CARIBOU ISLAND
David Vann
Penguin
David Vann is a work in progress. The bleakness of his first work, Legend of a Suicide, becomes desperation in Caribou Island, summed up by Irene – one half of a disintegrating marriage – that her “entire life was becoming one long day”.
Even so, there’s an exhilaration in Alaska, a never-ending wonder at nature and the audacity of some who take it on. Supporting characters in the earlier work become the stars in this one, so reading the books one after another puts them into perspective, though this creates its own complexities.
It’s a starkly beautiful book which makes one realise that what grizzlies do to people is nothing compared to what people do to themselves. – Shirley de Kock Gueller