I lost sleep over this book. Not because it was bad, but because I couldn’t put it down! I stayed up too late, skirted household chores, and took extra time in my day to read Cabin.

First of all, it’s hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud as I read the tales of the misadventures of the cabin. Primarily because it was genuinely funny, but also because I could picture myself and my husband in these exact same scenarios.

It was well-written and I loved the narrative! My family has a cabin (and not the kind that doesn’t count as a cabin) and I can’t wait for this book to get printed so I can buy a copy to keep there!

One question for the author: Did you write this all on your typewriter? 😉🤣

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was very pleasantly surprised at this book. Not at all what I was expecting. Whereas I thought it was going to be about a guy building a cabin in the woods, it turned out to be much, much more. It turned into a young man's search for himself and for the meaning of his life.
The author was a somewhat "lost" soul, plugging through life with no aims or dreams, not wanting any responsibility. On a whim, he decides to buy a decrepit, one room shed in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in rural Washington. And the journey was begun!
I felt like I was riding along with the author, as he haphazardly struggled through learning how to rebuild the shed into something he was proud of. As the cabin developed, so did the author.
The book is full of escapades with his friends, of finding his way to quitting an unfulfilling job, to finding love. All couched in the projects he took on to build his cabin.
Honestly, I can't think of anyone who had less aptitude to take on a project like this than the author. Things he took on, he really shouldn't have. But with hard work and perseverance, somehow he did it. It was really enjoyable to watch him grow.
The book flows along very well. It's laid out in a very logical manner, and is written to be easily understood.
This book should leave you with a good feeling deep down in your soul. I found it to be very enjoyable.

Patrick Hutchison's Cabin (St. Martin's Press 2024) was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be something about outdoorsman living, maybe the life of a nomad or hermit. This wasn't that at all. Not even a little. This is the story of a fairly domesticated guy with a full-time job, family and friends, who sees his friends settling down with families and mortgages--grown-up stuff. While he wants to adult, he doesn't have the drive to work hard, save money, invest...

"Years after leaving college with an intent to roam the earth telling the stories of beautiful lunatics, I was in an office creating email templates to sell advertising to plumbers and wondering how I’d ended up here."

"People all around me, people I thought were my friends, were going off and doing ridiculous things..."

He decides to buy a run-down cabin in desolate Wit's End in the Cascade Mountains and fix it up. One huge reason why he picks this particular cabin--less than 800 sf, home to hundreds of spiders and their webs, without electricity, plumbing or an indoor bathroom, is he can afford it. The process of finding and buying  the cabin then making it habitable is almost comical as he knows nothing about outdoors living or DIY stuff. Interestingly enough, none of that phases him. He ticks off each problem and starts on the next.

"At times, it felt like the cabin and I were partners in a sort of joint self-improvement project. When the cabin was all fixed up, maybe I would be too."

The story is part memoir, part how to for the beginner, and a lot about funding himself through the windows of a run down cabin. Hutchison's writing voice is fun, positive, and always with a sense of humor no matter if the cabin's roof is collapsing or the outhouse is taken over by spiders or he's not sure about his neighbors.

The book is a lot better than I gave it credit for on page one. It's the kind of book I am really happy to have read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC. I was interested in this book, primarily as a story about a fixer upper, but it really is about much more than that. There is a lot of detail regarding how the author came to own and restore this cabin but the journey is really more about his own personal restoration. I enjoyed the humor and reading about the transformation, both the cabin and his own. The only suggestion to make this better is to provide photos or illustrations, I had a hard time trying to envision what he described in the cabin. Otherwise, it's a great read!

I really loved this book. The idea of it, the process of rebuilding, the lessons learned…they made this book come alive for me. AND it made me even more excited than I already usually am to get outside to feel more alive.

Aimless dude experiencing a "quarter-life crisis" (ok, 28) buys a cheap rundown cabin in the Cascades and spends several years of weekends with friends "fixing it up" (i.e. - playing with powertools and cobbling together half-assed repairs.) His carpentry skills improve with YouTube and practice and eventually he sells the place and decides he wants to be a carpenter who builds cabins in the woods. And specifically mentions that he doesn't want to apprentice or get a job on a carpentry crews. Yikes.

The setting sounded lovely except for mudslides, but generally it was pretty meh. Photos of the cabin and surroundings would have gone a long way to drawing readers in. Perhaps they will be included in the final edition and were simply not included in the ARC.

I'd give this book ten stars if I could, and have already pre-ordered two copies from my local indy bookstore. This memoir will touch the heart of anyone who, as a child, tilted a few stick together in the back yard, threw a blanket over it, and called it a fort; anyone who has longed for the adventure of being closer to wilderness and further from the incessant bombardment of the electronic age.
One of the most engaging aspects of the book was Hutchison's ability to laugh at himself, acknowledging that he didn't always know what the heck he was doing. Haven't we all been there at one time or another? As a single, female homeowner, I know I certainly have.
The soul of the book, though, is how meaningful it is to have a place where friends feel free to gather, share meals, good whiskey, a warm fire, and stories that are held safe within the plywood walls. As long as you don't mind the occasional spider.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. The author has a great sense of humor and his lack of skills makes for a laugh out loud story. His writing makes you feel like you're there with him and his friends, having fun and not taking things too seriously.
He really hits home when writing about the pull of the mountains and the many benefits of the great outdoors. I can relate to his cabin, from personal experience, which really hooked me into the book.

I expected this book to be more about the cabin itself, but I find that the author focuses a lot on the people too. This is not a complaint. I love that Hutchison talks a lot about the friends and acquaintances that helped make the cabin great. It makes the book feel so much more positive and heartwarming.

I also really enjoyed the humorous way the story is told. The author doesn’t take themself too seriously and overall, this gives the book a very lighthearted and overall cozy feeling.

It’s a love letter to a perfectly imperfect cabin. The perfect book for reading in your own cabin or while daydreaming about your own cabin.