I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark

by Brian Hall

"Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition to the Pacific Ocean and back in the early nineteenth century is the most famous journey in American history. But its very fame has obscured its oddness. Its public image of discovery and triumphant return has veiled its private stories of longing and loss, of self-discovery and mutual ignorances, of good luck and mischance and fortunate misunderstanding."

"Rather than concentrate exclusively on the expedition, Brian Hall has chosen to focus on emblematic moments through the whole range of the lives of its participants. Ever present as a backdrop is the violent collision of white and Native American cultures, and the broader tragedy of the inability of any human being to truly understand what lies in the heart of another."

Hall has written the novel in four competing voices. The primary one is that of Lewis, the troubled and mercurial figure who found that it was impossible to enter paradise without having it crumble around him. Hall brings this enigmatic character to life as no historian ever has. A second voice is that of the Shoshone girl-captive Sacagawea, interpretor on the expedition, whose short life of disruption and displacement mirrored the times in which she lived. Other perspectives are provided by William Clark and by Toussaint Charbonneau, the French fur trader who took Sacagawea as his wife.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Novels, Book Club, Native American, 19th Century

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2003

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the subject (the Lewis and Clark expedition) interests you zoom out and get it; if you have a taste for fictional treatments of family dynamics it's a good choice; the Native American sections of the book are stylistically interesting but discontinuous with the rest of the book and not, in my opinion, interesting enough to make them functionally necessary to the book. It gets three stars and was sent to live with the Lord like so many others before it.

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not for those who read primarily for plot, but this was fantastic for language and character fans. Hall tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from multiple first person perspectives, each written in a completely different style. There’s all sorts of fun little style details, from the way that Lewis and Clark spell Charbonneau’s name (Charbono, mostly, but not always) to the way that Sacajawea’s narratives shift as she learns names and English words.

Thomas Jefferson was kind of a giant tool, but in a way that was almost so over the top it became horrifyingly entertaining. He plans to “civilize” the Indians through interracial marriage, among other fantastic plans.

But! The last third of the book is about what happens after they come back from the expedition, and Lewis becomes governor of Louisiana Territory and is a terrible bureaucrat, and Clark immediately runs off and gets married (to a sixteen year old) and Lewis’ life pretty much spirals out of control, and he spends most of his time drinking and wishing Clark was still there, and he buys a house for Clark, and this is why I love multiple points of view – the difference between how Clark interpreted the house and what Lewis was planning was fantastic. And horrible, and sad, and, well, spoilers for American history, but it doesn’t end well for poor Meriwether. Which is why he’s my favorite.

Is there Lewis and Clark fanfic? Because if there is, I would probably read it now.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I have a lot of thoughts on this book… first off when I was 8 I went through a minor period where I was obsessed with the Lewis and Clark expedition so I both had background knowledge and also high hopes for this book. There were chapters with different perspectives on people in the group, both Lewis and Clark’s chapters were pretty interesting, of course they were both wildly racist (to understate) and I thought Lewis’s mental health issues and obsession with Clark were portrayed well and I was very pleased that we also had Sacagawea’s perspective…. Except that her chapters were almost completely unreadable. The author explains (at the end of the book lol) that he used language conventions of the Shoshone people which is cool except it wasn’t explained beforehand and also I had no familiarity with that. It was pretty challenging to understand what was being said. Not to mention that Sacagawea seems to have little to no understanding of what is going on ever at all and also frequently describes in graphic detail what is going on with her asshole and vagina… which I guess IS FINE but idk I simply don’t think she would say that!! Also we had a couple of Charbonneau chapters in such broken English that they were also virtually unreadable. It makes no sense to me because it doesn’t matter if you are not a strong English speaker if the perspective is being written as his thoughts then it should be magically translated from French because that’s how books work…? Anyway the best part of the entire book was the final chapter when York finally gets his say which was highly satisfying. Overall I really wish the non Lewis and Clark perspectives were handled better to contrast their point of view on the expedition and aftermath. P.S. once my grandmother told me I am a direct descendant of Clark. That was a falsehood that I believed for many years

[Damla]

I ended up DNFing this one 🫠 Its not particularly a bad book, but I found myself being bored on way too many occasions.

Firstly I’m not that familiar with the Lewis & Clark expedition, I tried reading up on it prior to reading but it seems that it didn’t help. The characters were alright but I didn’t care that much for them.

