Having devoured Michelle Paver's Wolf
Brother books I was keen to read this “adult” story. I was
really pleased to find the same quality of story telling and sense of
place. I found myself transported to the Arctic and to the darkness,
and felt that I was really inhabiting the experience
This is a powerful study of the human
response to loneliness, that as social beings, in the absence of
interaction the mind fills in the gaps, even if that involves
conjuring unwelcome ghosts into existence. The question it leaves is
whether terrors of the mind are more or less powerful than dangers of
the “real” world around us.
There was an echo of Wolf Brother
because in his isolation the Jack bonds with one of the dogs, a
relationship a kin to Torak and Wolf.
At one point one of the characters
quotes a Norwegian saying “If you're warm enough when you set out,
you're wearing too many clothes” - I am not sure if this will be a
real Norwegian saying or an invention of Paver's. Either way it
certainly captures a great piece of wisdom about how we approach
life. The phrase “comfort zone” is over used, but it is true
that if we never allow ourselves to feel a little of the cold we will
never be able to progress. In trying to protect ourselves and avoid
all risk we will in fact smother and suffocate ourselves.
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