A Christmas gift.
One of the 2008 Canada Reads candidates!

As I was reading this, I was conscious of the simple sentences, short paragraphs and chapters; crisp language; spare and precise dialogue and I decided this must be deliberate by the author - meant to convey the simplicity of a snow covered landscape, the crispness of the cold, ice crystals and fragments, short breaths in the lung-freezing air making long winded conversation unwise if not impossible, one's words being swept away with the wind, the need to not waste one's energy, the cracking of trees in the cold, icicles dripping in the sun, the creep of the glacier, blah, blah, blah. Then I read in an interview somewhere that Wharton had to keep his chapters brief because he had time constraints - he was looking after his young son. And I was reminded of Robert Kroetsch telling a class of university English students of which I was one and who were studying his novel *The Studhorseman* that he was constantly amazed at what people read into his novels.

Well, whether he meant to or not, Wharton's style of writing put me right on that glacier and into the crevasse with Byrne - marveling at the beauty and cursing my predicament. I could feel the cold (mind you I was reading this in Winnipeg during a week that saw temperatures of -48C with the wind chill) and I saw the ice angel.

At the very first sentence, I was entranced. I was in that time and place. However, I do have to say that mid-way through my attention wavered a bit. I'm not entirely sure why. I am a lazy reader and tend not to fight to stay with a story. But I did notice that with some parts of the dialogue, because of the way Wharton presents his dialogue, I was not certain who was talking. Wharton's use of italics was sometimes puzzling as well. I did not know whether these were an individual's thoughts or whether they were quotations from someone's writings.

And, a bit like Byrne himself I suppose, I didn't notice how the war got in there, the railway came through and Trask and his tourists showed up.

I was not sure I liked the ending when I read it, but looking back on it, I've decided it is as it should be. Time, like the glacier, both changes and reveals.

An enjoyable and interesting read, at times thought provoking and at times quite magical.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is going into kimmi's third Canadian authors bookbox (on my second look at the box) before it heads east. Pleasant travels.

Taken out of Kimmi's 3rd Canadian Authors Bookbox.