Overall this wasn’t a bad book, just not for me

[carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooof. I love historical fiction, but this was a tough slog for me. Some beautiful parts and I did learn about the amazing expedition, but many sections seemed all about the language. Too often I felt that the excessive detail and focus of a section was contrived.

[Liss Carmody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is probably a better book than my rating would lead one to believe. Like most historical fiction, it paints between the rough outlines of the historical record to create a landscape which is both plausible and (one hopes) interesting, but this novel goes above and beyond and crosses over from simply intriguing storytelling into a realm that brushes against poetry. The expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark up the Missouri River and through the northwest to the Pacific Ocean is pretty well documented, but Hall's writing brought the era to life in several different perspectives - we have the cultured, tormented voice of Lewis, the straightforward voice of Clark, even occasionally the weasel-y broken-English voice of Charbonneau. Each of these perspectives is distinctive, demonstrating an elasticity that is impressive in its own right. And then there is the voice of Tsakakawia, the teenaged Shoshone girl who, infant son in arms, operates as guide and translator for the party through the later part of their journey. Her passages are like nothing I have encountered before, and I am not remotely knowledgeable enough about Native cultures or language to know whether Hall's work here approaches accuracy or appropriateness. It is clear that it was handled with great respect, which I admire.

The writing is lyrical, and the pace of the story (especially a story in which so many of the plot points are fairly known) was slow for me. It was not a page-turner; there was no urgency hurrying me on to the next destination. Rather, like a slow journey upstream, it took its time, and even when the journey's tale was done, the final eighth of the book concerned itself with following the characters farther, winding their lives down and allowing musing on the nature of legacy, of character, of how various choices at various times shaped the nature of America's frontier and the ripples that appear even in our own day from the interactions between these various peoples in a place far from established 'civilization.'

I don't think I will ever want to read this book again. Nevertheless, there are scenes and passages that will stick with me. Bear-hunting across the Missouri. Every pang of subtext directed from Lewis to Clark. Tsakakawia's death passage, in which she pines over her lost culture and the loss of her son Jean-Baptiste, left me chilled.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. I especially enjoyed Sacagawea’s chapters.

[Dale Boyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Extraordinarily Fine Piece of Writing

I've had this book on my shelf for about 10 years, and I'm SO happy I finally got around to reading it. It's less about the voyage, and more about trying to enter into the consciousness of the various members of the expedition. The Indian sections (as well as Charbonneau's) ARE extremely difficult, as so many have pointed out, and I, too, nearly gave up at one point. But I'm so glad I persisted, because the book is SO excellent in so many ways. It really makes the characters come alive -- particularly Merriwether Lewis -- and in such a way I don't think I'll ever forget it. Indeed, there's a scene with Lewis one night in the middle of the plains that's an absolutely awe-inspiring bit of imagining, and I feel he's onto something with sensing an attraction from Lewis towards Clark. Even the title is extraordinarily good: I take it to refer to Lewis, thinking he should be happy, but ultimately not winding up being so. This is a very demanding work, and it DOES help to know a little bit about the various figures beforehand. But it really rewards patience, and I think ultimately is a truly great work of art. I loved it.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently finished reading “I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark” by Brian Hall. From the Publisher’s Weekly review:

Narrated in multiple distinct voices, this retelling of the story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's legendary expedition is less a historical blow-by-blow than an engaging character study of the two men. Hall focuses on a few significant episodes in the journey-such as the hunting accident that wounds Lewis and causes him to sink into his famous depression-as seen through the eyes of Lewis, Sacagawea, Clark and Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacagawea's French fur trader husband. The result is a memorable portrait of the expedition leaders.

I started reading it a couple years ago. It was slow going as I read it it little chunks. I don't think that was the best way to read this book. I had a hard time keeping track of who was narrating…Lewis or Clark…and the Sacagawea sections were also difficult to follow (intentionally, intending to represent her native American perspective).

As I finally neared the end, I managed to “lose” the book about a year ago while on vacation in Tennessee. It was one of those rare occasions when I was sitting in the the back of the van, and I stuck the book in a seat-back pouch. Fast forward a year, I'm finally in the back of the van again and find the book…and finally finished it off.

