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A review by bluestjuice
I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall
3.0
I think this is probably a better book than my rating would lead one to believe. Like most historical fiction, it paints between the rough outlines of the historical record to create a landscape which is both plausible and (one hopes) interesting, but this novel goes above and beyond and crosses over from simply intriguing storytelling into a realm that brushes against poetry. The expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark up the Missouri River and through the northwest to the Pacific Ocean is pretty well documented, but Hall's writing brought the era to life in several different perspectives - we have the cultured, tormented voice of Lewis, the straightforward voice of Clark, even occasionally the weasel-y broken-English voice of Charbonneau. Each of these perspectives is distinctive, demonstrating an elasticity that is impressive in its own right. And then there is the voice of Tsakakawia, the teenaged Shoshone girl who, infant son in arms, operates as guide and translator for the party through the later part of their journey. Her passages are like nothing I have encountered before, and I am not remotely knowledgeable enough about Native cultures or language to know whether Hall's work here approaches accuracy or appropriateness. It is clear that it was handled with great respect, which I admire.
The writing is lyrical, and the pace of the story (especially a story in which so many of the plot points are fairly known) was slow for me. It was not a page-turner; there was no urgency hurrying me on to the next destination. Rather, like a slow journey upstream, it took its time, and even when the journey's tale was done, the final eighth of the book concerned itself with following the characters farther, winding their lives down and allowing musing on the nature of legacy, of character, of how various choices at various times shaped the nature of America's frontier and the ripples that appear even in our own day from the interactions between these various peoples in a place far from established 'civilization.'
I don't think I will ever want to read this book again. Nevertheless, there are scenes and passages that will stick with me. Bear-hunting across the Missouri. Every pang of subtext directed from Lewis to Clark. Tsakakawia's death passage, in which she pines over her lost culture and the loss of her son Jean-Baptiste, left me chilled.
The writing is lyrical, and the pace of the story (especially a story in which so many of the plot points are fairly known) was slow for me. It was not a page-turner; there was no urgency hurrying me on to the next destination. Rather, like a slow journey upstream, it took its time, and even when the journey's tale was done, the final eighth of the book concerned itself with following the characters farther, winding their lives down and allowing musing on the nature of legacy, of character, of how various choices at various times shaped the nature of America's frontier and the ripples that appear even in our own day from the interactions between these various peoples in a place far from established 'civilization.'
I don't think I will ever want to read this book again. Nevertheless, there are scenes and passages that will stick with me. Bear-hunting across the Missouri. Every pang of subtext directed from Lewis to Clark. Tsakakawia's death passage, in which she pines over her lost culture and the loss of her son Jean-Baptiste, left me chilled.