July 2009 Theme Read: Polar Regions - Discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Polar Regions theme read. Information about the geographic parameters, as well as possible titles and authors, can be found on the original Polar Regions thread.

Chrisharpe is traveling at present, with limited contact. As co-leader, I’m taking the liberty of establishing liberal ground rules regarding selections to suit this month’s theme. Either fiction or nonfiction is acceptable and, in keeping with the “land belonging to no nation” status of Antarctica, authors may be of any nationality. Questions about the suitability of various Arctic areas can probably be answered most authoritatively by our third co-leader, trisweather.

Please feel free to review or discuss your reading(s) as you wish. Some possible topics are listed below, adapted from Book-Clubs-Resource.com.

Discussion Questions for Fiction
• Which polar region was the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story? Would the story have worked as well outside the polar setting?
• What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? Were the themes sufficiently universal to apply to other geographic regions or were they specific to the setting of the story?
• Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?
• How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?
• In what ways do the events in the books reveal evidence of the author's world view?
• Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

Discussion Questions for Nonfiction
• What did you find surprising about the facts introduced in this book?
• How has reading this book changed your opinion of a certain person or topic?
• Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he or she achieve this?
• If the author is writing on a debatable issue, does he or she give proper consideration to all sides the debate? Does he or she seem to have a bias?
• If the book is a memoir, how objective does it seem to be?
• How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

Thought I’d start with a quick read to ease back into the swing of things…so I started the Polar month with Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater, a children’s book published in 1938 and a Newbery Honor winner of 1939.

The setting for the story is actually a town called Stillwater in some unspecified state in mid-US, where Mr. & Mrs. Popper live with their two children. Mr. Popper paints houses and spends his free time absorbed in stories about the far-away places of the world that he’s never seen.

Mr. Popper is particularly taken with the Polar regions and writes a letter to Admiral Drake, Antarctic explorer. To everyone’s surprise a large crate arrives by return post, the contents of which turn out to be a live penguin sent by the Admiral himself.

Various adventures and merriment ensue. Eventually the Poppers are proud owners of a traveling road troupe of twelve penguins. The act is so successful that the penguins are offered a lucrative movie contract by a Hollywood mogul, but Mr. Popper sorrowfully decides that it is best for the penguins to be returned to their proper icebound surroundings.

Admiral Drake intercedes, though, to say that the US government is concerned about the unfortunate Arctic explorers who must go about their lonely expeditions without the benefit of penguins for company. The Admiral proposes to take the Popper penguins north to the Arctic, with the intention of establishing a breeding colony there. Mr. Popper is invited to accompany the expedition as penguin-keeper.

“Mamma,” shouted Mr. Popper to Mrs. Popper…”I’m going, too! I’m going, too! Admiral Drake says he needs me. Mamma, do you mind if I don’t come home for a year or two?” This passage brought to mind one of the titles timjones recommended...I may be some time: ice and the English imagination, though I suspect that one has a bit more of a firm purchase on reality than does Mr. Popper's Penguins!

Silly and somewhat dated, but still quite an enjoyable read.

I love it to read reviews of picture books, since they don't come by that often.

Muddy21, where did you get that old book?

I am a school librarian, and Mr Poppers Penguins is one of our top circulating books. I have seen kids fight over this book! We have two copies which have been rebound several times, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has kids in grades 1-4. It works very well as a read-aloud.

#4> chazzard...I'm pleased to hear it's so popular - it *was* a lot of fun to read. In fact, I was rather wishing my boys were 6 & 4 again, rather than 16 & 14, because it did seem like it would be good to read aloud.

#3> trisweather...The copy I read was from the library where I work. It's a reprint from 1988. Amazon-US has a paperback edition in stock for $6.99, so it seems like it's stayed in print. I'd say it's more of a mid- to easy-reader, a chapter book rather than a picture book. There are illustrations but they're just occasional sketches.

This may be a stretch for this category, but I am in the middle of Your inner fish and since a majority of the research for this book took place in the Arctic, I guess it does qualify as a Polar region book.

Dr. Shubin writes in a rambling prose, like an instructor in class, completely oblivious to the fact that he has lost a good number of students during the lecture. Very much like the absent minded professor that has a deep heartfelt passion for a subject but just can not understand why everyone doesn’t “get it”. The same professor that probably gets lost on his way across campus, or will wear mismatched socks because after all, they’re just socks…but if you want to talk long bone articulation in some 400 million year old sea critter…he’s your guy.

