, as I have, it's a comfort to know "it's not just me", and I think this book will give those who've never been chronically ill a little insight into what it is like being confined to a house, a room, or even a bed for long stretches of time.

Overall, I wouldn't call this a must-read, and it's definitely one to "look inside" before purchasing, but personally I enjoyed it. It was a book I dipped into over the course of several months. The writing style is gorgeous, the snippets from poetry and scientific books are apt, and the information is really interesting.

6 people found this helpful

Lucyreviews

Where to begin!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

Wow, just speechless.
A remarkable experience, for the author and the reader. The ease and fluidity of the writing is gorgeous.

Things I loved:
The atmosphere of the authors life before, during, and recovering from her illness.
The research into snails and her snails life.
I’ve learnt so much from this book. I was a snail lover before, but after reading this book I’m now even more enthralled by their incredible lives and ancestry.

Things I don’t love:
People who don’t read this book. No seriously, you need to read this book. Even if you think it isn’t your type of thing, please give it a try.

Damaskcat

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

The author of this fascinating little book was ill and confined to bed for many years. During that time a friend brought her some wild violets in a pot - together with a small snail. Watching the antics of the snail gave the author a new interest in life and at times it seemed like the only thing which was giving her a reason to carry on living.

The book is part memoir and part the natural history of snails. There are interesting quotes about snails from literature and from natural history writers including Charles Darwin. I like the author's writing style which is low key and amusing and I also found the information about snails totally fascinating.

The book provides insights into how illness can affect humans and how the whole world shrinks to one room when you are confined to bed and dependent on others. Watching a snail move slowly about it small world somehow serves to put things in perspective. I know I shall never look at snails in quite the same way again after reading this book.

2 people found this helpful

J. M. Austin

A delightful short read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a delightful little book that I bought as the Kindle Book of the Day earlier in the same week that it was read. It was a relatively quick read (for me at least), at just 2 1/2 days and after having read a series of what some would consider quite heavy books made a refreshing change.

I found the subject matter fascinating - the idea that one could observe life through the eyes of a snail and in the process come to some startling conclusions about how we human beings live our own lives, helping us to appreciate quite literally, the smaller things in life. The book is part spirituality, part science, which helps show how the two are so intimately connected, and how nature which is by definition part of the scientific world, affects us in ways that do not fully appreciate or comprehend. The book for me at least, also illustrates the power of silence, and of illness and how much we can learn from both, for eveything has meaning, and we give, to coin a phrase from A Course in Miracles, all the meaning that it has to us.

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