from a Micheneraholic
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I first visited Alaska on holiday 17yrs ago and bought the book when I got home.I am a Michener addict and have been for forty[ugh,forty,I was avery young teenager when I bought The Source which started my addiction]years so I knew I was in for a treat.My son had just started yr2 in his Infant school and so I was a school run mum. My addiction to this book meant that I would roll up to school a good hour before before school ended just so I could settle down, on my own, and greedily read this fabulous book.I love all the books Michener wrote as 'faction' is my favourite style of literature.I love reading and can speed read lightweight novels in a couple of hours and enjoy them in a light superficial beach/holiday kind of way. This book took me weeks and I felt totally bereft after finishing it.It was as if a very good friend had emmigrated,sad I know,but such was the thrall the story held me in.Just try putting it down and leaving it. An impossibility.You have to finish it and then you're upset when you do.Catch 22.
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Michenerholism - Craving a rich tapestry of history and tales
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First, let me announce my bias: I was born and raised in Alaska.
When I saw this novel on the bookshelves when it first came out, I promised myself I'd read it even tho I had never read anything by Michener. Well, some 20 years later, I finally read it. And -- boy! -- do I wish I hadn't waited so long. It's a long book (close to 1,000 pages) and I was so engrossed that I almost lost sight of the real world for the duration.
Of course, being from Alaska helps. I could orient myself geographically with little trouble. I had the broad outlines of the history already. And the historical names were almost all familiar to me if not the details of their lives.
But what Michener did which I most appreciate about his novel is painlessly impart the details of history by interweaving it so tightly with his colorful fiction that it was hard for me during the reading to separate the two. Yet I'm sure I know what is historical and what isn't. It's a contradiction, I know. And a compliment to this man's storytelling skill.
I let out a satisfied "whew!" when I closed the book a final time and returned to reality. Then I suffered withdrawal symptoms for days, maybe weeks. I found myself gazing wistfully at some of his other large works in the bookstores. Did you know there's no Michenerholics Anonymous? I've just begun reading THE SOURCE. I couldn't help myself.
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No wonder Michener described himself as an educator!
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A book of remarkable conception and brilliant execution. Alaska is 915 pages* of Alaskan prehistory and history told through a series of characters, the vast majority fictional, brought to life by Michener. The result is a book that informs as well as entertains, educates as well as enthrals. Living so far North is clearly not for the faint hearted and whether your favourite character is Trofim Zhdanko, Cidaq, Vasili Voronov, Ravenheart, Missy Peckham, Tom Venn, Sam Bigears, LeRoy Flatch, Vladimir Afanasi, Jeb Keeler, Kendra Scott or one of the others so well brought to life in this book, you will have an empathy with the challenges and the conditions. The book is well balanced and compares Russian vision with American disinterest. The research appears thorough but it is the story that keeps the reader engaged. The scope of the book is as large as the territory it describes and if it nothing else makes you want to visit Alaska this book will!
* Although the spec says 640 pages the book I have is 915 pages (ISBN is the same).
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