Farthest North

by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen

Well, this was one hefty book and it took me forever to finish it.  Not because it was all that large compared to other books I've read, but because it was simply some heavy reading.  Its the true story, told through journals, of a group of Norwegians who attempt to make it to the North Pole in 1893.  Although they do not succeed in making it all the way there, they got closer than anyone else had at the time and also fulfilled a number of other plans they had to test some theories about the Arctic region and discover all they could to help future explorations.  The first travel as far as they can by ship, purposely getting themselves locked in the ice so as to be taken along with the drift of the icebergs.  Then, when they have gone as far as they can that way, two of the leaders of the expedition set off on dogsleds to make it as far as they can in that manner.  The ship continues on, headed for home, and the men on the dogsleds make it 146 miles farther north than another else before they are forced to head for home.

I enjoyed the details of the preparation for the trip, especially the details (not that I got it all) about the ship and how it was built, as well as the things they brought with them.  Life on the ship seemed pretty easy going and it was fascinating to think of people back then being so at easy in the north pole, not worried at all about being stuck in the ice for a few winters straight.  It details exciting events such as whales, ice breaking up, and bear attacks.  The real story begins though, when the two men take off on sledges, an arduous journey that is truly amazing as they go over rough ice, sleep together in a soggy reindeer sleeping bag, have to eventually kill off their dogs to survive, and winter in a homemade igloo for months on end.  This part is where it really got me, when they talk of living in a small confined space, no bathing, where their clothes begin to rot, and begin to have to ration their food.  And of course, one cannot help but be excited when they finally make it back to "civilization" and see their first fellow human in over a year.

However, as much as this story is interesting, there is a lot that bogs the reader down.  The journals of Dr. Nansen were not written to be entertaining or a "good read".  They were written to log events and scientific discovery.  Much of what is detailed is just that - details that are of not interest to me particularly.  And much of it is repetitive and mundane, because of the nature of the journey.  Traveling across polar ice is not the most exciting of adventures on a detailed daily level.  Curiously, I stuck with this book at times because of the nature of the story.  Every time I got bogged down, I felt myself feeling like if I gave up on these guys, they'd never make it home.  I felt like my reading this book was at times like their story, some exciting but much of it a little tiring.  For some reason I felt it would do the story an injustice if I didn't see it through to the end.  And I am glad I did.

Unbroken

by Laura Hillenbrand

I cannot wait a minute longer to write about the book I just finished.  I had not planned to finish it so quickly, as there were a number of other activities going on this weekend, but I could not stop.  

Unbroken is an astounding story about Louie Zamperini who starts out life as a wild kid but ends up channeling all that pent up energy into running.  He becomes a world-class athlete and even runs in the Olympics.  But everything changes when he's drafted into WWII.  What then follows is a harrowing story of a crash-landing in the ocean and a miraculous story of survival.

One feels like this part of the story alone would be enough for one amazing story, but it continues as Louie is then taken as a POW and put through horrific experiences.  It would not do the man or the book any justice to try to even describe what happens to him, but suffice it to say it will stay with you, both in the horror and in the wonderful depths of human spirit shown.

And then at the end, it becomes a miraculous story about a man who loses his life and then finds it again and ends up being able to do what, to most of us, would seem almost incomprehensible in such circumstances.  He forgives.

As many of my friends and family know, I am pretty squeamish when it comes to things such as violence and torture (which I don't find to be a problem - perhaps more people should be less tolerant of it).  This book is definitely a hard read through some passages, but I will say that although I was horrified at the things done to the POWs, the book was written in such a way that told the truth but made it readable for me, without feeling that it would give me nightmares for weeks.  I guess I feel that the book pulls your through all those things by the sheer unbroken spirit of the main character.

I also very much appreciated the details put into the end of the book, especially in discussing the troubles that POWs and military men faced when returning from the war.  Both my grandfathers served, one in WWII and one in Korea.  One was injured by a grenade and sent home.  He still has nightmares, flashbacks, still flinches at the sound of loud explosions, cannot watch fireworks, and kicks and attacks imaginary foes in his dreams.  He is now in his 80s, but even this many years later, the things he survived haunt him.  And that was just as a soldier, not even as a POW.  I knew about some of his experiences and appreciated his great sacrifice, but I know I'll never be able to truly understand how it changed him.

However, something about this book helped me more fully realize the reality that many of these men faced and are still facing.  I thought of some of those old vets who perhaps I've seen begging or homeless and I feel a great love for them.  I am ashamed that perhaps I have judged some of these people in the past without knowing the things that they may have gone through and survived, so that I can have the freedom and comforts I so often take for granted.  I now have a brother and brother-in-law in the military and am so grateful for those who are so willing to serve, because it is not small thing.

