Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | 508.776 HUO | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The locus of Jim dale Huot-Vickery's life is a remote cabin in the northern wilderness of Minnesota's Boundary Waters region. More often than not, it is winter here, a fierce, beautiful season that dominates all living things with its relentless cold grip. This is the inspiration for Winter Sign, the profound story of fifteen years of surviving the seven-month-long odyssey of winter in the far north."We know parkas, mukluks, mittens, snowshoes, skis, and sled dogs", Huot-Vickery writes. "Snow sparkles gold on cloudless winter mornings. There are shell-pink sunsets. Stars glimmer among northern lights. For those of us who know this land, however, beauty is only part of the winter story. There are those long nights, those we rarely speak about, that surely and irrevocably shift the soul". Against this backdrop, Huot-Vickery writes authoritatively on the ecology of the area, poetically about the beauty of snow, and philosophically about winter's probing of the human spirit. He explores the world of nature and the constant struggle for survival, including his own interactions with white-tailed deer and wolves. Huot-Vickery circles around paradoxes and themes that invade the land and his life: nature's beauty and bounty pitted against danger and death; the challenge of self-reliance and the depths of isolation; loss and restoration. And always there is the unrelenting winter, filled with wonder and terror. At turns poignant and harrowing, Winter Sign explores the solitude of the dark night of the soul, and the sustenance and inspiration winter's wild beauty provides.9
Reviews (1)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the Quetico-Superior region of northeastern Minnesota, winter is long, with snow in evidence from mid-October to May. The season is fiercely challenging, but it is also majestic. Huot-Vickery (Open Spaces) has spent 15 such winters at his cabin in the wilderness, where he has observed deer and wolves. Here, he introduces readers to the geology of the area and to its succession of wildlife. The subject of winter and deep snows leads him to that of snowshoes, and so he provides full information about their history and use. There are occasional autobiographical glimpses (such as a poignant account of his mother's death), as well as lyrical descriptions of snowy landscapes, but the focus is on the grandeur and danger of nature in winter, on the season's potentially fatal beauty. In addition to offering a solid study of the ecology of the Boundary Waters region, Huot-Vickery also provides a compelling account of a quest to understand nature and self. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved