Death on the Barrens

Starred review from March 15, 2010
Judges, such as this reviewer, are often asked to evaluate the veracity and credibility of distant accounts of misadventure culminating in a death. No one who reads this story should entertain any doubt as to the scrupulous accuracy of this narrative, which chronicles the author's 1955 journey through the Canadian arctic with four friends. Bad planning left them without food or adequate warmth as winter closed in, and the group leader eventually died of hypothermia. Although the account reminds one of Farley Mowat's adventure novel, Lost in the Barrens, not to mention James A. Michener's "Journey: A Novel", the detailed descriptions of the sensations endured by the writer, the haunting and evocative images he sets forth with poetic grace and erudite references, and the harrowing emotional roller-coaster he experienced in 1955and every year sinceleaves no doubt as to the fidelity of this first-person story of exploration, adventure and tragedy. VERDICT Superbly illustrated, this work represents the best that human kind and nature have to offer: courage, beauty and the challenge to survive. Recommended for all readers of true adventure or memoir.Gilles Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice

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