A review by angelamichelle
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

5.0

I was a little slow to warm, but I first enjoyed, then loved this book. It's a travelogue (explorer leading expedition through Alaskan interior ca 1885), which often isn't my cup of tea. And it's told through a series of documents--journal entries from multiple characters, letters, newspaper articles, government documents--which can be a stilted narrative form. Here, it isn't. In fact, one of my favorite things is the deft handling of the points of view. The wife at home and the explorer husband end up actually telling parts of the same story. So it's not "while he does x, meanwhile she does y"; although they're apart and largely unaware of each other's experiences, they are both pursuing a single story. The "white men don't get nature" theme isn't overdone and the "wifey finds a vocation" theme isn't condescending.