The Other House Book

Alaska's beauty has a brutal edge. From a distance it appears calm and pristine, but the reality of living there can be harsh, unyielding. Chaos is part of its nature, a reflection of the chaos in the couple's marriage, their lives, while at the same time adding to their chaos. A perfect storm gaining momentum.

Gary pictures himself as an ancient Viking; forever bonded to this wilderness, thriving, every attempt at nature to knock him down is countered with his conquering bellows. As part of his dream, he and his wife, Irene are moving to Caribou Island, log by log and side by side they will fulfill his plan to build a cabin there, a small cabin built for just the two of them to live out their days.

"They were going to build their cabin from scratch. No foundation, even. And no plans, no experience, no permits, no advice welcome. Gary wanted to just do it, as if the two of them were the first to come upon this wilderness."

Irene is recently retired, and suffering from blinding, chronic headaches which her husband dismisses, her daughter seems baffled by both the sudden appearance of these headaches and her father's obliviousness to her mother's non-stop pain.

"He thought she was making up the pain, thought it wasn't real. She was sitting right in front of him in the boat, facing him, but he managed to look ahead their entire trip across that lake without seeing her at all. Part of how he was letting her vanish."

Beyond the headaches, Irene suffers from increasing dread of Gary's fantasy life on this island. All she wants to do is crawl into a comfortable bed, find a quiet space and shut away as much of this pain as possible.

"And meanwhile, Irene said quietly to herself, this gets to be my life. Because you can choose who you'll be with, but you can't choose who they'll become."

Their daughter Rhoda is concerned about her mother, the headaches, the desolate environment her father seems hell-bent to drag her to. She wants them close by. She can't be worrying about them on an island without any communication.

Nature complies by blanketing everything with a storm seemingly designed to add an atmosphere of desolation like a fog surrounding all. Everyone's emotions, thoughts and dreams seem to follow suit.

Vann's writing is effortless, beautiful, haunting. Caribou Island is a captivating, story with tremendously memorable characters. Alaska's wilderness is just as much a character in this angst filled story as Gary and Irene. Lonely, disconnected and haunting.