Far North: A Novel

Intelligent, hopeful, adventurous.Ideas hidden in the middle to reflect and think about again and other times. The ending made me happy.

I learned about Far North from a brief review in the London Financial Times. I don't typically read "post apocalyptic" novels (how many are there, anyway?) but the concept of this novel sounded interesting. This is the first book I've read by Marcel Theroux, and given this excellent novel, I'll be looking for others. Once I started reading Far North, I found it hard to put down. I found that I just wanted to know what happened next to this very interesting and complex character, and the revelations come a bit at a time - like peeling an onion, layer by layer. It is a thought-provoking book, and the writing style has that high quality where you read a sentence, pause, and then just absorb how much meaning that Mr. Theroux is able to pack into just a few words. Right on the first page, the main character contemplates the state of middle age and says "somewhere along the ladder of years I lost the bright-eyed best of me." I found that lines like that just hit home with me, connected me to the character, and drew me into the novel. I recommend it!

REVIEW UPDATE: About halfway through the novel the social story (finally) begins. Until then it's anything goes for this illogical arctic adventure story.The story depends greatly upon its setting in an environment which is imagined by a writer with little knowledge and experience and who is not a wilderness traveler. The account is so full of outlandish empirical flaws that it is impossible to read by anyone with firsthand experience of the northern climes. The factual problems are too distracting.1. Leaving camp by midmorning in the far north during winter means it would still barely be light out. There is no real daybreak in winter. So you can't have been preparing for hours to leave since daybreak and then set out in late morning as well. The late morning is daybreak, and in fact the day essentially remains dark. The author (or perhaps those who were contracted by the publisher to verify facts) appears not to have given a moment's thought concerning the shortened days of the arctic winter.2. There are no wild reindeer. And reindeer are smaller and have shorter legs than their caribou cousins. Caribou are not domesticated, reindeer are, and caribou are not tractable like reindeer. The story's discussion is all about caribou first off, then suddenly there appears a scene with a character riding a reindeer ... what? Where is that animal from? Perhaps a delivery from an Amazon drone? There seems to be no recognition of an important difference between reindeer (a domesticated her animal) and caribou, which are not herded.There is a strong sense of a story being written with a child's idea of north, given this and other examples: someone dies from a rattlesnake bite. Oh really. Think as well of a cartoon of a frozen lake thawing. See the words, "CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!" hang jaggedly in the air. This might come as some surprise, but real frozen lakes do not thaw with big crackly sounds. Ice over still water does not crack while thawing as much as it booms and pipes, like something between a skidding shoe heel and a clarinet. Still water makes crackling noise under direct pressure such as weight on its surface - an ice skater for example. On the other hand, ice above moving water, such as a river, will make cracking sounds when thawing. It only takes being there. Just ask Bon Hiver.3. Northern people have evolved ways of getting around at forty below, but horses have not. There are horses bred to cold conditions, but there are none that would survive outdoors at night at forty below, nor would they be able to pursue anything - so much for the chase scene at forty below! Dogs would do OK in these condtions, but not wild pigs. No animals would do well.4. Summer pastures for the caribou???? Oh dear, dear, dear. Suddenly the author seems to have imagined the Alps. There are no summer pastures in the far north. This is the most difficult narrative to read about if you have ever set eyes on the arctic tundra. Caribou eat lichen. Caribou eat lichen in treeless areas.5. The author writes that his character spreads tree branches to soften one's bed to sleep on ... in the middle of the tundra, in the mountains? The mountains in the far north are treeless. Nothing's growing in winter. Again, that Amazon drone surely delivered the branches to this barren wastelend. Go Amazon Prime!6. The problem of the coat hung outside the tent at forty below, and the good sense behind it. No, no, no, no, no. That's absolutely asinine. You'd bring it inside to dry off the sweat that was added during the day. You have to do this. If you are a tourist you might not sweat into your clothes, in theory, but in reality, in real wilderness, you build enough heat to sweat because survival demands intermittent movement in very warm clothing.

I was enthralled by the story and the narrator's memoir voice. This was a very believable journey thru sadly likely possibilities. It is not a derivative tale but it resonated for me with other stories that I found moving.The voice and some of the story arc reminded me of True Grit set in an unexpected and unexplained world collapse. Much less sad than The Road but nonetheless harsh. Not a revenge story per se but the Revenant came to mind more than one. Very different protagonist. Somewhat of a Mocking Jay ending. I highly recommend it.