I think I would have liked the first-person, faux-diary format better if it had stuck with one narrator. I’m glad to have learned a bit about Lewis and Clark but figure it would have been more enjoyable in bigger chunks.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great historical novel about Lewis and Clark. The book is told through multiple points of view: Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau, Sacajawea and others. He attempts to give each its own voice, but it makes Sacajawea's chapters very difficult to read, and exoticizes her in a way. It is a character driven book rather than a plot driven one, as many of the climaxes of the story are not focused on, for example the expedition reaching the Pacific Ocean. A somewhat spoilery warning for those with depression or those who have considered suicide Lewis' chapters after the expedition are a heart wrenching look at him spiraling into severe depression. These sections are both terrible and amazing because they are so visceral. As someone who has had depression, it triggered some of those thoughts. I would definitely still recommend it, but I wish I had been better prepared going into those sections. Overall, a great emotional, character driven historical novel.

[Daniel Villines · Rating 1 out of 5]

I believe in the great line that says, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” [George Santayana, 1905:]. However, in order to avoid condemnation, the past remembered must be true. Furthermore, in order to apply history in your own way, to your own life, the understanding of history must be based upon your own interpretation of the facts.

At best, this book is sugar-coated history. At worst, this work is filled with untruths and prose meant to fill in the gaps of history such that the reader is relieved of the burden that good works of history require – interpretation. At the end of this book, the reader is left with a story, which is entirely the author’s interpretation of events of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Thus, the real tragedy that this book may affect in others is that others may accept this interpretation as their own and without question.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This purports to tell the story of the major participants of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806 that explored the vast lands newly acquired from the French that trail-blazed the American West. From the beginning, which focused on Meriweather Lewis I found the writing graceless, with lots of awkward phrasing with literary pretensions. So much of the prose is close to unintelligible--when it's not crude. Here's a paragraph of the writing early on from the point of view of Sacagawea:

A sandbar, a shoal. She jumped. She ran through the water. Behind her, water drummed. Water glittered, bright white. This one died.

Definitely not the kind of novel I wanted to spend hundred of pages immersed in. Not happy in its company.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like this book. Really. As a former history major, I should welcome such well-written first-person historical fiction about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. But I didn't like this book. I didn't like it 10 pages in and I didn't like it after reading 50 pages. Hall wonderfully creates his characters: Lewis, Clark, Sacajawea and eventuallySacajawea's husband, though I didn't get that far. The language painted vivid pictures in my mind. The plot pacing was good. I just did not like it. I tried, but I didn't.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I might like this book based on the title alone; what a joy, then, to discover that there's so much more to love: the four-pronged POV, each a different take on Lewis and Clark's mad, beautiful journey up the Missouri; the bits and pieces from their actual journals, sandwiched between plausible speculation about what might have happened; and, as in the very best historical fiction, a clear-eyed revision of the past, here of life on the Plains and in the Northwest in the early 1800s.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

first book in a long time which makes me want to leave the company of people i care deeply about to get home and read

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative isn't always in proper english! sacajawea's husband is the most irritating to read becuase he is both a tool and difficult to understand.

[Jessica Layman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think if people have read my reviews they know what often brings me to the 5 star mark is the language of a novel. And this novel undeniably delivers on that front.

I was hooked from the first pages. It was amazing to get into the heads of all of these characters. It took time to really settle into the narratives of each, because of the older time period but also because we were really getting the thoughts and inner narratives of each and it took time to really notice the amazing things the author included.

Water Speaks (just one of her many names) was a super unique look into Native American culture in the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition. We may expect it to be a sad story, but I loved how the author treated her as just as important as the other narratives and that we learned things from her that we didn't in other chapters. I also really enjoyed the speech patterns and way of thinking she showed as it really added to the experience.

Both Lewis and Clark were complicated people with different narratives. One thing that immediately brought this to 5 stars was the differences in spellings or pronunciations for characters depending on who is narrating. The subtle differences in how Lewis and Clark referred to others in their party or other Native Americans made it feel exactly like a diary come to life. I thought it was really great to get these glimpses into the lives of these people and what an expedition like this really meant and how even as it was happening, it was considered imperative to already know the impact it would have on the future of America.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an overwhelmingly positive story. There's "adventure," but plenty of hardship, heartache, and uncomfortable moments from each narrator. I thought the author did a good job of presenting what happened and exploring how the existing proof of the expedition needed to be expanded to tell a truth about the years of these people's lives.

I really loved Sacagawea's (spelling of course up for debate) sections as a testament to a different way of thinking. I also really loved the interplay of Lewis and Clark and their deep friendship above all else, which was of course colored by their different circumstances.

