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My only question is how did this guy ever get a reward for writing. The writing is atrocious. I usually enjoy books that review day to day life on a frontier. This book was painfully boring - the reminiscing sounded like I was in a Senior Citizens center - only it was NOT interesting.
And of course his depth of understanding goes far deeper than mine, since he was born there and continues to live in the area.I am recommending this book to all my friends and look forward to reading more of his writing. I remember Seth's parents and he and his brother as little boys.Seth Kantner's poetic language and descriptions as well as his amazing photographs brought my whole experience back to me, though it seems it was in a different lifetime. Shopping for Porcupine is an exceptional book that gives us an insight into "An Alaska most of us will never know," (from the back cover). In fact so much has changed from the Alaskan childhood living in a sod igloo that the author describes.I am one of the few people who can say that this is an Alaska that I did know, having lived in Ambler, the nearest village to the Kantners, in the late 1960's for 3 years.
Product was in excellent condition to have been used, and it arrived in ample time.
This is a beautiful book. One of the added benefits in this book that OW did not have is color pictures made by the Kantner family - mostly Seth. SK's earlier book "Ordinary Wolves" was selected several years ago when it was published and we had the opportunity to meet Seth and here him read from the book. No one reads their own book as the author does, especially when replicating the appropriate accents used by different characters.
But this doesn't just apply to Sess. Since he is now, besides a hunter, fisherman, father, and author, a photographer - that makes the book special. The pictures are gorgeous. And this is something that closely touches a main theme in OW as well. A telling note: that he spent his money going to the University to find out that he doesn't fit anywhere. It has been selected as the book of the year for the community by UAA for academic year 2009-2010.
The book's language is beautiful but sad since he writes lovingly of a way of life that is disappearing and he doesn't know what to do about it. What brought about the demise of a way of life. That was an exceptional experience. (Well, maybe Jim Dale does a fantastic job with the Harry Potter series - but that is a different sort of thing).
I used to be a proponent of Alaskan oil exploration. I can see why Mr. Seth Kantner shares with us the meaning of a subsistence lifestyle/culture. After reading this book, I'm not so sure anymore. Kantner feels like a man caught in the middle--he is witnessing the disappearance of what he knows and loves. What it was, where it is going, and how he too reluctantly accepts human and technological intervention in this fragile ecosystem. I enjoyed learning about Inupiaq ways, and his pictures help readers understand what is being lost.
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