The People of Blue Highways

Hi All!

I want to take the opportunity here to write about a few of my thoughts while reading Blue Highways. I thought the book was pretty boring at first, and I felt guilty for thinking this while I was reading; I felt that I somehow wasn't doing my job as a reader to feel engaged in the text and I was getting frustrated with myself for not being as interested in the book as I wanted to be. I really didn't start to enjoy the book until William Least Heat Moon discusses his meeting with the monk in Conyers, Georgia. I thought this was a beautiful moment. The photo of Brother Patrick captivated me and I loved having the opportunity to connect the face with the dialogue and the monk's story. I really appreciate the photos that Heat-Moon included within the text because it verifies that he actually met these people and went on this journey, and this makes it much easier for me to take his account seriously. The two other people that intrigued me in the book were the God loving Arthur Bakke in Montana and the Native American student Kendrick Fritz from Utah. The photos and Heat-Moon's conversations with these two people made me want to meet them myself. William Least Heat-Moon has a wonderful knack of describing and connecting with people and I think this is what makes Blue Highways what it is. As Professor Urrea mentioned in class, Heat-Moon doesn't write particularly beautiful prose, but his experiences and the people he meets are what captivate people.