A review by arguhlincozzi
Under A Pole Star by Stef Penney

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I did find the romance at the center of the book to be heartbreakingly tragic and touching written. However, I think I agree with past reviews that given that it was the central point of the book, the narrative took too long to get to this story. There were other elements that were clearly of interest to the author but not explored fully and thus were placed in there and underdeveloped. Further, the entire story is written very much from a settler's perspective, with main characters getting to be drawn as the kind of person who is against certain settler perspectives, but still very much written from this narrative of being a good white person in this era. The ways the Inuit people are thus written is, at best, insulting. The usage of the word "E*****" I understand wouldn't be seen well by many, and I think overall, I expected and hoped for better.
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