Tide, Feather, Snow:

A Life in Alaska
Author:  Miranda Weiss

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live on the Alaskan Frontier, to leave the modern world behind and step back into the pages of history? Tide, Feather, Snow is one woman’s experience that leaves a definite impact.

You will receive a plethora of information that will likely surprise, enrich, and fill your imagination beyond belief. The beauty of nature at it’s finest is detailed, broad, and bluntly portrayed as survival of the fittest always wins. The harsh elements will never be tamed, but the value of experience and hands-on learning can mean the difference between life and certain death.

Homer is a small Alaskan town at the end of the road. Miranda shares her thoughts, daydreams, and reality through vivid writing, painting mind pictures that you can see, here, feel, touch and smell as you walk along her path. She shares openly her daily routines of gathering food in the spring, summer and fall to prepare for the harsh winters that lie ahead. Lacking confidence in many areas, Miranda relies on her boyfriend, books and old timers to gain the wisdom needed to keep on going where many others return stateside. Miranda is faced with many challenges. Determined one moment and confused the next, her life is filled with emotional and physical roller coasters.

I found Tide, Feather, Snow packed with unique information from which I gained new insight into life in Alaska. However, the writing style felt disconnected. One paragraph or two we would be off on an adventure or facing a new challenge then memories of another time or experience would intrude for several paragraphs and then back to the adventure. Even though the writing was very descriptive and informative it felt like I was reading in a monotone. The same scenes were often described over and over with slightly different perspectives.

Tide, Feather, Snow allows the restless spirit to experience the cold, hard realities of life on the edge of the Alaskan frontier.

Homecoming

Author:  Bernard Schlink

Homecoming is usually a memorable and happy experience however this journey is one filled with so many twist and turns I found myself lost on several occasions.

The story starts out simple enough. Young Peter travels across the German / Swiss boarder to visit his grandparents during the summer. The descriptions here are well done and easy to visualize. The stories were interesting.

Peter becomes infatuated with a story his grandparents are editing and is frustrated when he can’t find the rest of the story pages. Growing into adulthood, his life focuses on finding more information about a specific P.O.W. featured in the story and what has become of him.

There are several long quotes from the P.O.W.’s story inserted into the text and to me they were very distracting. Other stories were quoted from as well that seemed only to confuse rather than enhance.

Peter lives an unsettled life and goes through a number of women after his is dumped by one for whom he had deep feelings.

Over all I did not care for the organization of the book. It was too disjointed to keep a realistic flow and forward motion. It seemed to go left and right and left then a step forward and even a circle.

If you enjoy applying detective work to your reading or like solving involved mysteries then you may find this book enjoyable.

I enjoy reading about people’s lives. The challenges, the trials and the happy times often inspire. But with Homecoming, the challenge was reading the story.