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Interviews | December 28, 2009

Finding Lost Lore: The Powells.com Interview with Paul Jenner

1 comment By Megan

Perhaps there's a line graph somewhere that explains the correlation between an abundance of available technology and one's increased interest in... Continue »

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1. 
   $17.46 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   Lost Lore: A Celebration of Traditional Wisdom from Foraging and Festivals to Seafaring and Smoke Signals

   Una McGovern and Paul Jenner

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Grady Harp, December 5, 2007

A Mesmerizing Story and a Timely Tale, December 5, 2007

That FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE is a first novel by Lesley Thomas is the first hurdle the reader must overcome, so rich in detail, research, and technical finesse are the over four hundred pages of this fascinating book. What does become obvious with even the first few pages is the fact that here is a writer who can address significant world environment issues while building love stories - between a remarkably real Inupiat girl and a Swedish scientist, between the world of the spirit and the realm of the universe, and between the mysteries of past traditions with those beings longing to preserve the enormous habitat that is transforming before our grieving eyes - stories that intermingle to create a total experience that simply refuses to end with the closing of the final cover.

Thomas opens her book with a Prologue and with words like the following the reader is assured the presence of an enriching encounter: 'Let me tell what happened, and don't ask at the end what the message is. Whatever is already in us at birth, we find again in stories. We see it in the face of the moon, in the face of our lover, in our own death, in the FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE.' From this point she unravels the Norn's threadball of time relating the changes that are taking place in Alaska in 1971, mixing the daily arduous charges of living with distant echoes of world events that are reshaping the life of our main character (Gretchen/Kayuqtuq). Thomas builds a blindingly realistic love story between the native, orphaned, shamanistic Kayuqtuq with ornithologist, peace advocate Leif Trygvesen and in creating a fully rounded and metaphorically meaningful relationship Thomas resorts to sharing the story from the vantage of both of these unique souls. From this launching point we learn about Eskimo traits and foods and history and manner of survival in a culture that is being eroded by technologic 'civilization', a series of sidebar stories that Thomas always manages to remain centered and focused while expanding the scope of her immensely interesting and important story.

FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE is a novel so rich that deserves to be in the library of everyone who values fine storytelling while simultaneously respecting the threats and conditions of change that are only now being brought to our attention by the environmentalists. To manage to accomplish this service to mankind in as fine a book as this establishes Lesley Thomas as an important author. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

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