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Peter Geye

Author of The Lighthouse Road

5+ Works 770 Members 72 Reviews

About the Author

Image credit: Peter Geye

Works by Peter Geye

The Lighthouse Road (2012) 262 copies
Safe from the Sea (2010) 219 copies
Wintering (2016) 190 copies
Northernmost: A novel (2020) 73 copies
The Ski Jumpers: A Novel (2022) 26 copies

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Gender
male
Nationality
USA

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Reviews

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: I enjoyed a lot of this book. Learning about the Duluth taconite ships was fun. Hearing about the wreck of the ship (the Ragnarök) was interesting. This doesn't seem to be a real ship as far as I could tell. It would have been wonderful to have an afterward talking about how the Rag relates to real ships that move taconite out of Duluth's harbors. The book moves slowly but is beautifully written.

I had hoped that more of this book was going to be about Lake Superior and the taconite shipping industry. However, it is mostly about an old man, Olaf, who survived a horrible shipwreck. Rather than being happy he lived, Olaf is filled with guilt and pisses the rest of his life away drinking and estranged from his family. Until he finally calls his son to help him get his cabin ready for the winter. Olaf wants to tell his son, Noah, that he's dying and pour all of his regrets out to Noah while retelling the story of the shipwreck.

This is a sad and slow moving book but is beautifully written. If sad memoirs are your thing you might enjoy this. I couldn't help thinking that Olaf was a jerk throughout. He lived, he should have made the most of it or gotten some help when he was struggling rather than take it out on his family. I know things were different back them. However, it is sad how many times I have seen this happen in real life. Not the being in a shipwreck part, but the being a jerk to your family part and then regretting your life choices when you find out you are dying.

I have a lot more sympathy for Noah, who dropped everything in his life to come and help out his estranged dad. He did a lot more than he had to and is an incredibly decent person for doing so. I also enjoyed his wife Natalie, who was initially frustrated with the situation but quickly turned around when she realized how important this was to Noah. Noah and Natalie were an amazing couple and I hope that Olaf truly appreciated them.

I did enjoy hearing about Duluth and the history there. I am up in Duluth quite a bit and really love the North Shore in Minnesota in general, so the setting was very fun for me. The whole ending about the lake and the body (and we'll leave it at that) was incredibly unrealistic.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration is slow but well done. My husband and I listened to this, ironically, on a drive up to Duluth and ended up speeding it up a bit. I thought the narrator did an excellent job with character voices though.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. It is a beautifully written book that is more about an old man's regrets in life than Lake Superior and shipwrecks. The backdrop and history discussed around Duluth and taconite shipping were intriguing. I also thought Olaf's description of the Ranarok sinking was amazing...the conditions on the lake and vicious they were...just wow. I probably won't pick up more books by Baker, I am interested in the history of Minnesota but not so much this type of sad regretful story. If that's your thing though, his writing style is very beautiful.

If you are really interested in shipwrecks and ever happen to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Great Lake Shipwreck Museum is up there. We went to it last year and it's really in the middle of nowhere, but an awesome visit if you are interested in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
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krau0098 | 35 other reviews | Jan 24, 2024 |
Using parallel timelines, Geye tells a story of a small-town family on Minnesota's North Shore. In the present-day, Gus' elderly father Harry has disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and Gus and Harry's lady friend Berit console themselves and reflect by sharing stories from the past. Gus reveals for the first time what happened the year he was eighteen, when he and Harry took a late-autumn canoeing journey into the Boundary Waters.

I really liked the northern Minnesota feel of this book, and I'm grateful it didn't go overboard with Minnesotaness. Although I'm from the Twin Cities, I've spent enough time on the North Shore that the community felt welcome and familiar. This book is the second in a series, but I read it without having read the first. It isn't necessary to read them in order, but the first work seems to provide some history on a few of the characters, which might help with keeping names and generations straight. I enjoyed Geye's writing, and I found the mystery within the story well done. Recommended.… (more)
 
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ryner | 12 other reviews | Feb 21, 2023 |
While in his teens, Jon Bargaard, was a rising ski jumper, along with his younger brother, Anton. Their father had been a skilled jumper too and trained them well. Jon, now in his late 50s, is a novelist and had been working on a book about his family experiences called “The Ski Jumpers” but had set is aside. Recently diagnosed with early onset- Alzheimer's, he decides to try and finish the book, while his memory remains intact.

Shifting narratives, slowly unfold Jon’s story, covering their childhood in Chicago, their success in numerous tournaments, an unlikely connection with a gangster and their eventual move to Minnesota. There is a lot here and the author handles it all with finesse and knows exactly how to keep the pages turning, packing in adventure, romance and family drama. I love reading about the upper Midwest, (I would not like to live there) and I found it interesting that the frigid temps are never mentioned- Yep, written by a true Minnesotan. This is the third book I have read by Geye and he just keeps getting better.… (more)
½
 
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msf59 | Oct 13, 2022 |
Not my cup of tea. Dragged and dragged-made it 40% through and gave up
 
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wincheryl | 35 other reviews | Jun 20, 2022 |

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Works
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Rating
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ISBNs
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