Due North: A Novel

by Mitchell Smith

Traumatized by the death of her husband, who was mauled by a bear while she watched, Sarah Maher leaves her life as a fur trapper in Alaska and returns to civilization for the first time in years. 17,500 first printing. National ad/promo.

Genres: Fiction

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Mitchell Smith is an American author writing crime fiction and science fiction.

Also known as Roy LeBeau.

Reviews

[Tiffany Risner · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the first 100 pages of Mitchell Smith’s Due North, this was my first impression:

Beginning with the positives: It is worth the read based on the compelling characters alone. The protagonist, Sarah, is deeply drawn and done surprisingly well for a male author. Mitchell doesn’t ever suppose he knows what it’s like to be a woman, but he inserts enough to be convincing. There aren’t any of her musings, and so the reader is allowed to guess and suppose what she is going through after her husband was mauled by a bear before her very eyes. The gory scene of the attack was well executed. I squirmed, almost vomited, and then read it again.


The biggest drawback is that some details are unnecessary. It almost feels as if the author did not opt for an editor. I have found numerous lines that don’t have any resonance with the story. I’m reading and thinking, “Did I need to know that?” I wouldn’t ask Mitchell to pull back too much, though, because it’s important to me to get that sense of a Far North story that is slower because a writer in the middle of nowhere has the time to draw out each scene. Even though a scene might drag on, I think it is important to do so because that’s the pace of life up there.


A good example from Mitchell’s first 100: “‘Is that a hint? I’m supposed to have a vet fly into Chancy, fly all the way up here, take a look at ‘em they get kennel cough?’ He put the plastic bags of lungs and kidneys into the freezer. ‘I love it. You women are all alike. Come in here an’ call me a shitty fish-eater Indian to my face — which most people wouldn’ think of doin’, I can tell you that — then turn right round an’come back an’ want me to baby those dogs. The lead of which team would just as soon take my leg off as look at me . . .’” (Frank, 83).


An example of something that should’ve been edited: “Mary Toby’s bath towels, off-white, had rows of little yellow chicks running across their top and bottom hems.”
This is a book I can’t put down. The language isn’t as high-style literature as the last book I read by Millman, but it is deep and the characters are very much alive in me. I expect that when I get to the end, I will have wished the book was longer, or that I will eat my own words to say there could’ve been less editing… who knows? I just hope the ending is satisying.


Later…

First, the positive: I had to finish it. I had to know what would happen between Sarah and the bear at the end of the book.

Now, the negative: I had to skip about 5 chapters to get to the ending. The best way I can explain it is that the story took a dive as she was searching for her place in the world. It wasn’t deep or compelling at all and was again, in great need of editing. I would not put this book on my list of required reading.

[Debi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing!

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, albeit somewhat episodic, book about a woman trying to survive in the Alaskan wilderness, by hunting and trapping. Sometime after her husband is killed, she returns to civilization to live with her sister, for a time, in Seattle. Although the majority of reviews focus on the survival-in-the-wilderness portion of the novel, I actually enjoyed the sequences in which the protagonist attempts to re-acclimate herself to society. There are some humorous and insightful exchanges between Sara (the main character), and her sister, who is imprisoned in a McMansion with a willful, spoiled brat of a teenage son, and an ex-husband who once wrote her very maudlin poetry (which she holds over his head, tormenting him to very humorous effect).

There are also some painful scenes dealing with Sara's mother, who is slowly dying an agonizing death in a nursing home, as she is consumed by a benign (albeit rather large) tumor.

I'm giving the novel a mixed review, as it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a tale of survival in the wild, or a story about adjusting to civilization, after a long period spent roaming in the Alaskan hinterland. I believe Mitchell Smith to be an incredibly talented writer (as evidenced by his masterpiece, "Stone City") and certain passages of this book were quite impressive, but the cumulative effect of this book's jump from Alaska to Seattle and back felt too jarring for this reader to give the work a hearty recommendation. Not bad, but not great, either.

The book, however, hasn't spoiled me on Smith permanently, by any means. I'm eager to read his "Snowfall" series, which deals with a band of humans struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The series of Westerns he wrote under the Roy LeBeau pen name are also pulpy treasures.

[Sunset_Va · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara Maher is one of the strongest people I have ever read about. Without going into the plot, if you want to understand what bush Alaska is like, this is an excellent book to comprehend how the people live.


What is amazing is that the author wrote this book feminine , to this day after reading it at least 5 times, it stands as one of my favorite books. As to Sara being strong, read the book pertaining to how she handled her mother's terminal illness, and you will understand. Most people would think it cruel, but in Sara's way of life, it was the only way to deal with it.

Sara going into the grocery store gives us insight into what we take for granted , she almost has a breakdown seeing things she has not seen or tasted in years.

Not a lengthy book, but one you will treasure. I think the author's style of writing also contributed much to the complexity of the book.

Mitchel Smith also wrote a science fiction novel "Snowfall", which is also a novel outstanding.
Both of his books are hard to find.

[Cynthia F Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story but felt the author didn't know enough to take it further. Ideally the woman whose husband is mauled by a bear could take upon herself 'bear medicine' after such a sacrifice, but perhaps Mitchell Smith didn't know of such things, or couldn't take his character there.
I've a fondness for stories set in the Cold North, tho' I live in Rhode Island. I enjoy feeling some kinship with the tougher folks, who tough it out, in tough climes. Maybe these stories are teaching me resilience as well as reverence for Mother Nature.
The strong female character was quite appealing to me.

[Angela Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gripping story, real page turner. There are times when Sara seems to be a virtually ordinary person though she is a most exceptional woman. From north of North to Seattle each landscape is an extreme.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent adventure story of a strong willed and determined woman making her life in Alaska.