Northwind

Gary Paulsen's mesmerizing modern-day epic Northwind tells a story of survival and a search for meaning in the remote wilderness of Norway's Arctic coast.

Twelve-year-old Leif is the orphaned son of an unknown man and a "sea-woman." As a baby, Leif was nursed with sour goats' milk and fed scraps, and as soon as he could walk, he was put to work on fishing boats. One day, the fishermen leave him in a far northern village with a group of "used-up and part-crippled old men" and their servant, Little Carl. There Leif and his companions are approached by a mysterious ship that brings a deadly disease to the camp. As the men die one by one, Old Carl sends Leif and Little Carl into the icy wastes on a handcrafted canoe with the admonition to "Keep going north and never come back." To survive, Leif must learn to sustain himself and live in harmony with a world that is both beautiful and dangerous.

Northwind is an engaging and powerful work with an almost ancient feel. The tale of man versus nature is as old as time, but Paulsen (Gone to the Woods), who died in 2021, goes beyond the genre by exploring the complex perspectives of animals such as whales, bears and ravens. Paulsen's use of narrative devices like kennings and repetitious phrasing hark back to epic sagas such as Beowulf and the Poetic Eddas: tides become moon-currents, silence becomes non-sound and memories become thought-pictures. But possibly the most compelling aspect of the work is the lesson Leif learns along his journey: "Don't go to a place. Go to be. Just to be." --Cade Williams, freelance reviewer and staff writer at the Harvard Independent

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