Kay's Bookshelf

The book starts (quite promising) like this:

I’ve always wanted to be what I am not. But fate plays tricks, and on the twenty-third of February 2006, when I wanted to be more than I am, I became what I am not.

The quote is representative for Clyde — he spent his life trying to move up from the “challenged group” he was part of in school and still felt part of, to the group of successful and smart people (the “bright group”, as he called them). On the way to give his presentation Clyde feels this is his time, now he will be noticed and make it at last — only it doesn’t happen this way and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.

Clyde may not be the brightest bulb in the box but he is trying hard to be a nice person. At the time the book starts he is 59 years old and luckily in perfect health. I sort of sided with his moral dilemmas and felt sorry for his hurts. I cared for him at times, but every now and then I just lost interest in him (plus I quite disliked his “un-smart moments”, when he showed his lack of mental acuity). The ones I have found quite interesting were his two friends, Dan and George. I most admired their ability to improve and the fact that they were resourceful and ever surprising.

Speaking of which, I was quite amused to notice that they (Dan and George) were sort of a solve-it-all in the story. Each time Clyde couldn’t do something (for physical or moral reasons), one of his friends did it for him. There is even a moment when the author couldn’t (or just didn’t want to) explain how the characters managed to find a certain place, and he easily shrugged it of by saying something like “Dan found it and didn’t tell Clyde(the narrator) how”.

My favorite part of the book (writing-wise) was the part where Clyde spends the winter in the mountains. And yet this is also the part that required suspension of disbelief the most. For example, how come Clyde was dry after being part of an avalanche? Could elk skin (or even hare pelts) actually be cut with shale? (speaking of which, I was mightily amused by the fact that Clyde made himself a shale knife with an antler handle — an impossible feat if one doesn’t have super glue available). Would one actually have trouble understanding language after only a few months? Nevertheless, there were other things that I found realistic and well expressed such as the parts where Clyde is frozen into inaction by fear or, better yet, the part where Clyde returns to the civilized world and has mixed feelings about it (on the mountain he was in control of his life and no one looked down on him, unlike the world “outside”).

What I liked most: Every now and then there were some inserts, asking the reader what he/she thought so far and/or what does he/she think will happen next:

Now, if I was a reasonable reader, at this point I would scoff at the whole story. Unbelievable! I would slam this book shut, throw it in the garbage and get a Robert Ludlum novel. Yet… could this really happen? Is survival possible?

I loved them because they were very well timed (only during lulls in the action) and because reading them felt like taking a step back and evaluating what happened as well as the chances for (and the ways of) survival I thought Clyde might have at a particular moment (To my regret they stopped appearing after it was clear that Clyde was out of immediate danger, and I missed them).

What I liked least: At times I loved the writing style (especially when Clyde is in the mountains). At times the action unfurled fast and interesting. And yet there also were times when the pace slowed down (or I lost interest in the fate of the characters, or both). At one point I almost stopped reading altogether. A pity since, as I was saying, some parts are quite good and captivating.

Recommend it? Well, at the very least you might want to give it a try as it does have some good parts :)

Amazon Affiliate. If you click an Amazon link and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Popularity: 2% [?]