As the mother of three small children, I have to snatch my reading moments, and quite often I can only read three or so pages at a time. This book is kind of perfect for this style of reading, as nothing much happens but it is so beautifully written that each page is a pleasure.
Essentially it is a book about sexual obsession and loneliness, I think. Bigelowe is a very young man who works as a meteorologist in Alaska during the period of WWI in Europe. At the time, Alaska is a wild frontier, a bit like something out of a cowboy film, but much much colder. Bigelowe has virtually zero contact with anyone except for a mute Aleut woman, with whom he becomes utterly obsessed. When she disappears without explanation, he passes his time building a massive kite that he fills with scientific instruments and flies miles up into the sky. Along the way he has a sort of affair and a horrible, bizarre accident.
I did enjoy this book, it was quite unlike anything else I've read, and somehow I think Kathryn Harrison captured what it would have been like living in such a harsh environment, and she did it beautifully.
I get the impression that she eats, sleeps, breathes and lives words, her writing is truly exceptional, perhaps even in the same category as Hilary Mantell. It's the sort of writing that leaves you speechless and dreamy, and makes you realise that any small dream of one day writing a novel of your own is utterly hopeless!
Essentially it is a book about sexual obsession and loneliness, I think. Bigelowe is a very young man who works as a meteorologist in Alaska during the period of WWI in Europe. At the time, Alaska is a wild frontier, a bit like something out of a cowboy film, but much much colder. Bigelowe has virtually zero contact with anyone except for a mute Aleut woman, with whom he becomes utterly obsessed. When she disappears without explanation, he passes his time building a massive kite that he fills with scientific instruments and flies miles up into the sky. Along the way he has a sort of affair and a horrible, bizarre accident.
I did enjoy this book, it was quite unlike anything else I've read, and somehow I think Kathryn Harrison captured what it would have been like living in such a harsh environment, and she did it beautifully.
I get the impression that she eats, sleeps, breathes and lives words, her writing is truly exceptional, perhaps even in the same category as Hilary Mantell. It's the sort of writing that leaves you speechless and dreamy, and makes you realise that any small dream of one day writing a novel of your own is utterly hopeless!
S8WhOHYkho2047 - Download and read Kathryn Harrison's book The Kiss: A Memoir in PDF, EPub, Mobi, Kindle online. Free The Kiss: A Memoir book.