Rating: 
Summary: Startling beauty, lonliness and isolation in 1915 Alaska
Review: There's always a feeling of discomfort when reading a Kathryn Harrison book and "The Seal Wife" is no exception. It's set in Alaska in 1915, where winters are long and cold, mosquitoes are plentiful, and there are very few women. And so when Bigelow Greene, age 26, is sent there by the government to set up a weather station in Anchorage, he is lonely and disoriented. There's startling beauty here and a sense of isolation. Bigelow yearns for a woman and soon begins a relationship with a native woman he knows only as "The Aleut". He's completely obsessed with her, and adores her strength, her unpretentious sensuality and complete self-possession. The writing itself is sensual too; from the descriptions of how the woman butchers animals, to the erotic details of their coupling. The fact that she never speaks only adds to his passion for her. When she moves away, he is devastated. Much of the book details this period of his isolation, in which he plunges himself into his work, building a unique kite which holds instruments and carefully measures the weather conditions. His need for a woman is overwhelming though and the reader feels his pain and isolation as he attempts to satisfy his raging feelings. Eventually, he connects with another women, who is also mute. Her other characteristics disgust him however. How this all plays out is fascinating and forced me to continue reading this spare 256-page book all the way through in a very short time. The reader gets to know Bigelow intimately. I felt I was right there with him as he struggled to understand the weather, the landscape and his own emotional needs. There's a constant feeling of isolation and a metaphorical statement about the human condition. It's fascinating. And even though I've come to expect different and innovative settings for Ms. Harrison's novels, this one is unique in focusing entirely on one character's point of view. The result is an unsettling portrait of loneliness and alienation. Naturally I expected an unhappy conclusion. I was wrong. It was a pleasure to be smiling wistfully as I turned the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Startling beauty, lonliness and isolation in 1915 Alaska
Review: There's always a feeling of discomfort when reading a Kathryn Harrison book and "The Seal Wife" is no exception. It's set in Alaska in 1915, where winters are long and cold, mosquitoes are plentiful, and there are very few women. And so when Bigelow Greene, age 26, is sent there by the government to set up a weather station in Anchorage, he is lonely and disoriented. There's startling beauty here and a sense of isolation. Bigelow yearns for a woman and soon begins a relationship with a native woman he knows only as "The Aleut". He's completely obsessed with her, and adores her strength, her unpretentious sensuality and complete self-possession. The writing itself is sensual too; from the descriptions of how the woman butchers animals, to the erotic details of their coupling. The fact that she never speaks only adds to his passion for her. When she moves away, he is devastated. Much of the book details this period of his isolation, in which he plunges himself into his work, building a unique kite which holds instruments and carefully measures the weather conditions. His need for a woman is overwhelming though and the reader feels his pain and isolation as he attempts to satisfy his raging feelings. Eventually, he connects with another women, who is also mute. Her other characteristics disgust him however. How this all plays out is fascinating and forced me to continue reading this spare 256-page book all the way through in a very short time. The reader gets to know Bigelow intimately. I felt I was right there with him as he struggled to understand the weather, the landscape and his own emotional needs. There's a constant feeling of isolation and a metaphorical statement about the human condition. It's fascinating. And even though I've come to expect different and innovative settings for Ms. Harrison's novels, this one is unique in focusing entirely on one character's point of view. The result is an unsettling portrait of loneliness and alienation. Naturally I expected an unhappy conclusion. I was wrong. It was a pleasure to be smiling wistfully as I turned the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: What more is there to say? As I read it, I forgot a person had created it. The events and characters are so real. I'm having difficulty putting my feelings about this book into words. It's as if the book existed without an author; her presence is nowhere felt, but everything that happens in the book is intensely true. I was particularly touched by the ending. I enjoyed Harrison's book "The Binding Chair," too, but it was more realistic and more obviously "written." This one seems dreamed.
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