Esther De Boer De Boer itibaren Muralto, Švica
I enjoyed this book a great deal but it is difficult to summarize. It reminded me a bit of some Garrison Keillor's work but on a much more serious, and at times, darker note although there are plenty of humorous descriptions of characters and their actions. Part of the attraction for me is that the setting for the book is the Olympic Peninsula and all the locations are real. It doesn't take long for the reader to figure out that the "fictional" town of Port Bonita is really Port Angeles if he or she is familiar with the area. The book focuses on a wide of array of issues including inter-personal relationships, drug abuse, domestic violence, corporate greed, and envionmental concerns (Elwah Dam Removal). Throw in a little bit of time travel and is sasquatch real or a spirit and you have an interesting read. I would recommend to any potential reader that they look up the "Shakers" religion as it is mentioned a number of times without much explanation. Fortunately I had read some about this local Native American off-shoot of Christianity and I believe there are still a number of Shaker churches in the Puget Sound area.
The novel depicts a man being borne down by his life and everything around him. By more and more paper all around him. I felt the same way reading it. I couldn't get through it. I tried. Good gods, I tried. I knew there was a lot going on, and I was seeing the craft at work... I /knew/ it was going somewhere.. but I just couldn't finish it. I've tried four times now. It is still on my bookshelf with a bookmark somewhere in the last seventy pages or so. It is /so/ depressing, /so/ heavy, and it so much crushes your will to try anything... it crushes your will to finish the book. Perhaps that's just a sign of good writing. It did win the Nobel Prize, after all.