West of Here sticks with you for a while. That might not seem odd, given the size of the novel (nearly 500 pages). But it doesn't read like a big novel, not in the sense that you have to wade through several hundred pages. It certainly feels like a big novel, and how could it not? Two timelines a century apart, multiple characters, multiple plots and subplots including a wilderness expedition, building (and later un-building) a dam, a parole officer searching for his newest parolee, doomed romances, troubled parenting, madness, and Bigfoot.

What stands out about this novel is that—while it is certainly making a splash, and deservedly so—it does not stand out or call undue attention to itself. It does not show off linguistically with archaic words like “granitic” or “discalced” or “isocline.” It does not have a boy wizard or an autistic child or a serial killer or a dog as a protagonist or narrator.

What West of Here does have is a hell of a story, a sweeping, epic tale of a community and the wilderness around it, both at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. And characters. Does it have characters. These are people who are as unique, and odd, and funny, and irritating, and fascinating as the people in your neighborhood. In this sense, it is old-fashioned: characters plot = story. No more. No less.

And at the end of this novel, I was sad to say goodbye to all of these compelling, maddening, glorious people: Krig, Mather, Ethan, Eva, Hillary, Franklin, Timmon, Curtis, Adam, Rita, Thomas, et cetera. Their trials, failures, and victories seemed to become my own as I read on. And I didn’t want them to end.

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck turns his back on civilization and lights out for the territory. West of Here embodies a similar hearkening for something better, something beyond, something just west of here. In this, it is a quintessentially American novel, and a very fine one indeed.
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Jonathan Evison has accomplished a very impressive feat of narrative and imagination with West of Here, set in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. The novel brings us an impressive array of well-drawn characters and plot lines, moving gracefully back and forth in time from the 1890s, when the area was first being settled and explored by Whites (while natives were trying to keep hold of their culture and, to some extent at least, their land), to 2006, when the inhabited part of the area has been turned mostly in a suburban blight of fast-food joints and small, frustrated lives. The characters, for the most part, are well drawn and sympathetic, even the cast of 21st century people who's lives are marked by roadblocks and trap doors, often of their own making. The 19th century characters, on the other hand, are often somewhat larger than life. We willingly follow this cast of characters, natives as well as whites, through several months of their lives in both time periods. For the most part, we root for their success and/or redemption. The 1890s bring us more adventurous, heroic deeds, but both time periods, in the end, become engrossing as we grow to know the characters. And if the connections drawn between the characters of the two eras sometimes seem a bit forced, I was mostly willing to forgive what in the end seemed quite a minor flaw. The descriptions of nature in both eras are quite good, indeed. All in all, I highly recommend this book. ( )

Enjoyed. Book about settling of Olympic Penninsula in Washington state, where I live. Goes back and forth between stories of settlement in the 1880s and 90s and stories in current period. Many of the characters in the story of today are descendants of folks in the original story. Enjoyed this quite a bit. The place where the story takes place is located among real places but itself is creation. Would recommend. (Audiobook.) ( )

An excellent read. I loved it. ( )

Just finished this book. I suppose I might be considered a picky reader, but life is short and I will never have the time to read books that I should or want to read, so I spend alot of time reading a few chapters and driving books back to the library, unread. Not so with this one.
This book is one that affirms my love for reading, my belief that reading can provide us with so much more understanding, entertainment, and can be the key that unlocks countless memories and visions of life than any passive entertainment (ie tv, internet, radio)ever could. In short, this book is an example of why I love to read and why I will continue to tote armfuls of books to and from the libraries every week.
The author tells us a good story as opposed to writing a novel. There is a difference. The story flowed smoothly between different historic eras, connecting ideals and relatives a hundred years apart, yet with similar life issues and passions. The subjects and issues are not spectacular, as many books seem to be, but they are still great adventure, suspense and common enough to all of us that I came away learning something about myself and assistance in putting my own life and struggles in perspective.
There is passion, vision, love, trouble and trials and even a strong supernatural element in the story, but what makes this book a victory is that it is all presented in a way that I could easily identify with the heros, villians, and bystanders without having to stretch my much.
The descriptions of land and seasons were so familiar and absorbable, the people were unique, special, but very believable, and the storylines connected seamlessly. As I said, the author did not need to resort to presenting a spectacular story in order to draw me back continuously until I finished the book. He wrote of identifiable people, places, and circumstances in an interesting, exciting, and edifing way. This guy wrote a masterful story in a way that drew me in, not as an outsider, but as one who belongs in BOTH generations.
When I read a book like this, I will research what else the author has written, what recommendations Amazon and other sites have for those who enjoyed this work, and I will do this by the middle of the book at latest.
I enjoyed this very much, will certainly recommend it to those that are marginal readers who need a good reason to become obsessive readers, and I may very well pick it up in a few years and enjoy it all over again. ( )