This is a strange book. Erotic, mysterious and atmospheric.
Bigelow is sent to Anchorage, Alaska, without proper clothing or supplies, in July 1915 by the government to establish a weather station. He’s unsettled by the roughness of the place. It’s the land of Jack London, but Bigelow is no brute, though others are. He cables data to the Weather Bureau daily and works on maps when it‘s dark. He also builds a giant kite, in order to send instruments into the sky to measure the atmosphere.
He notices a striking Aleut woman in town and one day follows her home, where he tries to make friendly overtures. She is mute, but seems to understand English and accepts his gifts of food, so they eventually form a sexual relationship. It’s unsure whether she cares at all for Bigelow or just tolerates him. He falls under her spell and becomes obsessed by her, though she gives him no encouragement and he never even learns her name. Is it her exotic looks, her independence or the fact that she seems indifferent to his presence? Then one day he arrives at her cabin to find it empty, everything gone, including the woman herself.
This sends him into a tailspin; he drinks, throws tantrums, huddles in bed, withdraws from the few people he did talk to. After a year or so, still not knowing where the Aleut woman went or why, he becomes involved with Miriam, the shopkeeper’s daughter who sings, but doesn’t talk, because of a severe stutter. He describes her as having skin “…as luminous as if she holds all the long winter’s light inside her.” What happens in their relationship and other events are surprising twists in the book and the end is not what you expect.
Communication was a big theme in the book: the Aleut woman who couldn’t speak, Miriam who stuttered when she talked, but not when she sang, Bigelow who can talk but has no one to talk to. The kite also was a symbol, appearing when hope seemed visible in the air.
Many things are left unexplained at the end and there are incidents in the book which bothered me a lot, but the book has a mood and depth that pulls at the reader, like a warm fire on an icy evening.
Random House 2002 225 pp. ISBN 0-375-50629-2
Sounds fascinating, Jackie. I’ll have to look into this one!
Axxx
Your final sentence really resonates. I tend to be a very linear reader. I like plot and narrative. But atmosphere has its place and can take a puzzle from a plot perspective and make it very satisfying to read. I’ll have to look for this one.
Why on earth would they send him without the appropriate clothing or supplies?? Your review reminds me a bit of Andrew Grieg’s In Another Light, at least the sections set in the present day when the main character goes to Orkney which is a totally alien landscape to him. This sounds quietly fascinating, without melodrama. Definitely one I’d like to read!
This sounds straight-up awesome. Non-traditional relationships and emotional/physical isolation? Sign me up.
bookwanderer