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sssnoo's review against another edition
5.0
The more I broaden my reading of US authors the more perplexed I become regarding how books are chosen for high school and college Anerican Lit courses. This book is barely available anymore, yet is billed as Oregon’s most notable books and author. I want to give this book 10 stars as one of the top few books I have ever read with this level of a sense of place/time. The basic story is about a white mountain man turned Oregon settler in the Astoria region and his exploration down the coast to what is now Tillamook Bay in the 1840’s, before Oregon was made a US territoy. Most of the other characters are either Clatsop or Tillamook natives. I found myself taking google-diversions to map out the journey and explore more about the native cultures described. This book taught me more about this region and the pre-Oregon trail times than I have learned from any other source. I was immersed in place and time to a level that is hard to describe. I am so saddened that so little is left of the native cultures in this region. Languages and people gone. This is an extremely well researched book, the first of an Oregon trilogy.
The novel was written in 1960 and I bought a used paperback version published so long ago the paper is virgen smooth and thick. I support recycling, but have to say the feel of the paper was an unanticipated pleasure I experienced reading thie book.
This year I have and will read several books known for their sense of place. [b:A Thousand Acres|41193|A Thousand Acres|Jane Smiley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388197504s/41193.jpg|2234336], [b:Giants in the Earth|57586|Giants in the Earth|O.E. Rølvaag|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1401111215s/57586.jpg|3386571], [b:The Dry|27824826|The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)|Jane Harper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456113132s/27824826.jpg|47804789] and this book. I am not sure how the final ranking will be. A Thousand Acres and this book are the top fiction I have read this year.
The novel was written in 1960 and I bought a used paperback version published so long ago the paper is virgen smooth and thick. I support recycling, but have to say the feel of the paper was an unanticipated pleasure I experienced reading thie book.
This year I have and will read several books known for their sense of place. [b:A Thousand Acres|41193|A Thousand Acres|Jane Smiley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388197504s/41193.jpg|2234336], [b:Giants in the Earth|57586|Giants in the Earth|O.E. Rølvaag|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1401111215s/57586.jpg|3386571], [b:The Dry|27824826|The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)|Jane Harper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456113132s/27824826.jpg|47804789] and this book. I am not sure how the final ranking will be. A Thousand Acres and this book are the top fiction I have read this year.
stenaros's review against another edition
4.0
Read for Kenton Book Group (pssst. This was my "pick" for book group and I'm thrilled it turned out so well)
This is a really fabulous early settler/Indian Oregon narrative that is also a gripping story. It's slow to start (in fact, several people in the book group commented that it was a bit slow, but they liked it even though they hadn't yet finished it. Every single one of them had stopped around page 50) but picks up rapidly after that. The book included great characters, what I felt was a sympathetic portrayal of Oregon cost Indians circa 1840. I'm not sure why this is not required reading in various high schools around Oregon, but it should be.
This is a really fabulous early settler/Indian Oregon narrative that is also a gripping story. It's slow to start (in fact, several people in the book group commented that it was a bit slow, but they liked it even though they hadn't yet finished it. Every single one of them had stopped around page 50) but picks up rapidly after that. The book included great characters, what I felt was a sympathetic portrayal of Oregon cost Indians circa 1840. I'm not sure why this is not required reading in various high schools around Oregon, but it should be.
heatheryoung's review against another edition
4.0
The poignant moments in this book, particularly the ending, hits you so hard between gut and heart that it’s hard to believe this book isn’t more renowned. Sometimes it’s the simplest of stories that move us so deeply through the complexities of our own human behavior, only to wake us with such clarity and purpose that we’re moved to forever see the world differently; like the clarity of observation as a child mixed with the humbleness and meaning of a life already lived.
satyridae's review
4.0
I don't know what I expected. I picked it up because I'd heard it spoken of with reverence among Oregon history buffs, and I happened across it at an estate sale. It started kind of slow for me, and there were bits that surprised my modern sensibilities for a minute, but the writing is brilliant. The people are real, the situations believable. But the last hundred, hundred and fifty pages are incredible. Lift the top of your head off because your brain blew up incredible. I'm glad there's more Berry to read for the first time.
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