Official Review: My Alaska! by Nancy Lee

[bluegreenmarina]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "My Alaska!" by Nancy Lee.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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If you have ever wondered what it would be like to live in Alaska, then Nancy Lee’s My Alaska! may be the book for you. In this compilation of memories, the author tells us of her experiences growing up in the state of Alaska, and continuing to live there throughout her marriage and early years of motherhood. Written in a simple, factual, and succinct style, this is a quick read, but one loaded with adventurous anecdotes.

The stories begin on an exciting note - an earthquake and a near-death experience. Nancy goes on to share the difficulties her family faced in finding stable housing, and the rustic living conditions that were an accepted reality among them and their neighbors. She tells us of her blossoming love of horses, and her relationship with her first horse Smokey. We then follow along as she matures, meets, and marries her husband, and read about the adventures and close-calls with nature that they have through the course of their marriage. As one would expect in a memoir about living in Alaska, their lives are full of unique and inspiring experiences, including hand-build log cabins, outhouses, animal encounters, flying accidents followed by mountaintop rescues, and a temporary experiment with raising pigs.

The author recounts the events of her childhood in a brief matter-of-fact way, sometimes offering little emotional analysis to situations that were probably laden with emotion at the time. Perhaps a relic of the stoicism necessary to survive the harsh conditions in Alaska, this practical approach to death and danger is a common thread throughout the narrative. Each story included in the collection emphasizes the uniqueness of a life in Alaska, at times sounding almost like a travel brochure, offering peril and adventure as well as stunning wildlife and unexplored habitat. Due to the author’s brief and to-the-point writing style, each story rings with authenticity because there is little to no embellishment in the language. The stories are chosen well, and each one tells of a memorable and exciting experience. However, at times there is very little transition from one story to the next, so the book does not always flow as a cohesive narrative. Nonetheless, each story is worth reading individually, as well as within the collection.

There were occasional typos in my copy, as well as several formatting inconsistencies – whole paragraphs shifted out of sync with the rest of the page, and certain bits of text in a different font than the rest. Generally, these were not distracting enough to heavily reduce the appeal of the stories, though it did take me a few pages to get used to the font styles.

Readers who would enjoy this book are folks interested in travel, the outdoors, mountains, wilderness survival, or simply folks looking for a quick but riveting memoir about an unusual life experience. I wish that some of the stories had been elaborated upon, since the events they recount are so unique and atypical to the average American lifestyle. It takes a strong personality to cope with some of the difficulties that the author had to face regularly, and I would have enjoyed reading more about the psychological aspect of that kind of life. It is clear that her Christian faith played a central role in assisting her with inner strength throughout several terrifying events, yet it was not until the very end that we got any specific detail about this aspect of her personality. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, though I may have given it a full score if some of the stories had been fleshed out a bit. The author’s humility comes across in the narrative, but at times she should put this aside and acknowledge that she has lived an incredible life, and has a ton of valuable experience. If she shared this experience more fully, I believe this book would be even more interesting.

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My Alaska!
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[Mercelle]

Cold environments aren't for me but this book sounds interesting.

[kandscreeley]

I imagine that it would be quite unique to live in Alaska. I would love to know a little bit more about it myself. It's too bad that the stories weren't quite as in depth as they should have been. Thanks for the great review.

[Petrah]

Travelling is one of my most cherished hobbies. When I can't travel, I trust books like these to transport me to that part of the world, to experience it from the comfort of my home. Though typos and grammatical errors are a turnoff for me, I enjoy stories a lot and would definitely read this book. Thanks for the review

[Quinto]

A very entertaining piece on the author's life experiences in Alaska. I could pick this book for the travel bit. Thanks for an enjoyable review.

[Mindi]

I love learning about different places, and Alaska is somewhere that I would enjoy learning more about. Travel is a passion of mine, so I think this book would be of interest to me!

[Kat Berg]

This does sound interesting, and often I like this kind of book about surviving in tougher environments and against all odds, but I do hold poor editing against a book. I would want to know that it had received a once over to get rid of formatting issues before diving in.

[LeeAnna Perry]

What a fun book! My Alaska tells the story of Alaska during its glory days - beginning with the 1964 Alaskan earthquake and ending with wild tales of the small village of Talkeetna in the 1970-80s - and all from the perspective of a true Alaska native. Nancy’s stories are happy and sad and funny, but even the sad stories ultimately have good endings and are told with a truly positive undertone. I highly recommend My Alaska! for anyone who likes stories of adventures in the last frontier!