October 30, 2000
The 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition was perhaps the worst-planned arctic exploration in history. The captain declared the ship unfit for the voyage upon seeing it, and the crew consisted of young sailors who had no arctic experience, and scientists who would be better off teaching in a classroom than searching for an undiscovered arctic continent. Niven's first book, unlike the voyage, is well-researchedDand it's thorough. Screenwriter Niven captivates with her reconstruction of the doomed crew's efforts to survive the harshness of the polar winter, disease, hunger and their own clashing personalities. She expertly captures the feelings of the crew about their situation and about each other, and meticulously recounts the daily activities of the 25 crew members (11 survived), during their long stay as castaways on a small arctic Island. The story does read slowly at points, especially near the beginning of the book. The pace picks up as the book progresses, with the most exciting part being the heroic account of the captain's 700-mile trek from the crew's camp to Siberia in search of a ship that he could use to rescue his men.
Starred review from October 1, 2000
\deflang1033\pard\plain\f2\fs17 In 1913, famed scientist Vihjalmur Stefansson organized a mission to the Arctic to discover uncharted land. In an attempt to save money, he purchased a less than adequate ship, the \plain\f2\fs17" Karluk, \plain\f2\fs17 and skimped on supplies. After only a month, the ship becomes trapped in a giant ice floe, and Stefansson abandons most of the crew and scientists, leaving them to fend for themselves. Led astray by the ice flow and brutal winds, the 25 remaining people are eventually forced to abandon the ship after it is crushed by ice and begins sinking. From this point, their real troubles begin. They camp on the ice but, with spring approaching, are forced to hike along the shifting ice floes to the barely habitable Wrangel Island. Once there, the captain and one Inuit man begin a trek to Siberia in hopes of finding a ship to rescue the stranded men. Meanwhile, the survivors on Wrangel Island face harsh weather, illness, and dissent among their ranks. Drawn from the diaries and firsthand accounts of the scientists and crew, Niven has skillfully written her narrative with a genuine sense of immediacy. Her straightforward prose, along with the excerpts from the men's diaries, reveals the men's characters, both good and bad. The survivors cover the entire spectrum of human nature, from noble self-sacrifice to bitter selfishness. While some men resorted to stealing and lying, others went so far as to risk their lives for the survival of the group. Niven's narration transcends the adventure genre and can ultimately be looked at as a study of how the human character is revealed under extreme duress. An amazingly powerful book. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)