Beth H. (suburbanalien) reviewed on 6/20/2010 + 63 more book reviews

I wish this book went on and on and on, it was so interesting to see the daily challenges of such a different life. I can't believe he lived long enough to even write the book, as unprepared and naive as he was to just throw caution to the wind and plunge in, in an area where caution keeps you alive. I prepare more for a trip to Home Depot than this fool prepared to start a new life in the wilderness. The very seriously life and death situations he is immersed in on a daily basis will leave you amazed that you are holding an actual completed book and not a blood-stained, entrail-encrusted, partially gnawed diary of a starved, bear-ravaged, terrified corpse. I was also really surprised that he decided to keep his son with him and raise him so far from civilization, especially after all the descriptions of near-death experiences like being on a dog-pulled sled that plunges through the ice into a river, being just yards away from a baby moose whose mother is attempting to defend the baby from attacking dogs, shooing a bear out of your cabin that came in to eat what was left of your food, various building mishaps that could have left him without a leg or other important limb, and one tragedy avoided after another. That said, the writing was both poetic and raw, and really conveyed the peace, beauty, majesty, and awe-inspiring variety of the mountains and forests of Alaska. Great book and great subject matter. I wanna go!

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