A Far Distant Place

by Danielle Thomas

"It's hell. It's heaven. It's marvellous and it cleanses your soul. It's dreadful and fills you with the sort of fear you can taste. And there is nothing on earth to compare with it..".This is the Iditarod, the longest and most dangerous race in the world, the Last Great Race. Run in March every year over a thousand miles of fierce, forbidding terrain, through the mountains and snowy wastes of Alaska where the wind whips relentlessly down from the North Pole.Natu is a young woman torn between two cultures. Fiercely protective of her ancestral land, she has instead chosen to work, with her American fiance, on the oilfields in the north. But when she hears of the death of her beloved Inupiat grandmother, she knows she must return home to her father to prepare to fulfill her dream and run the Iditarod.Against the silence and beauty of the untamed Alaskan wilderness, Danielle Thomas vividly captures the tension, fear, and elation of the race's participants, the despair and tragedy for some, and ultimately triumph for others.

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Helena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative in terms of Alaska and The Last Great Race. I struggled to really bond with the characters though. The story line is a little thin.

[Ceri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was given to me a few years ago by a friend - now beginning to think she secretly dislikes me.

The book started promisingly, and the subject matter should have been really exciting. I did enjoy being made aware of the Iditarod race but a Google search of it was much more interesting than this book.

I didn’t care for any of the characters, even the dogs. SO boring.

[Kaneeka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good work

[Tammie Lagimodiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very descriptive and makes you feel like you are on the trail with the mushers and very sad when short dies

[E Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

inupiat

This is the story of an Inupiat woman who has left her village
to work in the Alaskan oil fields with her Non-Inupiat boyfriend.
When the Grandmother who raised her dies,she realizes she has
turned her back on her heritage. She decides to train for and
run the Iditarod race. She returns to her fathers house to train
and her boyfriend, who is now her husband, also decides to run
the race. Her father has befriended two brothers and one of them
decides to run the race as well.

The best part of this book is the information on the hardships
and challenges that are involved in running this race. It also
has a lot of interesting details about the nature and handling of
the dog teams. There was also insights into the beliefs and
customs of the Inupiat people.

That is what kept me reading the book. The characters and
the story itself weren't that interesting.

[Toni Umar · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the story, lots of character building to begin with. But then I couldn't put the book down, loved the setting and also learnt a lot, the story seemed very well researched. I was sad when I finished and would love a sequel to follow the lives of the characters, including the dogs!

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak story line and character development but some good descriptions of the Iditarod.