By Mary Ann Zehr, contributor
A monthly column in 2025 by a local teacher and reader about connecting with books and taking in Harrisonburg’s literary scene.
~ Samatar, Sofia. Friendly City: A Year of Walks. Quinx Books, 2025. ~
Writer Sofia Samatar spent a whole year taking long walks in Harrisonburg, observing what the outside spaces of our small city contain and what they say about the people who live here.
She penned 52 reflections about her walks that were published as weekly columns in 2024 in this online newspaper. The short pieces have now been slightly edited and published in a print book, Friendly City: A Year of Walks.
(Disclosure: While reviewing Friendly City, I saw that my name was mentioned in the book’s acknowledgements. I think this is because I sent a New York Times opinion piece to Samatar about how New York City had become unwalkable, and she referred to the opinion in a column.)
Friendly City opens with these words: “Anyone can write about a large city–large cities are open to everyone–but only small cities can be portrayed by people who love them.”
I can envision how someone who doesn’t love a small city might still write about it. However, what I take from this opener is that the author loves the city that she is poised to write about–our city.
As we who live in Harrisonburg see our city through Samatar’s eyes and poetic imagination, our affection for it can grow.
I’m a walker in Harrisonburg, but when I walk, I mostly stay inside my thoughts, and I notice very little about my physical environment aside from the mountains or the level of brightness of the day.
By contrast, not much escapes Samatar’s attention. She describes the shades of the sky and mountains, miniature sheds, back alleys, lawn ornaments, statues of children, porch furniture, a memorial adorned with pink fabric roses, fading real roses, brooks, gritty industrial yards, turtles, dogs, groves of trees, houses of worship, and the smell of the city, among many other aspects of her surroundings.
The book gets its title from Harrisonburg’s nickname of the Friendly City, but friendly people are not a big factor in the book’s walking moments. A human waves occasionally at the author from a yard. The author says “Hi” in response to nodding from a couple that she passes by on the Northend Greenway, and a woman calls out, “How are you, hon?” as the author walks by. That’s about it for conversation.
Instead, sidewalks that abruptly end, building facades, a grain elevator, and other physical structures carry the narrative. And yet, Samatar conveys that the physical surroundings have been shaped by people with care–or in some cases, purposeful chaos.
My favorite essay is a letter Samatar addresses to a composite “neighbor.” The letter begins: “Dear Neighbor, I wonder if you know how much I like walking by your house.” She describes several houses with carefully selected and amusing details. She writes: “Sometimes I feel like the whole portion of the city I can reach on foot is a busy, checkered extension of my house.” She tells her composite neighbor that she wants them to stay around for a long time and that their familiar objects signal to her that she is at home.
People also have a role when Samatar provides historical context for Harrisonburg. She emphasizes that the city has changed a lot by retelling some of the memories of an elderly woman whom she has interviewed over coffee.
In writing about change, Samatar recounts some of the unfriendly history of Harrisonburg. In the mid-1900s, a thriving African American neighborhood was razed and replaced with Roses Discount Store and a huge parking lot. When Samatar walks by the parking lot, she wonders if the past has been imprinted on present-day physical structures. She experiences “a hollow feeling” and dismay.
Samatar has a walking methodology. Her walks start from her porch in Harrisonburg, and she walks as far as her schedule and legs permit her to go, which might be a few miles on a walk lasting up to an hour and a half. She aims to reach what she calls “the other side,” places that are not well-traveled. She delights in exploring a place that cannot be accessed by car or bike.
On her rambles, Samatar writes that she is seeking “[s]ome ever-changing, always unforeseen prize: a glint of colored glass or the ruddiness of unexpected tomato plants that throws a new light on the city, altering the whole landscape for a moment.”
As she discovers these gems, she generously shares them with readers.
Sofia Samatar will be reading from and discussing Friendly City at a book launch at 5 pm this Friday, Dec. 5, at Parentheses Books, 76 W. Gay St., in Harrisonburg.
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