Northwind by Gary Paulsen

 

One of the genres I am continually drawn to are adventure/survival stories, and I'm pretty sure this inclination came from Gary Paulsen's Hatchet. I loved that book as a kid. I read it and its sequels more than once and remember it fondly as one of my big childhood favorites. When I saw that Paulsen had another survival story coming out last month, I bought it right away. I was eager to try and recapture that feeling of fascination and escape that I experienced with Hatchet as a kid. In an unorthodox move (for me), I actually read it right after I bought it as part of my Middle Grades Mission Challenge this month.

The plot of the novel follows a young boy named Leif, who is living in a tiny fishing camp in a fictional area blending aspects of Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest. When a plague hits his camp, he is forced to set out on his own in a small canoe and travel north, away from the sickness. Along the way, he has to contend with the whales that patrol the water, bears that live along the coasts, whirlpools that threaten to capsize his boat, and ravens that try to steal his food. He already has extensive knowledge of fishing and making fire, but heading into unknown territory on his own is new to him, and he must reach deep inside himself to find the strength and courage to survive.

Sadly, I did not like this book half as much as Hatchet. There were a few high points though. The writing was clearly well-researched, with descriptions of fishing techniques, food preservation methods, and survival strategies containing an obvious tone of authenticity. The encounters with different animals were beautifully written and interesting to read as well, especially the whales. You definitely got a clear sense of what the landscape looked like and how Leif survives it over the course of the text. The book jacket design is stunning as well, although that's not really related to the text (it just makes it more disappointing that I didn't really like the novel itself).

However, Northwind suffers greatly from a lack of story. The most interesting part of it was the beginning, when Paulsen describes how Leif's camp is taken down by the illness and Leif's harrowing battle with being sick himself. Once he recovers and is on his own though, the plot becomes rather aimless. He has a vague goal to go north, where he believes the air will be cleaner, but he has no other plan or specific destination in mind. His canoe can't handle the open ocean, and the weather will eventually grow too cold, so there's only so far he can go before he has to turn around. Which he does. And then the story basically ends. It becomes a repetitive pattern of watching Leif make camp, eat berries, fish with a spear, smoke the fish, and then set out again. There are a few dangerous encounters thrown into the mix, like a whirlpool or a bear sighting, from time to time. Otherwise, it's just a lot of the same thing over and over.

Another factor working against the engagement level of this text is the fact that Leif is already an expert at all the skills he needs to survive. Part of the suspense of Hatchet was watching the main character learn survival skills on his own. He had to fight for his life. The stakes felt high. In Northwind, however, I did not feel that same sense of danger. There were dangerous moments, sure, but Leif generally always knew exactly what he needed to do to get by. His journey was more spiritual than anything else, and it just wasn't as interesting. There was a lot of focus on him learning to embrace being truly free and independent for the first time in his life, which is great for his character development, but wasn't terribly engaging for me as a reader.

The way Paulsen structures the language in his novel was an issue for me as well. He has Leif speak and think in a strange jumble of words. Presumably, this was to give the reader a sense of him being from a very old time period. There are a few mentions of Norse gods, so I suppose this is meant to be set around Viking times. So, I think the writing was supposed to sound like it was from the distant past, but all it really did was mess with my fluency. I had to keep stopping and rereading to get the rhythm of the speech patterns down. It wasn't difficult to understand, but it grated on my nerves. I don't think it was a particularly successful strategy. This is a book for children. If it was annoying to me, I can only imagine how quickly a twelve-year-old would grow impatient with it.

So between the repetitive plot and the unusual language, I didn't really enjoy Northwind. I'm quite disappointed by that, because I loved Hatchet so much. I can't even say that I believe a younger audience will appreciate this more, because I honestly can't see any kids beyond the most avid readers actually finishing and liking this. It's too sedate to be an adventure story and too mystical to be a survival story. It's very meditative and reflective, but not very engaging. It wasn't a bad book by any means, and Paulsen's love of the ocean and the wilderness in general shone through clearly, but this was not one of his greatest works. It's a shame too, because I would imagine this is his last; he passed away last year. At the very least though, this was clearly a subject he loved very much and he probably had a great time writing Leif's story. I just didn't have a great time reading it. 

Challenge Tally

Middle Grade Mission: 9/24

Total Books Read in 2022: 24