You have to read Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. It is a classic. Discusses all of the natural phenomena of the Arctic. Several decades old now though; a lot has changed.

This is the same post I made in the original Polar Regions thread, but now that I see this discussion thread I'm reposting it here.

My first polar read (I'm hoping to get more in, including A Dream in Polar Fog, was The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition by Susan Solomon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It combines the story of the expedition, largely told in the words of the men on it, from diaries of those who survived and those who didn't, with modern scientific data that throws light on the conditions the expedition encountered; it brings the characters of the military men, scientists, and seamen alive; and it does a great job at helping the reader experience the close, dark, dangerous, and above all COLD environment of Antarctica. Solomon addresses the reputation of Scott as a "bumbler" through the use of the men's diaries and modern meteorological and other information, and provides interesting insights into such topics as how well skis work under different temperature and snow conditions, how to get into a frozen sleeping bag, and how to choose ponies for polar conditions, among others.

And now I've finished A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkheu. I have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, it provides remarkable insight into the world of the Chuchki people of the Arctic at a time when white explorers/traders/gold searchers are beginning to change their way of life. The descriptions of their hunting and living practices and their adaptations to their harsh environment are fascinating, if a tad anthropological. The story of John McLennan, a white Canadian who ends up first stuck living with the Chuchki and then blending in as completely as possible with the life of their village, is interesting in spots.

On the other hand, I found the book heavy-handed. The life of the Chuchki is romanticized, the story is a little plodding and didactic, and the impact of western "civilization" on traditional civilization is a little obvious. The author points out more than once that cultures are different and we should live and let live.

But the portrait of how people live under these extremely harsh conditions is very interesting.

Here's my review of A Dream in Polar Fog, which I liked a lot and gave 4.5/5 stars:

A Dream in Polar Fog tells the story of how an outsider, Canadian John MacLennan, comes to live with, and gradually become part of, a settlement of indigenous Chukchi people living on the Arctic coast of Siberia, during the years 1910-1917. Yuri Rytkheu, himself Chukchi, uses the outsider MacLennan as our introduction to the life of the Chukchi, and to the encroaching threats that Western ships and Western ways pose to their way of life and their hunting grounds.

MacLennan is forced to cross the barrier that separates white explorer from native when he is badly injured in an accident. His acceptance of, and acceptance into, the Chukchi culture is gradual and sometimes problematic, but his marriage to Pyl'mau and the birth of their children is a key factor in making him decide to stay.

Along with the observations on the ways in which cultures and both clash and cohere, there is an exciting story of death, sacrifice and survival here. If you are at all interested in either life in the polar regions, or the relationship between indigenous people and colonisers, this book is worth reading.

Reposted from the other thread......

I'm enjoying everyone's comments and reviews of their books.

I finished my first book for this read, the nonfiction Women of the Klondike by Frances Backhouse.

In 1896 gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon. Due to the remoteness of the area, it took another eleven months for news of the discovery to reach the outside world, triggering the gold rush that would last only a few years.

The 1890’s, sometimes called the gay 90’s, nurtured the seed of independence and freedom in the heart of many women. This book contains short biographical sketches of women from many backgrounds that used that newfound freedom for the adventure that was the Klondike.

It briefly tells their tales beginning with Kate Carmack, a native woman whose husband and brothers made the first strike. It continues with sketches of women from all walks of life: those following husbands and sweethearts; those who left husbands, children and sweethearts to follow their dream; women who became entrepreneurs such as store owners and miners; prostitutes and dance hall girls; Catholic nuns and members of the Salvation Army; teachers, doctors and nurses; rich tourists who brought canaries and pedigreed dogs while they ‘did’ the Klondike while they toured its sights.

Personally, I would have enjoyed more details of their day to day life and the unique challenges they met in this Arctic region just south of the Arctic Circle. I most enjoyed the stories of women in their ground length skirts (let no ankle show! although bloomers were acceptable until they got into town) as they climbed the daunting Chilikoot Pass which was the most direct route, but also the most strenuous. Mention was made of enduring sixty below zero temperatures and building fires on the ground in order to melt the earth underneath enough to mine. All in all, though I was left short wanting more details of their unique physical environment and how these amazing women met its challenges. 3.5 stars.

I'm already into my next book for this challenge from the tbr pile, The Snow Walker by Farley Mowat. I read this one when I was a bookstore clerk when it came out in the 70's. Thirty years later, I'm finding it just as fascinating.

