Treehouse Chronicles
S. Peter Lewis
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 TMC Books
ISBN: 0972030743

One Man's Dream of Life Aloft.

While written as a memoir of Peter Lewis' four years of building his dream house, this is far, far more. It's the story of how it happened, how it went & how the author-cum-builder looks at his world.

Treehouse Chronicles is also about relationships: with a place on earth, a massive pine tree, & a man among family & friends.

As a girl who loved to climb trees, helped her brothers build their treehouse & got seriously injured doing so, read for endless Summmer days in the crotches of 200 year-old Beeches, I knew I'd have a ton of questions to ask Peter other than those he relates what most folks ask when they first see his.

As a woman who dreamed of building her own home, met & married a man who'd built several, & together went into the rainforest to do so, I was thrilled that I actually not only knew the building references & science, I understood the whys & the wherefores.

With a heartwarming Foreword from ecologist & author Anne LaBastille, & an Introduction from Tedd Benson who has built a few houses, all with their foundations firmly set on the ground, who also authored Timberframe: The Art and Craft of the Post-And-Beam Home, who set out reading Peter's first proof expecting to find all sorts of faults, ended up totally beguiled, as I was.

Peter Lewis starts out remembering a moment in his boyhood & how he recorded his story about how “... mere chance hatches a grand scheme.” As our intrepid author sits upon his favorite branch, in the middle of his almost finished house, he's engaged in a battle with Gravity, & watches a spider walk on air. Then he's remembering how he & his family left the “burbs” of Denver, Colorado, & what the state of Maine & its history & people mean to him. & then we're off on his “...idea for hanging a house in the sky,” complete with diagrams & explanations.

Part Two gets us aloft, when the foundations are hung in the sky, which means, naturally, the author has to hang around in trees, with ropes.

Part Three recounts the problems, the despair & working through the knots &, with the help of friends & Mother Nature, breaking through to the other side.

Part Four disappears under a long, snow-covered Winter & the delights of crepuscular life.

Part Five is filled with the secrets of construction.

Treehouse Chronicles, while not strictly a memoir, & that's why I categorized it in Home & Garden, is an elegant coffee table tome of memories & thoughtful essays as well as a treasure trove of exquisite photos, diagrams, all greatly enhanced by T. B. R. Walsh's delightful paintings.

Outstanding!
(02/12/06)

Rebecca