Journey

 

Journey – by James Michener

I read most of James Michener’s humongous well-received epics many years ago. For the past several years, I’ve tried to absorb many of his lesser works that were always somewhat shorter. Oddly, those books seemed to be somewhat of a throwaway, and I didn’t care for the majority of them.  This one, though, is much different. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the book. It’s only about 175 pages. This is probably just about the right length for a tale such as this. The story takes place over a two-year period in 1897-1898. Because of the detail of the “journey”, a lengthier book would have been possible, and maybe some would say necessary, but this book is a rather harsh read, and more definitely would not have been merrier.

In 1897 a 30-something year old English aristocrat, Lord Evelyn Luton, gets the “gold” bug that infested so much of western civilization at the time.  Tales of riches to be dug up in the western part of the United States and Canada brought out the greediest of many.  Before we get very far, we’re already shaking our head. Hindsight of history tells us that the gold rush was much more farce than fact, and the fact that Luton seems to have spent his whole life lying on silk sheets and having servants dress him for each of his leisurely days, allows us to already smell the impending disaster of such an adventure.  We must chuckle as we read. We simply know better.

He teams up with three other nobles – one about his age, and a younger nephew and friend.  They also bring along an Irish servant who will be assigned the more menial work for the fortunate foursome. Once the five begin their trek across the Atlantic and arrive in Canada, we know the outcome can’t be good. It seems as though there are many people with the same ambition as Luton and his party, and many of the individuals who lure these individuals are nothing more than rapacious fraudsters trying to make a quick buck. None of these hucksters care at all that they’re sending so many to their death in the frigid temperatures of Northwestern Canada towards the fabled Yukon gold fields.

Once the hard part of the journey actually begins after the party leaves civilization, I have to honestly say that I was somewhat surprised with the direction the story took. I expected all five of these individuals to be dead within a matter of months, but Michener makes sure that our…uh…journey is a bit more nuanced, and we come across some surprises. That’s not to say that the trek is easy. No, not by a long shot. In fact, I think I can safely say that not everyone in the party survives.

Like many of Michener’s “place” novels, the reader immediately falls in love with the location. Yes, it’s bitter cold (frequently at about -40 degrees), yes, it’s dangerous and bare, but one can’t help want to somehow be there with the characters and experience nature in the beauty that it radiated despite the hardships. As I’ve alluded, we go through the 23 months pretty quickly, and the reader needs to remind themselves that although the pages turn swiftly, our characters were actually in their particular dire circumstances a lot longer than we may allow ourselves to believe unless we remember to focus.

In the afterword of the novel, Michener tells his readers that this story was first intended to be a section of his wonderful novel “Alaska”.  He mentions that it would have been slightly unjust since this story doesn’t really take place IN Alaska, and it would have already made that very long book even longer. I think he did right by keeping it separate.

I’ll also add that since many Michener books run in the 800–1300-page range, a new reader might be tempted to try a smaller work by him first to see if they enjoy the author’s writing style and pace. This would be a good book to try for such an endeavor. I should also point out that most of Michener’s “long” books tend to be composed of several smaller stories within a large volume. Those stories always focus on different people in different times, yet in the same place – that place is whatever the particular book title is (Alaska, Texas, Poland, Chesapeake, etc.)  This book is essentially one of those “smaller” stories.

So start here. If you like it, keep going. Most of the author’s works are worth the long….er….uh….journey.