I finished my second book for this read, Farley Mowat's The Snow Walker.

Set in Canada's Arctic region, these are short stories of the Eskimos or Innuit. Although Mowat is not himself Innuit, he lived with them for several years and it is easy to see how he loves and admires these people.

The first selection is an essay on the power of snow, which he calls the fifth element. As he speaks of the power of glaciers, I cannot help but think of the melting of the glaciers in both hemispheres and the rotting away of the Anarctic ice shelf. And I grieve a bit for the changes that have occurred since this book was released 30 years ago.

This is a sobering book. As snow is a defining element to the region, the Snow Walker is the Innuit personification of death. In this harsh environment where the great Caribou herds have disappeared and the Innuit rely on white men who brought disease and often made promises they didn't keep, the Snow Walker comes often to these people. Yet they are an enduring and brave people and it is a pleasure to get to know them through Mowat's eyes. 4 stars.

This is an awesome book. I started re-reading it recently.

Muddy21 - great choice with Mr. Popper's Penguins. I read that to my daughter a few years ago and we both had a great time. Like you say, "silly and somewhat dated," but, yes, it was an enjoyable read. I must pull it out for my other daughter.
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I'm still jet-lagged from my trip, but when I have myself back together I'm going to find a novel for this group read. It will be so refreshing after all the summer heat! (An unusually hot June here in Vancouver, then we hit England's heat wave for a week, and then July in Italy, and now back to more hot weather in Vancouver). Who ever thought of this theme for this time of year was a brilliant individual.

For this challenge, I read Unformed Landscape, which is set on the coast of northern Norway, near the Russian border, and also in the area the northern extremes of Sweden and Finland. It's by Swiss author Peter Stamm, and originally written in German.

I enjoyed the sparse writing style that added to the remote, chilly atsmosphere. The unformed landscape of the title refers not to the drifting snow that covers the national borders, but to the main character Katherine, who drifts through life without any vision or purpose. This novel is a bildungsroman, so by the end she has grounded herself and stopped drifting.

1. Would have the story have worked as well outside the polar setting? and 2. were the themes sufficiently universal to apply to other geographic regions or were they specific to the setting of the story?: As a story of self-discovery, I guess the basic story could be set anywhere. But the northern setting stamps a unique mark on this novel.

It was the setting that attracked me to this book. When I think of "polar" I envision punishing cold, emptyness, ice flows and big white bears. None of this was in Unformed Landscape, except perhaps the emptyness in the main character. But rather than cold, the author focused on the contrasts of the endless light and the endless dark. The book also shows that people in this far northern village are not isolated or stuck, as both the visitors and the inhabitants come and go and almost everyone is well travelled.

3. Do the characters seem real and believable?: well, I've never met anyone like Katherine, but yes, everyone seems real and believable.

4. How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story?: yes, as a novel of self-discovery, I guess you could say that Katherine discovers herself.

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and different read. But I didn't love it.

I read The Seal Wife for this challenge which, though it is a very unusual book, I really loved.

• Which polar region was the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story? Would the story have worked as well outside the polar setting? The book takes place in Anchorage, Alaska in 1915-1917. Bigelow is charged with setting up and maintaining a weather station there, so the setting is essential to his job. The time and place are also essential to his growth. The story would require some area with both varied/intense weather and natives in order to work.

• What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? Were the themes sufficiently universal to apply to other geographic regions or were they specific to the setting of the story? Survival, sound, and silence are all themes in this book. Certainly they could all have been utilized nearly anywhere, but being in Alaska just after the turn of the 20th century made them more immediate or interesting to me.

• Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know? Yes. I didn't initially like Bigelow, but he was believeable and sympathetic. I understood that he was socially inept and something of a loner and that both those things created problems for him in myriad ways. I could not, however, understand why he did not attempt to learn more of the Inuit language or find a translator who would help him communicate with "She." I understood that part of that was that he was so totally disconnected from the citizenry of Anchorage, but toward the end of the book that changes a bit and I would have expected him to make some attempt to bridge the language gap.

• How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes? Initially Bigelow is at a loss in this very new terrain and situation, but he begins by finding the land for his station, discovering the lack of building materials and how one needs to acquire them, hires native workers, and then manages to get them to build the station. Meanwhile, he discovers that he loves "being his own man", which both works for him and against him as he becomes more and more of a loner, with the exception of The Seal Wife, with whom he cannot verbally communicate.

