eldiente's review against another edition
4.0
I spent several days with my wife in mid July celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in the north Olympic peninsula and traveled through the town of Port Angeles - setting for this novel. Even though we have visited is area many times, I learned new things from this book, including the historical influence of Indian tribes, dams, and "westward expansionism".
The book blends interesting tales of early explorers with modern seekers. It is challenging to keep all the characters sorted, but the plot held my interest throughout.
The book blends interesting tales of early explorers with modern seekers. It is challenging to keep all the characters sorted, but the plot held my interest throughout.
amyisland206's review against another edition
4.0
The Elwha dam is now gone so I included a link to a short NatGeo video showing the dam removal and restoration of the river.
https://youtu.be/VipVo8zPH0U
https://youtu.be/VipVo8zPH0U
malloryhee's review against another edition
3.0
The plot sounded like something I would really enjoy, but it fell a little flat for me. It was interesting to have stories from the past and present and with a ton of characters, but since I only liked a few of the characters I couldn't really get invested in this.
emilyeslomski's review against another edition
4.0
What a story. This book required me to wrestle and challenge and think. Sometimes it would take me an hour to read fifty pages and other times I would a hundred in an hour. This book was one that wouldn't leave me alone. The story, but importantly the message of the story, stuck with me even when I put the book down.
For those that are looking for a rugged adventure and a thought provoking story, I would highly recommend that you pick up "West of Here".
For those that are looking for a rugged adventure and a thought provoking story, I would highly recommend that you pick up "West of Here".
spiderfelt's review against another edition
2.0
It is hard to put my finger on exactly which aspects of this book I disliked: the disconnected storylines, chronological hopscotching, the racist stereotypes or the self-absorbed characters. There is one kindhearted character, but he is such a caricature that it made me wince out loud. There was also the glancing comment about the woman who might be a man, being evidence that the town was becoming weirder by the day.
Perhaps my biggest gripe was the fictitious name for the town: Port Bonita. It sounded wrong right from the first time, as did the name for people from that town: Port Bonitans. If this is supposed to be set in Port Angeles, why not say so?
Why bother introducing characters from the 1890s and their modern day descendants but have no connection between the storylines or the characters otherwise? How was the Mather expedition tied to the rest of the storylines? What purpose did it serve?
Perhaps my biggest gripe was the fictitious name for the town: Port Bonita. It sounded wrong right from the first time, as did the name for people from that town: Port Bonitans. If this is supposed to be set in Port Angeles, why not say so?
Why bother introducing characters from the 1890s and their modern day descendants but have no connection between the storylines or the characters otherwise? How was the Mather expedition tied to the rest of the storylines? What purpose did it serve?
kerryanndunn's review against another edition
5.0
I was lucky enough to score an ARC of Jonathan Evison’s West of Here and I have to admit that it surprised me. I knew the man could write, his first novel [b:All About Lulu|2432061|All About Lulu|Jonathan Evison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255711220s/2432061.jpg|2439249] was a lovely coming of age story told with a unique voice that I liked a lot. But Lulu in no way prepared me for the staggering scope of West of Here.
Set in the fictional town of Port Bonita, Washington, the book follows two timelines. The first timeline begins in 1889 and focuses on Port Bonita's founding and the damming of the Elwha River which gave the town its identity and life. This timeline is filled with men and women of vision and purpose, the world wide open to them if only they can make the right decisions. The second timeline is in the modern year 2006 and follows the descendants of those original founders. But for them, Port Bonita is no longer thriving, the dam no longer their salvation but their downfall. These men and women would like to have the same sense of purpose their ancestors did, but first they must somehow reconcile their past with their future. It might be time for Port Bonita and its inhabitants to make a change.
Jonathan Evison writes colorfully with a lot of humor and genuine affection for his many characters – not one written with anything less than absolute vibrancy and depth. The Washington wilderness itself is a character and his descriptions of it are so effortless and beautiful, you trust that he KNOWS this landscape. He makes you feel it.
The story itself is propulsive. At the beginning you will slowly begin to know the characters and follow them on their paths, learning more and more about them as you turn the pages, then the plot will start to take a strong hold and pretty soon you will be unable to put the book down until you find out what everyone’s destinies will be, until you are finished with the book and sad that it’s over.
I am intrigued by the amount of research that went into the writing of this novel. What is factual and what is imagination? I want to look into the history of the area myself and learn everything I can about it. It’s that pioneer spirit and sense of adventure that captures my attention and imbues in me a childlike sense of wonder at the vastness of things.
So, thanks to Jonathan Evison for writing such a spectacular book. I think this novel is going to be big for him. I’ll definitely be buying at least one copy when it is officially released and I encourage you to do so too.
Set in the fictional town of Port Bonita, Washington, the book follows two timelines. The first timeline begins in 1889 and focuses on Port Bonita's founding and the damming of the Elwha River which gave the town its identity and life. This timeline is filled with men and women of vision and purpose, the world wide open to them if only they can make the right decisions. The second timeline is in the modern year 2006 and follows the descendants of those original founders. But for them, Port Bonita is no longer thriving, the dam no longer their salvation but their downfall. These men and women would like to have the same sense of purpose their ancestors did, but first they must somehow reconcile their past with their future. It might be time for Port Bonita and its inhabitants to make a change.
Jonathan Evison writes colorfully with a lot of humor and genuine affection for his many characters – not one written with anything less than absolute vibrancy and depth. The Washington wilderness itself is a character and his descriptions of it are so effortless and beautiful, you trust that he KNOWS this landscape. He makes you feel it.
