Name: elizabeth's review of To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
Item: To the Bright Edge of the World
Rating: 5
Author: elizabeth

Eowyn Ivey

One of the Best Books of 2016--Amazon A Washington Post Notable Book of 2016 A Goodreads Choice Award Nominee A Library Journal Top 10 Book of 2016 A BookPage Best Book of 2016 An atmospheric, transporting tale of adventure, love, and survival from the bestselling author of The Snow Child, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return--once he passes beyond the edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits him. The Wolverine River Valley is not only breathtaking and forbidding but also terrifying in ways that the colonel and his men never could have imagined. As they map the territory and gather information on the native tribes, whose understanding of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his men discover the blurred lines between human and wild animal, the living and the dead. And while the men knew they would face starvation and danger, they cannot escape the sense that some greater, mysterious force threatens their lives. Meanwhile, on her own at Vancouver Barracks, Sophie chafes under the social restrictions and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She does not know that the winter will require as much of her as it does her husband, that both her courage and faith will be tested to the breaking point. Can her exploration of nature through the new art of photography help her to rediscover her sense of beauty and wonder? The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of that fateful year change both of their lives--and the lives of those who hear their stories long after they're gone--forever.

A Novel

To the Bright Edge of the World

Krystyna 

An atmospheric, transporting tale of adventure, love, and survival from the bestselling author of The Snow Child, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return--once he passes beyond the edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits him. The Wolverine River Valley is not only breathtaking and forbidding but also terrifying in ways that the colonel and his men never could have imagined. As they map the territory and gather information on the native tribes, whose understanding of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his men discover the blurred lines between human and wild animal, the living and the dead. And while the men knew they would face starvation and danger, they cannot escape the sense that some greater, mysterious force threatens their lives. Meanwhile, on her own at Vancouver Barracks, Sophie chafes under the social restrictions and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She does not know that the winter will require as much of her as it does her husband, that both her courage and faith will be tested to the breaking point. Can her exploration of nature through the new art of photography help her to rediscover her sense of beauty and wonder? The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of that fateful year change both of their lives--and the lives of those who hear their stories long after they're gone--forever.

elizabeth

I've been recommending this book to people since I read it. Actually, since I started reading it. It reeled me in quick. This book is practically made for me--even though I was skeptical of the epistolary form, which hasn't always worked for me in the past.

It's historical. It's an adventure (of the literal kind and the internal kind). It's creatively crafted, written--almost compiled unlike any story I've read before. It explores multiple points of view. It's concurrently epic and subtle, and it's just a touch eerie with its supernatural elements. 

As I think about it, I'm realizing it shares much in common with another one of my recent favorites, Robbie Arnott's The Rain Heron, about which I wrote: [This book] is a strange, shimmering bridge between myth and survival story. It's difficult to place in time and space. It's gorgeous and atmospheric yet accessible and quick-paced. It confronted me with questions about what demands I make of nature, and what I owe it. I wish I could read it for the first time again.
This all applies to To The Bright Edge of the World as well. Ivey's writing just seems to cast a spell. I'm excited to revisit this one day.

Renee Blankenship

** spoiler alert **
           I fell in love with Eowyn Ivey's writing when I read her first book The Snow Child almost five years ago. When I saw she was releasing a new book, I couldn't wait to read it. I was not disappointed!

To The Bright Edge of the World is set in the wilderness of Alaska along the Wolverine River, during a time when it was still being explored, when the native people with their mysteries and beliefs were the prevailing force of the unexplored lands. Told in letters and diary entries between a husband (Col. Forrester) and his wife (Sophie) as they navigate the early days of their marriage against the harsh Alaskan backdrop, I found this way of storytelling to be so enjoyable.

Even against this hard to imagine setting (so cold and isolated!), the story of Sophie and her unwavering strength living in the army barracks while her new husband is away exploring the Alaskan wilderness, won me over completely. I loved her! I loved her patience and desire to learn the rather new skill of photography, I loved that she wanted to be more than "wife", that was able to pull herself out of her grief. And that her desire to learn and be something was so strong she was able to overcome whatever gossip the women in town shared about her. Knowing her husband would only approve of her time spent photographing birds while he was gone, made me love and appreciate their relationship even more. Although it was painful to continue reading the length of the book after Sophie loses the child, knowing the miscommunication that happened in her relaying the news in a letter to Col. Forrester, I really admired her strength in getting through those months while she waited for him. I think that really made me rush through to the end, I just needed to know that he came back safely and showed her he still loved her and wanted their marriage despite the loss of the child.

I also feel that the mystical elements that Col. Forrester experienced while exploring the Alaskan terrain fit perfectly in the wider context of the story too. That raven! And how it connected husband and wife over such great distance, really turned the story into something subtly magical that wasn't necessarily obvious at all times but still there throughout. Lingering under the surface. I think that is why I enjoy Ivey's writing so much. She added elements to the story that you could almost escape you, but added a depth unique to her way of story telling. This wasn't just a story of husband and wife exchanging letters, but so much more. And if anything, it made me want to visit Alaska and see those landscapes for myself.

Krystyna &
To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

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