• In what ways do the events in the books reveal evidence of the author's world view? World view? No idea. Her view of human nature is definitely revealed in watching Bigelow come to terms with Alaska, the weather, the all day sun/lack of sun, the leisure pursuits of the towns people (which he doesn't share), and the women in his life.

• Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before? Nothing made me uncomfortable. However, certain aspects of Bigelow's sexuality seemed wrong for the time. The novel is set at the end of the Victorian period, and most men would have been much more sexually inhibited and less knowledgeable than he was. In his case, I thought this was particularly so because his father had died when he was very young and he was raised by his mother, grandmother, and sister, who would have had Victorian sensibilities.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon

I am going to try this again. My dislike of this book has calmed down considerably, at least to the point of me being able to answer the questions with some degree of respect for the author and his writing.

Which polar region was the setting of the book?

The setting was Sitka, Alaska. There is really no such place that I know of. It is a fictitious district in which Jews were settled after World War II because there was no State of Israel. (ETA: Sitka is a real place. See post #19 below.)

Did it enhance or take away from the story?

I'm not sure it had much of an effect at all. Perhaps a little. The connotation of sending Jews to Alaska seems as if the world wanted to get them as far away from everyone else as possible. Maybe that was symbolic of something?

Would the story have worked as well outside the polar setting?

I pretty sure it would have. The premise was that there was no Israel and Jews were settled elsewhere. Alaska seems pretty far-fetched to me. I wonder what made Michael Chabon come up with that setting?

What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel?

One theme that recurred often was called "Reversion". That referred to the upcoming time when Sitka would revert back to the United States and the native peoples of that area. The Jews who had been living in Sitka would need to start looking for another place to live. That's very much in compliance with the history of the Jews over millennia.

Do the characters seem real and believable?

The characters of this book all seemed to be caricatures, but that was okay because that was in keeping with the tone of this book.

Can you relate to their predicaments?

The one thing that I could relate to was the friendship between the main character, a homicide detective named Meyer Landsman and his partner, Berko Shemets. Their relationship seemed very realistic (by the way, they were cousins in this story as well).

To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

I like the idea that friendships are important and there is always someone to support you even in the most negative times.

How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story?

The most important change would be a spoiler so I won't tell. It has to do with a character called Bina Gelbfish.

In what ways do the events in the books reveal evidence of the author's world view?

Ha! If I could only look into Michael Chabon's brain and figure that out!! Perhaps it's that he looks on the coming and goings in the world with a bit of irony?

Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way?

I think that the book as a whole makes Jews look terrible. That made me feel uncomfortable. In reality, Jews are neither great nor terrible. They're just like everyone else.

Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

No.

Hey! I got through these questions now with no disparaging remarks about the book.

*smiles*

SqueakyChu, Sitka actually is a town in the SE, coastal bit of Alaska. I've never been there - it would be accessible only by sea and air, I imagine - but I know of it because there's a type of Spruce - now widely planted elsewhere - by the name of "Sitka Spruce". I had no idea that The Yiddish Policemen's Union was set there, and now you've made me want to read it - thank you!

I think ChrisSharpe means the NW of Alaska. Sitka is south and west of Juneau and is only a short waterway away from Russia. It has a website and a convention and visitors bureau. If I ever get around to reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union it will make the third book I've read set in Sitka.

Hey! Thanks for that bit of information. I don't know why I thought that it was fictitious.

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Now you've made *me* curious. What other two books were set in Sitka, Alaska?

I just looked it up on Google maps. It's really kind of far south, isn't it? For a "polar" read, I mean! :)

Ha, you're not going to believe me, but one of them was a Louis L'Amour called Sitka, which was actually a very good historical novel. The other was about a fisherman in Sitka, but it's been so many years that I can no longer remember anything else about it except that it gave me an idea of the topography, challenges of fishing, and the inhabitants of the area.

I found it, Maggie! It's called The Woman Who Married a Bear by John Straley. Since I can no longer use it for a Polar read (July just ended about half hour ago), I'll use it for my Aboriginal theme for August. It has information about the Tlingit people (who were also in The Yiddish Policemen's Union). Thanks for telling me about it. I'm trying to mooch it now.

P.S. I still think that Sitka sounds like a fake place name. :D

I too read The Yiddish Policemen's Union, but I enjoyed it far more than SqueakyChu did. :) I think I ended up giving it 4.5 stars.

I'd be interested in seeing how you answered the questions, wookiebender.

