Just about the time that I had despaired of finding an unread book dealing with the Arctic this, my wife found me this one. It is a novel, but the list of acknowledgments at the books end include some solidly authoritative references to the natural ecology of the Arctic. Voyage to the North Star: A Novel by Peter Nichols Paperback - 352 pages (October 2000) Carroll & Graf; ISBN: 0786707992 The centerpiece of the work is a rich man's "little jaunt" to Frobisher Bay/Baffin Island in 1932 aboard a 225 steam-turbined yacht. The outcome is the result of small errors of judgement, and grievous flaws of character. There are sections which describe the demise of the New England shipyards when sail rigged ships when into decline. There are interesting sections about sea navigation, pack ice, and Inuit boats. The best writing is reserved for descriptions of the tundra and ocean beaches. There is an abundance of folly in most of the characters, although they are well-developed and memorable. The book reviews make the obligatory nods to the sea stories of Melville, Conrad, and Jack London. James Houston's White Dawn comes to my mind first, though A blurb : The New York Times Book Review, Bruce Barcott "...an engaging story in unadorned language about the nature of folly and the folly of challenging nature. " There are several lengthy reviews at the Amazon site. One memorable line for me was the main character's musing about his prior sea journey into the to the Arctic.. "He understood: he had traveled now, and if you traveled beyond a certain everyday point, you never really came all the way back." The writing style is simple and matter-of-fact, sometimes tempting you to read faster than is wise, until some original turn of phrase or description brings you to a screeching halt. Nichols is an enjoyable writer ( his dry wit similar at times to Jonathan Raban's ), and an excellent story-teller. What relevance to Paddlewise? It's a well written, though imaginary, trip report of sorts. It's has everything.. water, polar bears, marine mammals (oops!), folly and unsafe boating practices. Rich Dempsey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See our canoe tripping website http://communities.msn.com/RichWendysAwayFromHomePage *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Oct 26 2000 - 09:06:54 PDT
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