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A review by theinquisitxor
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
4.0
After loving Eowyn Ivey's other novel, The Snow Child, I knew I wanted to read this right away. I actually picked two stories of winter survival to read this week. This book and Between Shades of Gray. While Between Shades of Gray is a WW2 book, this novel takes place in 1885 with one of the first American expeditions up the Wolverine River in Alaska to explore uncharted territory. Oddly enough, I really like reading Travel Journals and this book is perfectly set up as a mix between a travel journal and a story of the lives of two people. I really liked the way Ivey had the museum curator reading and exploring these accounts in the present day.
The story is one half about Colonel Allen Forrester and the two men who accompany him, Pruitt and Tillman- two men who have been by the Colonel's side for many years. Throughout their journey they are accompanied by fur trappers and a native woman, Nat'aaggi and her dog. Ivey did a good job of expressing the First Peoples of the Wolverine River area and made them a crucial part of Forrester's journey. She also incorporated the mysticism and magical elements of Native folklore into the story. Which added a strange and unsettling element. I don't think the 'magical' elements worked quite as well as they did in the Snow Child, but they still enforced the uncharted and uncanny events of the story.
The story is also about Colonel Allen Forrester's wife, Sophie. I adore Sophie. In fact, there are many literary characters with the name Sophie that I love. Sophie Hatter from Howls Moving Castle, Sophie Gottlieb from Traveler of the Century. Sophie Forrester takes her place among them. She goes through her own struggles and discoveries as she waits for her husband to return from Alaska.
Other than these two main characters, there are so many others that you get to know. The museum curator reading these letters, the relative of Forrester who sent them, the Natives in the story, the people Sophie meets and befriends. It is a large novel with a lot packed into it, but it makes for a very rich and rewarding read.
The story is one half about Colonel Allen Forrester and the two men who accompany him, Pruitt and Tillman- two men who have been by the Colonel's side for many years. Throughout their journey they are accompanied by fur trappers and a native woman, Nat'aaggi and her dog. Ivey did a good job of expressing the First Peoples of the Wolverine River area and made them a crucial part of Forrester's journey. She also incorporated the mysticism and magical elements of Native folklore into the story. Which added a strange and unsettling element. I don't think the 'magical' elements worked quite as well as they did in the Snow Child, but they still enforced the uncharted and uncanny events of the story.
The story is also about Colonel Allen Forrester's wife, Sophie. I adore Sophie. In fact, there are many literary characters with the name Sophie that I love. Sophie Hatter from Howls Moving Castle, Sophie Gottlieb from Traveler of the Century. Sophie Forrester takes her place among them. She goes through her own struggles and discoveries as she waits for her husband to return from Alaska.
Other than these two main characters, there are so many others that you get to know. The museum curator reading these letters, the relative of Forrester who sent them, the Natives in the story, the people Sophie meets and befriends. It is a large novel with a lot packed into it, but it makes for a very rich and rewarding read.