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A review by sssnoo
Trask by Don Berry
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.