Customer Reviews:
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 from the author of GOING TO EXTREMES November 20, 2008
There are almost as many "real" Alaskas as there are native-born Alaskans, but none is more real than the original Alaska: the land, as it was before the mechanized incursions of modern man. Seth Kantner was born in that Alaska and has lived his life there and in this book he writes about it with a precision, grace and beauty unmatched by any other prose I've ever read about the state, and state of mind, that Alaska is. And I say that as one who has tried to do the same.
--Joe McGinniss
author, "Going to Extremes"
Life above the Arctic Circle October 30, 2008
Seth's book was powerful and overwhelming. There are brushes with death, moments of wild abandon, tales from many generations--along with some great pictures. Even tho' I live in Alaska, Seth's description of his everyday life is completely foreign to me. I've hunted caribou. I've picked salmon from a gill net. I've ridden a snowmachine and spent the night outside when it's -20F. But Seth was born and grew up in a sod house and in a special harmonic relationship with the wild world outside his front door...with the caribou, the dogs, the occasional visitor and the river. Me? I've always had an address on the house, lived on a paved street and enjoyed daily mail service, a telephone that works, city water and two cars in the driveway. Read this book and learn more about the Alaskan wilderness. It's an example of that wise saying: "You don't know what you don't know." Wow.
Life imitates Art October 22, 2008
I'll be honest; I tried to talk Seth out of writing this book; told him he should get on to the next novel and can this essay business. But Seth was stubborn, and, like a porcupine that had its mind made up, kept shuffling down the trail. Well, I hate being wrong, but I'm used to it by now. This is a fine, fine book in several respects. First, it's a series of sharply focused, vivid, evocative snapshots of of life in arctic bush Alaska--some from the rapidly fading past, some from the present, and some toward the southern horizon, where the sun keeps reminding us that the future, for better or worse, keeps coming. By the way, I wasn't talking about the photos when I said 'snapshots', but the essays themselves. The color images round out and anchor the text, and are a beautiful, understated addition to a book that isn't quite a memoir, not quite a collection of essays, and not quite a nonfiction narrative--but manages to blend and shift between these three forms in unique, original fashion. What I like best about Shopping For Porcupine is its wry, totally original voice--like the book itself, a blend of colloquial simplicity, wry insight, sharply etched imagery, and elevated, poetic elegance. Seth spent a bunch of time sanding and polishing these words down, and while the blisters don't show, the sheen, elegant and rich as the patina of fossil mastadon ivory, does. Just the writing is enough for me, and would be enough for anyone who believes that the story is merely a convenience to the words themselves, where all meaning, art, and emotion lie. If you're a fan of Alaska writing, or writing at all, you owe it to yourself to read this book. And though you don't owe it to Seth to buy it, do it anyhow, and spring for the hard cover. This is the kind of book you'll keep. Nick Jans
Simply Beautiful September 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a beautifully written book with wonderful photographs of Alaska, I highly recommend: Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Artic Alaska, by Seth Kantner.
This book is part autobiography and part a historical portrait of Alaska and its people. Seth Kantner was born in 1964 and spent most of his life in Northern Alaska. His story begins with the arrival of his father, Howard Kantner, to the remote Arctic of the 1950s and ends with him as a grown man settled in the same landscape. The story is told through a series of moving essays and vivid photographs. The subjects range from family histories to hunting stories and celebrations of people and places.
This book is # 2 for the author. His first book Ordinary Wolves received great reviews, and I look forward to reading this book as well in the near future.
READ THIS BOOK!!! August 13, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Seth Kantner's writing has a way of awakening something inside me that I don't even have words or ways to reach on my own. His storytelling prose is thoughtful, true -- it's more than words -- it's like an unnamed emotion all its own.
"Flower of the Fringe," is one of several chapters in the book that highlights characters in the writer's life...Kantner connects you with these people, beautifully captured and introduced to you in ways rarely reached in writing.
This book will not disappoint...it's creative nonfiction at its best: entertaining, intimate, eye-opening, introspective, refreshing...and true.
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