Shopping for Porcupine by Seth Kantner
Seth Kantner s Ordinary Wolves told the story of a white boy raised in a sod igloo on the Arctic tundra. A heartbreaking vision of a vanishing world, it established Kantner as one of the nation s most original and authentic writers. Here, he returns to the setting of his debut novel with an autobiographical account of his own life in a rapidly changing land. Beginning with his parents migration to the Alaskan wilderness in the 1950s and extending to his own attempts to balance hunting with writing, Kantner recalls cold nights wrapped in caribou hides, fur-clad visitors arriving on dog sleds, swimming amidst ice floes for wounded waterfowl, and his longstanding respect for the old Inupiaq ways. Captured in words and images, these details combine to reveal a singular landscape at a pivotal moment in its history. Both an elegy and a romp, the book illuminates a world few will see as Kantner has.
"Fascinating essays, marvelous photographsAs he did with his remarkable novel, Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner illuminates an Alaska most of us will never know." Andrea Barrett
"This book is full of stunning images, and only some of them are in the photos. Others are in the narrative accounts of traditions colliding, subsistences overlapping, dilemmas mounting. It's all quite unforgettable." Bill McKibben
"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching. As tough as caribou hide, Kantner enthralls the reader from beginning to end. This book is bound to become a classic alongside the works of Loren Eiseley, Edward Abbey, and John McPhee." Jonis Agee
"With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill
"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy. In Ordinary Wolves, you glimpsed Seth Kantner's life between the words. Here, you meet it head-on." Nick Jans
"This book is full of stunning images, and only some of them are in the photos. Others are in the narrative accounts of traditions colliding, subsistences overlapping, dilemmas mounting. It's all quite unforgettable." Bill McKibben
"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching. As tough as caribou hide, Kantner enthralls the reader from beginning to end. This book is bound to become a classic alongside the works of Loren Eiseley, Edward Abbey, and John McPhee." Jonis Agee
"With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill
"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy. In Ordinary Wolves, you glimpsed Seth Kantner's life between the words. Here, you meet it head-on." Nick Jans
Kantner, Seth: - Seth Kantner is the author of Ordinary Wolves and Shopping for Porcupine. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Outside, and Orion, among others. He lives in Kotzebue, Alaska.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781571313010 |
| ISBN 10 | 157131301X |
| Title | Shopping for Porcupine |
| Author | Seth Kantner |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Milkweed Editions |
| Year published | 2008-07-17 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |