Audiobook Review: Caribou Island

The last frontier of relationships? A review of Caribou Island, by David Vann, read by Bronson Pinchot, and reviewed by Star Lawrence (also available as a book) In the interest of TMI, let me reveal that I spent a decade of my life with a man who was a “dreamer” with limited follow-though. I also tended to martyr out from time to time and still do. Maybe this is why I can’t get David Vann’s Caribou Island out of my mind, but I tend to think it’s more because this is good storytelling—if you define that as making the reader always wonder what comes next, what will happen, then what. But by good storytelling, I don’t mean it's easy to take. In loosely wandering between the stories of a couple who had settled into the icy wilds of Alaska decades before and now are picking at the remains of their relationship, along with their two grown children and two tourists—Caribou Island is a study in endurance, missed connections, stunted emotional growth, and escapism. A friend once chided me for recommending a book in which animals suffered, so fair warning—the people do most of the suffering in this one, but there is mention of a starved dog and many, many salmon have a bad time of it. Did I “enjoy” this book? I can’t get it out of my mind. Is that the same? One more thing. I can’t read novels anymore, so I listened to Bronson Pinchot read this. He does a perfect job—perfect! You might want to take a flyer on audio with this one. Star Lawrence owns two blogs— http://healthsass.blogspot.com/ and a recession site called http://dothehopeycopey.blogspot.com/. She is a long-time reporter.