Squeaky, that's not the book I read, but it looks really good. *Sigh* another to put on my wishlist for later reading.

I hadn't really planned to participate in this theme read as I would spend a large part of July hiking – suitably enough north of the polar circle in Norway and Sweden as I often do in the summers – and I did not wish to carry the superfluous weight of too many books in my already heavy backpack. However, when passing the Sami summer village of Staloluokta in Padjelanta national park in Swedish Lapland there was a book on the "library" shelf in the tourist cabin which I couldn't resist so I read it on site during my brief two-night stay there. The title was "Gäst hos samerna" (in English: "A Year in Lapland: Guest of the Reindeer Herders") by Hugh Beach .

The author is an anthropologist who spent 17 months in the 1970's living with a group of reindeer herding samis in that very place and the book is his personal memoir of this period, written in a popular style and not as a research paper. The yearly life cycle of these people revolves around the reindeer. During the winter the reindeer live in the lowlands and during the summer they move up (west) to higher altitudes, thus so do the people. The animals stray across huge areas, making it hard work to locaiize and gather as large a portion of the herds as possible when it is time to mark the new calves in the summer or to sort the reindeer according to what villages and owners they belong to in the fall when it is time to bring them down to the lowlands and to slaughter some of the grown male animals. Beach took active part in this work as well as chores such as fishing and maintaing the cots (their traditional huts built from birch and turf) and equipment. I found the book interesting as well as entertaining, and I think it would be a good introduction of the Sami way of life also to people with no previous knowledge at all of it. A wortwhile read that I would recommend to anyone interested in other cultures.

Personally, I was most struck by how big the changes have been during the three decades that have passed since the events of the book took place. The lifestyles have changed drastically. As an example, I hadn't quite realized before that they actually lived almost exclusively in simple traditional cots in this summer village as late as in the 70's. (During the winter they stayed in modern houses in the relatively urban villages in the lowlands, in the same way as they do today.) Being in the same village as the book described, looking out over modern wooden houses and various types of electricity generators, I sometimes felt as I were being taken back much longer in time than 35 years when watching the photos and reading about life back then. Without the book I would not have pictured the village with only cots that recently. Some of the scenes described in the book are so timeless in their traditional way of life that they would be hard to date at all as those things hadn't changed much during the centuries, while others, such as the transport plane landing on the lake regularly to bring in necessities and out fish to sell, gave a clear clue about new technologies and influencies in the seventies.

And just as an anecdote: During my stay I went to the tiny food shop to stock up on my victuals and I chatted away with the owner. We talked about Sami life today and I told her I was reading Hugh Beach's book. Oh, she said, I'm Birgit (a very nice next-door neighbor to the author during his stay in Staloluokta whom he mentiones in the book). She told me about how they had had to take a fight with the bureaucrats to be allowed to build larger houses than 20 square meters as there are special regulations within the national park, but that they now had a fairly good standard of living in their house. Last year they had even installed a satellite tv to be able to watch the Olympics ... So things change and the place isn't as cut off from the outside world as it once was. The old cots still remain, though, and they are typically used for guests or as a kind of retreat when the grandparents need a quiet moment from the children. And of course the reindeer keeping has been modernized. Nowadays they use motorcycles and helicopters instead of dogs to gather the herd, in addition to the men walking by foot. Other things remain more or less the same, such as the dependency on the weather for the work. This year, as an example, they were not very happy about the continuous eastern wind which because of the reindeer's instinct to walk against the wind had driven the herds down into the lowland forests, just at the time when the herders wanted them up on the bare mountain region above the tree line to gather them for the yearly calf marking. But what could they do? They hoped for a wind shift but if it didn't happen they would have to find their animals and walk the thousands of deer up to the fenced marking places anyway – a walk of maybe 50 or 100 kilometers one way.

Well, this turned out to be a rather odd kind of review. But if one is interested in the Sami culture and comes across a copy of the book I do recommend it. Just don't expect it to represent the contemporary Sami life in the 21st century.

Edited to add:
I believe the 2001 English edition of this book has an afterward by the author himself about the changes he has experienced during his re-visits to the the community after the book was first published.

>#28 Hi Annix and thanks for your review. It sounds like a very interesting read - and fascinating to think how recent the changes have been. I think my son read this book (or part of it) three years ago when he was in eighth grade. I particularly remember him doing some research on the Sami way of life (his name is Samuel, so I think that's why it's stuck with me!).