Natalie Kusz

Graceful and gentle, occasionally shocking, always interesting, a portrait of the author's unconventional childhood full of sharp contrasts between utter cruelty and sacrificial love; material poverty and a wealth of family devotion; possibility as wide as the sky and seemingly insurmountable limitations.

EXcellent book! Lemme emphasize that, okay? ROAD SONG, by Natalie Kusz. Simply EXcellent. Kusz's story of her childhood and young adulthood is a combination tale of fierce family love and, often, desperate deprivation and poverty, in the unforgiving conditions of the Alaskan "outback" in the 1970s. The life was chosen by her parents, who chucked a middle class life in California to live in the "sticks" of Alaska. Her father was a Polish immigrant with a tragic story of DP camps and family show more separation during and after the war; her mother feared inherting the paranoid schizophrenia of her own mom.

Kusz's story of the family's decision to move to Alaska, traveling the Al-Can highway and meeting other unconventional sorts seems fairly straightforward and unremarkable for the first fifty pages or so, but then seven year-old Natalie is mauled and horribly disfigured (nearly killed) by a vicious sled dog, and years - literally 'years' - of hospitalizations and reconstructive surgery involving long separations and crippling debt take over the Kusz family's life.

Kusz, who lost an eye, in the dog attack, is quite unsentimental in her depiction of her own plight, but shows uncommon understanding of how it affects the family dynamic over the next several years. Her descriptions of the cruelty of other children - to her and her siblings are both schocking and heartbreaking.

The writing is eloquent and wise beyond the years of the author, who, despite her own and other family tragedies, manages to make something of her life, overcoming enormous adversity. I have nothing but admiration for Natalie Kusz. At the risk of being redundant, this is an EXcellent book! show less

This evening I talked on the phone to my little brother (little? he's 57). We had one of those nice chats about all sorts of subjects, about shared memories and about our life's current little details.

He was telling me about a TV program he's enjoying, called Alone, I believe. I haven't seen it but it reminded me that in my teens I dreamed of moving to Alaska to homestead. Our maternal grandmother had a subscription to National Geographic and during one visit, while the grown ups were show more catching up in the kitchen I'm sure, I sat on her couch and picked up the January 1973 issue and happened upon an article, "Alaskan Family Robinson." It mesmerized my 15 year old Wannabe Earth Mother self. I can still see the photos, emblazoned on my heart: the man building their log cabin, the woman nursing one son while homeschooling the other, the family bundled, trekking in snow shoes with all their cold cheeks cherry red. There were pictures of homemade bread baking, picking wild berries, heating water on an old big wood burning stove for a Saturday bath. I wanted all of that. Or at least I thought I did.

Truth is, I don't like the cold much. Winters spent in New Mexico, and later, in Texas, are the limit of my cold tolerance levels. Even winters living in Oklahoma and Kansas seem bitterly cold to me now. I would not have enjoyed Alaska, I think.

Still, over the years I've continued to be attracted to reading about living in Alaska. And tonight I remembered this memoir! And I recall it was so good, even though she is tragically mauled by a dog. Her writing was superb. So remembering it was a delight and then another delight when I saw to my shock I had not added it to books I've read. I've tried to add books as they come to mind and it's been a good little while since I've added a pre-GoodReads Era one.

I went to Kusz's GR author page. I'm so glad she kept going, kept writing. Taught at Harvard even. Yay you Natalie! show less

A terrible attack of dogs on a young girl leave her family devastated and paying for her hospital bills all their lives. A very tough story and one that could have been softened somewhat if only the family had health care coverage.