For What He Could Become: A Story of War, Friendship, Alcoholism, Homelessness, and the Purifying Power of Alaska's Iditarod Sled Dog Race

by Jim Misko

The story is about Bill Williams, half Irish, half Athabaskan Indian who leaves his native village after a disastrous bear hunt, works on a Yukon Riverboat, searches for gold, helps build the AlCan Highway and goes to war in 1942. Surviving the Battle of the Bulge, he returns to find the village sterile, his girlfriend married to his brother, and the lifestyle not conducive to one who has fought a war through Belgium and Germany. He moves to Anchorage where, after a series of mishaps, he becomes a derelict, suffers alcoholism, unemployment, and homelessness. The untimely death of his dominating brother causes the widow, a woman he has waited for all his life, to give him a second big chance at love, life, and happiness, and shoves him into the Last Great Race on Earth, the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Jim Misko grew up in Ord, Nebraska, moved to Oregon, and then to Alaska in 1974. He has worked as an oil field roughneck, logger, forest service lookout, planer mill hand, truck driver, mink rancher, journalist, school teacher and real estate broker.

This is his third novel. His previous publications include Creative Financing of Real Estate; How to Finance Any Real Estate, Any Place, Any Time; and How to Finance Any Real Estate, Any Place, Any Time - Strategies That Work!

Jim and his wife Patti live in Alaska in the summer and California in the winter.

Reviews

[John Smelcer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In For What He Could Become, Jim Misko takes readers on a sweeping epic from Alaska to the war in Europe during WWII, and back home to Alaska. It is a coming-of-age novel in some ways, but not like what you expect. It is a story of who we think we are, who we think we should be, and who the world tells us to be. From the opening scene with its bear attack to the last scene of a musher on the trail, the story moves swiftly as if on snow and ice.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man is he good or what?!

[Danalli Calhoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok book. It was very slow to get into, and I was waiting for more excitment, but sadly, that didn't happen. I think the other did a good job with the story line, and some of the plot points. I just wanted more out of this book.

[Rochelle McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For What He Could Become" is the story of Bill Williams, a young Irish-Athabaskan man with a plan. He's going to leave his village, get out of his older brother's shadow, and make his fortune working on the Alaska Canada(AlCan)Highway. Then, he will return home to marry the girl he loves. Wait! You can't just have happily ever after so easily. While he is working on the highway, Bill receives an invitation from Uncle Sam, to report to the European Theater during World War II. After being away for three years, he returns home to find things have mainly stayed the same, but he can no longer marry the girl he loves.
With nothing in the village to keep him there, Bill decides to take his military separation pay and look for work in the big city (Anchorage). Soon after getting a good job, he is introduced to the nemesis that few Native Alaskans have any resistance to: Alcohol. That same night, he is beaten and robbed and, as a result, he loses his direction, becoming part of the system. Along the way, there is the tantalizing prospect of gold (if he can find the spot).
When he thinks he's at his lowest point, Bill finds himself recruited as a last minute replacement musher in the first Iditarod race. Bill may not have been able to see the potential for what he could become, but his friends could. Can Bill make it over a thousand miles to the finish line, or does alcohol have too strong a hold on him? Follow this action packed adventure to the end, to find out.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. The problem was that I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen, but really there wasn't a big AH HA moment in the book. It just kind of keep going just like the sled race. It was definitely well done and I love reading about other cultures and their experiences but this book didn't WOW me. It was a nice story about a guy doing the sled race and kind of trying to get his life back on track along the way.