curlygeek04's reviews
342 reviews

 

I loved this book about a mother and daughter finding a home in the Alaskan wilderness, though I will warn you it is a fairly dark read at times. I haven’t read Ivey’s other book, The Snow Child, so I can’t compare the two. This one was absolutely my type of read, combining troubled families, love, nature, and a bit of the fantastic.

Birdie is a young, single mother who’s just getting by, working at a bar and living in a lodge in a very remote Alaskan town. She yearns to experience more of the Alaskan wilderness but is limited by her six-year old daughter, Emaleen, and lack of nearby family. While she has the support of her employer and some of the locals, she feels alone and judged. She sees an opportunity for a new life when she meets Arthur, a strong but quiet man who comes to the bar frequently but doesn’t drink. The three move to Arthur’s cabin in the wilderness. But there’s a secret Birdie doesn’t know about Arthur.

I loved how thoughtful and honest Arthur was, even though he can’t put things into words quite like most people do and he struggles to communicate with Birdie. The love between Birdie and Arthur is hopeful – these are two people who desperately need each other and who fit in some strange way. Arthur has to learn to take care of a woman and child, and Birdie needs to make her rough and isolated new life work. I loved when Arthur encourages Birdie to go into the wilderness on her own, as he often does. His idea of love is not posession, but freedom.

 I very much appreciated Ivey’s juxtaposition of the wonder and the danger of nature. I’ve been to Alaska, though from a pretty safe vantage, and it was one of the most beautiful and striking places I’ve ever been. I was glad to learn that the author lives in Alaska, as the setting is really the dominant “character” in this story. 

In the wilderness, Birdie is removed from the temptations of the bar, and she’s able to spend much more time with her daughter. By giving Emaleen the experience of living in the wilderness, she sees her daughter grow and learn in ways she couldn’t in a school. But she’s placing enormous trust in a man she barely knows to care for her child, and she ignores the differences between her and Arthur that she doesn’t want to see. 

While Birdie’s choices as a parent are questionable, I liked her as a character. I loved her yearning for the freedom and natural beauty of the wilderness, and I also appreciated how much stronger she grows, both emotionally and physically. I didn’t become angry at Birdie until the climactic part of the story, where I was just screaming at her inside my head about everything she did and failed to do. Emaleen is the heart and center of the story and I loved her as a character. She’s imaginative and brave but not so precocious she doesn’t feel real.

You need to love reading about nature to enjoy this book. I loved the writing, the characters, and especially the setting. The book has a dreamy, fairy-tale tone that worked really well for me.  Some readers will certainly be put off by Birdie’s parenting and the dark nature of the story, so it won’t work for everyone, but I found it beautiful and memorable.