Snow Mountain Passage

Rating:
Summary: James D. Houston and the Experience of the West
Review: Comparisons to other historical novels of similar epic sweep, such as Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove," are perphaps inevitable. James D. Houston, however, in "Snow Mountain Passage" escapes the colloquial and anachronistic style of McMurtry's dialogue in favor of an authentic cadence and vocabulary of the Old West, in language as magnificent as the landscape through which James Reed, the protagonist, moves west ahead of the Donner Party, and then east to their rescue.

The novel is written principally through two points of view: James Reed, the father, adventurer, sometime rascal member of an eighty-person wagon train heading west to California from Illinois; and Patty Reed, his eight-year old daughter, who stays behind in the snowy mountains of the Sierra and endures the harrowing privations of the settlers marooned by the lake which now bears their name. The split perspective allows Houston to tell the tale of California's formation from the early days of the Mexican War (significantly, Houston accords the Mexican settlers the dignity of the title "Californians," and pictures the settlers as the usurpers they were). Patty's story is told through her "trail notes," written many years later in Santa Cruz, where she lived out the last years of her long life. Ingeniously, Houston times the months of her journal entries in 1920 with the months of the Donner experience in the mountains.

The voices ring true. The bold, fearless account of James Reed, and the resigned voice of his young daughter now grown old, who, like Holocaust survivors and others who endured too much, is resigned to a life forever scarred and altered.

While other reviewers have noted the detail of natural description with a critical eye, this cavil perhaps misses the point. In "Snow Mountain Passage" as in all of Houston's writing, the land itself is a character, a shaping force. Maybe the most wonderful thing about this wonderful novel is that it allows the reader with an imagination as full and daring as Houston's the chance (the only chance) to live in the California that once existed, before freeways, strip malls, and sprawling subdivisions obliterated its incomparable natural beauty and diversity.

Rating:
Summary: James D. Houston and the Experience of the West
Review: Comparisons to other historical novels of similar epic sweep, such as Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove," are perphaps inevitable. James D. Houston, however, in "Snow Mountain Passage" escapes the colloquial and anachronistic style of McMurtry's dialogue in favor of an authentic cadence and vocabulary of the Old West, in language as magnificent as the landscape through which James Reed, the protagonist, moves west ahead of the Donner Party, and then east to their rescue.

The novel is written principally through two points of view: James Reed, the father, adventurer, sometime rascal member of an eighty-person wagon train heading west to California from Illinois; and Patty Reed, his eight-year old daughter, who stays behind in the snowy mountains of the Sierra and endures the harrowing privations of the settlers marooned by the lake which now bears their name. The split perspective allows Houston to tell the tale of California's formation from the early days of the Mexican War (significantly, Houston accords the Mexican settlers the dignity of the title "Californians," and pictures the settlers as the usurpers they were). Patty's story is told through her "trail notes," written many years later in Santa Cruz, where she lived out the last years of her long life. Ingeniously, Houston times the months of her journal entries in 1920 with the months of the Donner experience in the mountains.

The voices ring true. The bold, fearless account of James Reed, and the resigned voice of his young daughter now grown old, who, like Holocaust survivors and others who endured too much, is resigned to a life forever scarred and altered.

While other reviewers have noted the detail of natural description with a critical eye, this cavil perhaps misses the point. In "Snow Mountain Passage" as in all of Houston's writing, the land itself is a character, a shaping force. Maybe the most wonderful thing about this wonderful novel is that it allows the reader with an imagination as full and daring as Houston's the chance (the only chance) to live in the California that once existed, before freeways, strip malls, and sprawling subdivisions obliterated its incomparable natural beauty and diversity.

Rating:
Summary: A different perspective
Review: Houston's novel, Snow Mountain Passage, is interesting from the perspective that he does not claim it to be fact, just a different view of the incident that has fascinated historians since the tragic crossing of the Donner Party in 1847. His use of James Reed as a primary force in the story, with all his weaknesses, offset by recollections of Patty Reed is a solid use of material. It left me wondering who was the child of 8 and who was the adult. The novel gave me 'more of the story.' Other authors have tried to present only the facts in their accounts of the tragedy, leaving much speculation by the reader. Houston recreates the story, and identifies it as a novel, albeit one based on research. The result is readable and makes me want to go back to other accounts I've read. I admit an insatiable interest in this courageous event with so many bad turns. It makes me wonder if Patty was right about "nothing could stop" the sequence of events. Surely not with those who assumed leadership for their caravan.

