A Place Beyond

September 15, 1996
Jans could easily have got stuck in his subject matter--life in rural, mostly Native Alaskan Alaska. Or he could have pretended that subject didn't matter and emphasized high-flown prose. He avoids both extremes in essays that are finely written without being "fine writing" and that honor their subject without being overwhelmed by it. For instance, in "Coming Home" he vividly assesses the changes he experiences each time he leaves for Outside (of Alaska, that is): "Caribou to street signs, mukluks to three-piece suits, the stillness of the tundra giving way to the rattle of jackhammers--the quick switch is sensory overload, like running through a crowd while looking through a kaleidoscope." Returning, there is the grandeur and beauty of the arctic. He whispers to the mountains, but "there is no reply. I sit alone, staring north into the wind, waiting for the welcome that will never be offered, knowing that I haven't been missed." Like his "Last Light Breaking" (1993), this book promises to be a northern classic. ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)