I'm not sure exactly how to categorise this well-wrought narrative of life after civilisation as you and I know it has, somehow, dissolved. I simply dislike the loaded terms "dystopian" as well as "post-apocalyptic". They're altogether too freighted with the baggage of other works. Simply put: The novel is told in a matter-of-fact first person narrational style that befits the Siberian landscape in which the woman who tells the story of her life has dwelt. It is a post-civilised world, but how it came to be so is none too clear. The narrator doesn't know, nor does anyone she meets on her travels, for certain. There are hints at climate change, overpopulation and a viral/bacterial outbreak, whether natural or man-made is not specified, though Makepeace Hatfield, our narrator, takes pains to let us know that she doesn't care two figs about this distinction without - for her - a difference.What makes the novel work so well, and makes the story so credible and hit home with such a punch is, again, the extremely well-wrought prose, the fact that the narrator doesn't have some post-apocalyptic axe to grind and the condition of the world depicted being all too credible. The "glass cities" of Makepeace's childhood - the ones in which you and I now dwell or to which we at least live within hail of - are, in point of fact, not going to last forever, as certainly as we ourselves are not going to last forever. It's just a matter of time before somebody, mutatis mutandis, lives out the life described herein.The book has a, perhaps appropriate, distant feel to it much of the time that leaves the reader detached from what is being narrated rather than feeling pulled into it. That is its only fault, if it is a fault. But the descriptions can be both distant and exquisite:"Around three that morning it started to snow again. It can't have been the sound that woke me up, because there was none. Maybe it was the change of light in the room. It poured out of the sky like feathers from a split pillow: big warm-weather flakes."Though not perfect, Theroux has written a chilly, taut narrative well worth the read.

I received my book quickly-no problems

erzählte story , nimmt sich Zeit ohne langweilig zu werden.Das langsame Ende der Zivilisation einmal anders ... und "coool"

A most disturbing view of the future based on current events making it the most plausible apocalyptic novel I have read. It is written from an individual's POV, immersing the reader in the battle for survival, the confusion and danger of the aftermath of destruction. It is much more than sci-fi because it is well-grounded on the possible future of current world events. The gradual revelations are masterly and surprising but not unlikely or convenient, so it is a deeply thoughtful book. I was drawn along with the story and it never slowed.

I loved this book from the first page and couldn't put it down. I read it in one sitting, which meant three and a half hours of undiluted intellectual stimulation.The story's stoical, admirable, extraordinarily well-drawn central character Makepeace completely drew me in and had me hooked from page one. Apart from a small plot twist that stretched credulity a little towards the end (a coincidence issue), I was utterly convinced by the narrative, and impressed by the way Theroux tackles the issue of climate change without ever being didactic: just thoughtful and wise. His writing is of the highest quality: it feels simple and clean but it's packed with intelligence, linguistic grace, and an odd kind of modesty. There were some sentences and passages I read again just for the pleasure of the language.Perhaps it's silly to make comparisons but for me, 'Far North' works even better than McCarthy's brilliant 'The Road', something I didn't actually think was possible. The reason: Far North is more complex, more imaginative, more ambitious, but has more heart. That said, there is not a shred of sentimentality in it. I am not ashamed to admit that the final page had me in tears on public transport.This is a book I want to shout about from the rooftops. I have never read Theroux before but I have just discovered a new literary hero.

こういう人類の週末を舞台とした小説をpost-apocalyptic novelというのだと英語のレビューにあります。映画になったHunger Gameなどもそういう類でしょうけど、結構筋が読めないので面白い。あと、あまり映画化を意識して書いていないのが好感度高い。あらすじは書きませんが、舞台はシベリア。保安官としての教育を受けたMakepeace（ヘンな名前!）という女性がたくましく旅をして生きぬくというもの。シベリアのラーゲリのような" base"で何が起きているのか、と。結構一気に読んでしまった。座布団4枚。

I had high expectations of this book after I read the first chapter which is compelling and beautifully crafted. But sadly, (sorry Theroux) I put the book down (but I promise to return to complete my reading because I must persevere for my own sake and to give honor to the writer). But, I must say this:I found the story dragged a little (and became quite dull and frustrating) a short while into the the main protagonist's new journey when she goes on the road in search of a new place to settle. While the concept of the book interests me, and I feel an affinity with the main protagonist something does not work for me on this journey. But, I will return to the story out of obligation to my craft of reading (and writing for all serious writers read good quality fiction and non fiction) to learn from masterful writers such as Theroux (I liked STRANGE BODIES and A BLOW TO THE HEART). So, I may come back here one day soon and update this review.