The story itself is propulsive. At the beginning you will slowly begin to know the characters and follow them on their paths, learning more and more about them as you turn the pages, then the plot will start to take a strong hold and pretty soon you will be unable to put the book down until you find out what everyone’s destinies will be, until you are finished with the book and sad that it’s over.
I am intrigued by the amount of research that went into the writing of this novel. What is factual and what is imagination? I want to look into the history of the area myself and learn everything I can about it. It’s that pioneer spirit and sense of adventure that captures my attention and imbues in me a childlike sense of wonder at the vastness of things.
So, thanks to Jonathan Evison for writing such a spectacular book. I think this novel is going to be big for him. I’ll definitely be buying at least one copy when it is officially released and I encourage you to do so too.
natesea's review against another edition
2.0
What started out as a promising historical fiction about a Northwest town similar to Port Angeles, proved to drag on about 100-200 pages too long. The book flips between 1890, with the settling of the town, and 2006, where we meet a hodgepodge boring and uninspired characters. The 1890 story line is engaging with tangibly historical characters that keep the plot moving. This greatly contrasts the 2006 story line, which reveals boring people with boring lives. The author attempts to draw connections between past and present with ancestral lines, and similar character struggles, but they not only feel like a stretch, I found myself irritated with the jumps. The writing is epic and thought-provoking at times, but contrived and soap opera-esque at others.
West of Here's overall message is delivered by a dying Native American elder in the last 20 pages: "We are born haunted... Haunted by our fathers and mothers and daughters, and by people we don't remember. We are haunted by otherness, by the path not taken by the life unlived. We are haunted by the changing winds and the ebbing tides of history. And even as our flame burns brightest, we are haunted by the embers of the first dying fire. But mostly, we are haunted by ourselves." The book portrays this well and provides fascinating history with its 1890 plot, but that's not enough to redeem it from the failure of the modern parallel.
West of Here's overall message is delivered by a dying Native American elder in the last 20 pages: "We are born haunted... Haunted by our fathers and mothers and daughters, and by people we don't remember. We are haunted by otherness, by the path not taken by the life unlived. We are haunted by the changing winds and the ebbing tides of history. And even as our flame burns brightest, we are haunted by the embers of the first dying fire. But mostly, we are haunted by ourselves." The book portrays this well and provides fascinating history with its 1890 plot, but that's not enough to redeem it from the failure of the modern parallel.
robinsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Due to be published February 2011, not September 2010.
This book reminded me of those sprawling meaty historical novels I read back in the 70s and 80s. Set in Port Bonita,Washington, a fictional Port Townsend, part of the story takes place in the late 1800s with a parallel story taking place in 2006, and chronicles the early history of Port Bonita, focusing on the building of the Elwha Dam and the exploration of the Olympics. I’m unsure how much is based on history but it was interesting and I now want to find out what was made up and how much was fact (it is true that the Elwha Dam is due to be deconstructed by 2012, which is mentioned in the book). The book goes back and forth in time and skips around between characters, which I found a little confusing, and it took me a good 100 pages to really get the characters sorted and into the story, but after that I found it enjoyable. I do have to admit, though, that the Native American mystical connection between the two time periods was not my thing but there might be others who like that part of the book.
This book reminded me of those sprawling meaty historical novels I read back in the 70s and 80s. Set in Port Bonita,Washington, a fictional Port Townsend, part of the story takes place in the late 1800s with a parallel story taking place in 2006, and chronicles the early history of Port Bonita, focusing on the building of the Elwha Dam and the exploration of the Olympics. I’m unsure how much is based on history but it was interesting and I now want to find out what was made up and how much was fact (it is true that the Elwha Dam is due to be deconstructed by 2012, which is mentioned in the book). The book goes back and forth in time and skips around between characters, which I found a little confusing, and it took me a good 100 pages to really get the characters sorted and into the story, but after that I found it enjoyable. I do have to admit, though, that the Native American mystical connection between the two time periods was not my thing but there might be others who like that part of the book.
bellatora's review against another edition
2.0
This is one of those books that is so dull that there is little to say. I will note that this book could certainly have used a character list. I couldn’t remember who was who half the time and quickly stopped caring.
I thought the 19th c./modern day intermingling storylines was an interesting conceit and liked that there were echoes (but no exact duplicates) between the past and present characters (the abused whore who starts a new life/the abused girlfriend who starts a new life, the strange, mute Indian boy/the strange, isolated Indian boy, the ahead-of-her-time crusading newspaper woman/the different-from-the-rest lesbian environmentalist, etc.). But overall it was just blah. I skimmed large chunks and didn’t feel I lost anything. The plot was meandering, the characters unengaging, much of the writing confusing. And I read this in the mountainous wilderness of Denali, Alaska, which is the perfect location to read a book set in a mountainous wilderness. But alas, even that didn’t make the book any better.
I thought the 19th c./modern day intermingling storylines was an interesting conceit and liked that there were echoes (but no exact duplicates) between the past and present characters (the abused whore who starts a new life/the abused girlfriend who starts a new life, the strange, mute Indian boy/the strange, isolated Indian boy, the ahead-of-her-time crusading newspaper woman/the different-from-the-rest lesbian environmentalist, etc.). But overall it was just blah. I skimmed large chunks and didn’t feel I lost anything. The plot was meandering, the characters unengaging, much of the writing confusing. And I read this in the mountainous wilderness of Denali, Alaska, which is the perfect location to read a book set in a mountainous wilderness. But alas, even that didn’t make the book any better.