Rating:
Summary: Snow Mountain Passage
Review: I am fortunate enough to know James Houston personally; not only is he an outstanding person, but he is a wonderful and gifted author. His writing style is lyric and descriptive, evoking the past while drawing the reader's thoughts to the present. His use of two contrasting voices for the narraration of Snow Mountain Passage gives the reader two memorable persepectives from which he can view an important period of California history; however, Houston's masterful use of prose keeps the story flowing easily between both narrations. I would recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Snow Mountain Passage
Review: I am fortunate enough to know James Houston personally; not only is he an outstanding person, but he is a wonderful and gifted author. His writing style is lyric and descriptive, evoking the past while drawing the reader's thoughts to the present. His use of two contrasting voices for the narraration of Snow Mountain Passage gives the reader two memorable persepectives from which he can view an important period of California history; however, Houston's masterful use of prose keeps the story flowing easily between both narrations. I would recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT about the Donner Party
Review: I will echo the other reviews posted here that were disapointed that the author did not spend more time on the actual Donner Party. This book follows the adventures of James Reed, who was exiled from the wagon train about a month before they ended up stranded at Donner Lake. Reed made it across the Sierra Nevada Range and into California and spends the rest of the book roaming the state trying to round up a rescue party.
In the meantime, back at the Donner Party there is incredible human drama and tragedy. But this author chose to remain with the less interesting aspect of the story. I was very disapointed but recognize that the book is written with great skill and it was a fast read. So if you are interested in what James Reed was doing while the Donner Party members were resorting to cannibalism, this book is for you!

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT about the Donner Party
Review: I will echo the other reviews posted here that were disapointed that the author did not spend more time on the actual Donner Party. This book follows the adventures of James Reed, who was exiled from the wagon train about a month before they ended up stranded at Donner Lake. Reed made it across the Sierra Nevada Range and into California and spends the rest of the book roaming the state trying to round up a rescue party.
In the meantime, back at the Donner Party there is incredible human drama and tragedy. But this author chose to remain with the less interesting aspect of the story. I was very disapointed but recognize that the book is written with great skill and it was a fast read. So if you are interested in what James Reed was doing while the Donner Party members were resorting to cannibalism, this book is for you!

Rating:
Summary: Insightful portrait, what could have been?
Review: I'm a fan of historical literature and picked this up because I don't know a lot about The Donner Party. I found this to be a very chilling book and, more importantly, I couldn't put it down. The juxtaposition of the parent's anguished view and the view of his young daughter as the journey progressed was really riveting. Going from the complete innocence of a young child's perception of such a harsh situation and then back to her father's both hopeful and discouraged outlook really helped make this story come alive.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical novel
Review: In 1846, the families leaving Illinois for the West Coast feel ecstatic about the success of their journey even though they have heard some harrowing tales. For instance, the Reed family consisting of a father and mother and four children headed by James expects to achieve a golden life in California.

However, problems occur in Nevada as jealousy and politics surface. James is forced to leave by himself with his family staying with the remainder of the Donner Party. Soon storms batter the group in the Sierra Nevadas while James tries to find help to save his family.

SNOW MOUNTAIN PASSAGE is an intriguing novelization of the disastrous Donner Party. The story line alternates viewpoints between James's desperate efforts to rescue his beloved family and through the six-decade-old memory of one of his daughters looking back to the disaster. The characters come alive as well as readers get a deep inside look at the human condition when tragedy strikes. James D. Houston provides a harrowing tale filled with passion and anger while making his present and future flashback techniques not only work, but prove he is quite an author of historical fiction.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A Perpetual Sampler
Review: It is not enough to say that Snow Mountain Passage is a compelling read, though it is surely that. One must add that it is the kind of compelling read that does not allow itself to be discarded when finished, the kind that requires the spellbound reader to sit with eyes closed, book in hand, Braille-like, feeling almost through the cover, pondering and recalling with pleasure the images, the passages, the characters, the awful tragedy, the splendid triumph. It is among the most realistic pieces of long fiction I have read in years, and the most imaginative. There is no page without something to admire. I turn at random to page 153 and find Abner Valentine, the archvillain who refuses to be a villain. "One acknowledges hiim with a finger to the hat. He rides on, like a general reviewing troops. Even his horse seems to strut." Or on page 158 the description by Patty Reed, the observer/heroine, of the south-facing Pacific Coast beach at low tide, where "the water has been six feet deep and soon will be that deep again, you can walk along through air still somehow owned by the sea." Take your pick, stopping at random anywhere in the book to find something in image or language to admire. We admire too the great strength of the survivors of this horrible ordeal and the fatalistic vision driving them into the stupid tragedy that they and circumstances have created--and then through it. We hate their arrogance and love their courage so much that finally we have to admit that they are not much different from Californians or West-Coasters or pioneers or ourselves or striving human beings anywhere, trying desperately to define their own destiny and having it defined for them by powers they can never fully comprehend, let alone influence much or control at all. It's a wonderful book, its language is beautiful, and I'm going to read it again, beginning with these opening words by Patty Reed: "Last night I dreamed again about my mother. She was standing in the snow." And I will stop to admire her description of James Frazier Reed's mode of transport across the prairies: "A double-decker Palace Car that took four yoke to pull it, with upholstered seats inside, and a thoroughbred racing mare, and hired hands, and brandy after dinner-that was papa's vision of being a pioneer." And, like the Reeds and with them, I will keep going. You will too.