To the Bright Edge of the World
Ratings14
Average rating3.9
In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads an exploratory expedition up the Wolverine River and into the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return. As they map the territory and gather information on native tribes, whose understanding of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his team can't escape the sense that some great, mysterious force threatens their lives. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Sophie chafes under the social restrictions of a pregnant woman on her own, and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She, too, explores nature, through the new art of photography, unaware that the coming winter will test her own courage and faith to the breaking point.--
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I received an uncorrected ARC of this book for free through Net Galley.
I really, really loved [b:The Snow Child|11250053|The Snow Child|Eowyn Ivey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327098624s/11250053.jpg|16176521]. I think Eowyn Ivey is an enormously talented writer and so I was excited to read her next book, which I was fortunately able to get an ARC of. To the Bright Edge of the World has the same sense of gentle, quiet beauty that The Snow Child has, but the deliberate pacing can make the story seem a bit drier than many readers would like. This particular novel took me quite a while to read because it's at its best when you can sit down and really devote your time and attention to it, something I was never able to do when I went to read it. However, the times that I was able to give it my full attention, I found a story that was full of life and beauty, populated by characters that were carefully drawn and fascinating.
This book isn't going to be for everyone, but you'll find something great if you're willing to look.
A 19th century adventure story of a small group of American military venturing through Alaska along the harsh Wolverine River, in order to document terrain and locals. The story is told in the form of letters and diary entries, from the men, from the Colonel's young wife who stayed back at the barracks, and even an ancestor and historian in modern times. Novels told in the form of diaries and text clippings (an epistolary novel as wiki just taught me) is usually not something I enjoy, but all parts were equally engaging and the audiobook also took off the usual edge I assume.
The story finds a good way of weaving magical realism - shamans, shape-shifting, birthing kids from spruce trees - into the elementary themes of survival and adventure. I mostly enjoyed the women of the story: Sophie, the stay-at-home wife who rebelled from strict society by discovering her love and destiny for field photography, and Nat'aaggi - the mysterious Indian woman who accompanies the scouting party, where one can never tell if she is in their care of if they are in hers.