Finally, I say again that for all the sadness contained within this story, it still gave me an ever-pervading feeling of hope throughout even the darkest moments of the narrative.  It is a great gift for an author to be able to convey that feeling in a book.  It is an even more priceless gift for a person to have this in their life, as Louie did.  I have felt it an honor to have spent the last few days in such amazing company.

The Iceberg Hermit

by Arthur Roth

I love me a good survival story.  Especially when its based on a true story.  The Iceberg Hermit by Arthur Roth is just such a story, although it is based solely on the account of Allan Gordon himself, a story that many of his friends and neighbors discounted as fiction at the time.  But it makes for an awfully good story, no matter whether you believe it true or not.  Its hard for me to imagine making this kind of thing up.  The author discusses some of these issues in the last chapter of the book, putting up theories as to how Gordon's account could have been true or not. 

Allan Gordon is a young man who is working on a whaling ship in the year 1757 when it hits an iceberg and Gordon is left the sole survivor, stuck on an iceberg with polar bears.  Part of the ship is lodged on the iceberg, which is part of the reason he survives.  He eventually finds a way to leave the iceberg and meets a group of people who he believes are a tribe of Norse Greenlanders.  After seven years away, he finally returns home, only to find how much he has changed, as well as those he loves.

As Roth says in the last chapter, "What is important is that we want to believe that the story is true.  We want to believe that man is capable of overcoming the dangers Allan overcame."  That's why I read, because each good book makes me want to believe that I can be the hero, that I can overcome.

The Long Walk

by Slavomir Rawicz

There are no words that do justice to the true story of this man's walk to freedom, except his own.  I have read this book before, but found myself just as involved through my second reading.  Rawicz describes the journey from being captured and tortured (not horribly graphic, but plenty to make the point) as a Polish prisoner in a Russian prison, then shipped like cattle to Siberia, and finally sent on a forced march to a gulag, or work camp.  He and six other men plan an escape which entails walking south from Siberia, all the way to India.  This "walk" not only cover approximately 4000 miles, but involved walking through the Russian winter snowstorms, crossing the Gobi Desert, and the Himalayas.  It is also somewhat unique because along the way this group of men befriend a female escapee and she travels with them.

It is a harrowing journey to read, and makes you very tense until the end, wondering if they really are going to make it.  You laugh a few times, cry some, and gasp at what these men, with hardly any supplies except their friendship and pure resolve, are able to do.  It is an important read for detailing many of the unjust, cruel, and inhumane ways these people were treated.  The book also has a very unique voice to it, one of straightforward and honest details, without going too far into melodrama. 

What is especially wonderful about this book is that for all the horrible treatment these men receive at the beginning of their experience, the story chronicles many good and generous people who help them along their way, who literally saved their lives time and time again.  Some of the stories of "poor" Mongolian and Tibetan people who give of their small means in such generous ways are true examples of the goodness of humanity.  It makes up, in some part, for the terrible things that were done to them.  And finally, it again reminds me and hopefully you of the greatness of the freedoms we so readily enjoy.  To what lengths would you or I be willing to go to for freedom?

Survival in Auschwitz

by Primo Levi

I was actually planning on writing about one of my favorite childhood books today, but last night I caught the end of a great old movie, Judgement at Nuremberg, about one of the Nazi war criminal trials.  It has some of the best actors and actresses including Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, and Judy Garland.  Even a young William Shatner appears.  I read later that many of these big names took reduced pay for the film because of the importance of it being told.  If you've never seen this movie, you should.  It is one of the best court room dramas ever, not to mention it reminds us about just how easy it is for good men to be corrupted by doing what is easy instead of what is right.  The ending will make you think long and hard about how you might have acted, given the terrible choices of the time.

Perhaps the subject matter was why I didn't sleep well last night, and I woke up this morning reminded of the book Survival in Auschwitz which I read for a class in my MFA program.  It is a hard book to read, as any Holocaust account should be, but it is an important one to read as well.  It covers the horrors of the concentration camps but also reminds us of the strength of the human spirit to persevere in unimaginable circumstances.  What I loved most about this book is the chapters that talk about the daily living of the camps, detailing the work they did, and the intricate trading system between the inmates.  There are even brief moments of humor, however absurd it may seem.  These brief chapters of normalcy interspersed with chapters of horror brought a unique perspective to the book.  Levi also delves into the workings of the human mind and how different people dealt with the reality of the death camps in different ways.

Levi was lucky to have been put in Auschwitz towards the end of the war so only spent 9 months there, but at the end of the book he details the equally horrific events that occur after the Nazis abandon the camps and leave the starving, sick, and wasted inmates to fend for themselves until they are rescued.  This part of the ordeal is a subject I had not read about much in other books, but the chapter titled "The Story of Ten Days" is one that I will never forget. 

Read this book, if only to once again remember what should never be forgotten.