This book deserves a lot of reflection and thought while reading. I will admit the last 1/3 is a little slower than the other 2/3 despite time moving much faster in the narrative. I think that's on purpose, but be warned that things may be a little anticlimactic.

I definitely recommend this one and it's high on my list of reads so far this year.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm strongly drawn to adventure+survival stories, and I've now delved into a number of works, both fiction and nonfiction, on the Corps of Discovery. (I can't recommend The Lewis and Clark Journals from the University of Nebraska Press highly enough, despite how dull it might ostensibly sound to read someone's travel diaries. And Undaunted Courage comes next on my list.) I thought a historical fiction adaptation could be an interesting way to present varying perspectives, and I was curious to see what Hall might do with it. Overall, the writing style was beautiful and evocative and the narrative captivating, though there were times when the pace made me feel like I was not making a great deal of progress. Due to the affected voice, the chapters focusing on Charbonneau and Tsakakawia [sic] fell somewhere between pretentious and cringey. It also seemed like portions of the journey were missing, with the second half more or less glossed over compared with the first. Just a final aside: it is with enormous disappointment, though not the fault of the author, that after reading the description of the majestic and breathtaking "Great Falls" and thinking I'd like to see them someday, further research revealed that they have long been dammed and no longer look anything as they did.

[Avery Knaub · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel compelled to leave a brief review since this is something under typical circumstances I would probably not read. But I surprised myself by how invested I became in the book. It has its faults, such as what I would consider an utter lack of emotion from Scagawea's perspective, and overall too many unnecessary voices to encounter throughout the novel. But it has more strengths than I was anticipating going in. I was skeptical of an attempt to mimic the voice of the time Lewis and Clark are from, but I think it was mostly well achieved.

The most compelling aspect of this book is something I'm completely convinced the author was blind to, that being Lewis' unspoken nature. They only come out in brief moments, sometimes purposefully cut short. This novel illustrates a realistic picture of what the expedition of Lewis and Clark looked like, and it also showed the love of two companions. Reading from this perspective, it became clear to me as I read on the ways in which love and heartbreak surrounding their friendship was central to both men's lives, and how they transformed after the expedition, though especially when understanding Lewis.

I think reading this book for an embellished account of the Lewis and Clark expedition is a decent reason to choose this book. I think much more, however, it would be a more beneficial read if you want to do a character study.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was really interesting and gripping. Obviously well researched, and I appreciated the end notes that explain where liberties were taken, and by how wide of a margin. The Sacajawea sections are somewhat impenetrable, but I suspect that’s probably by design; the explorers’ motives and behaviors were largely impenetrable given her existing language and cultural frameworks, so the reverse is also true (of course not one of them thought to ask after her inner world, an oversight at least noted - and corrected - by the author here). I think it’s an interesting study in the way language shapes the way someone would understand the world. The book also manages to find funny and relatable moments in each of main character’s stories without being anachronistic, which is no mean feat. It also recognizes how amazing of an achievement the whole trip was without eliding the flaws and humanity of the main players - including the individual Indians (both both historically real and fictional composites) - as well as taking an unblinking look at the horror the expanding frontier wrought upon the tribes.

[R.E. E. Derouin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall 11/18/22

I’ve always been interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition so when I spotted this book I was intrigued. As my ancestors are slightly related to the French trapper interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau, husband of Sacagawea, I was pleased to see the author gave both of these individuals many pages in the story.

While details of this major journey are clearly represented, the story is historical fiction so fact and the author’s imagination need separation. While the Native American life style descriptions were at times graphic, I found the details very interesting.

The jumping among the four primary characters was at times confusing and the writing in general was far from excellent. My main complaint was the strong voice he gave the characters, based mostly on his opinion, not the known history.

While I finished the book, I don’t feel comfortable recommending it to others interested in the true history of this classic expedition.

[Olivia Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me so long to read it's frankly pretty embarrassing. I'm finally done though! Finally free! This was such a trial to read, really, because of how it was written. Also I feel kind of uncomfortable with how certain things were presented, especially in the Sacajawea parts. They are quite possibly historically accurate, but presented I think in a way the borders on grotesque.
Despite this, I like sobbed through a solid portion of the books ending. I feel like the characterization, particularly of Lewis, was very well executed.
This book constantly waffled between a five star and a two star for me, so I settled on three stars.

[Russ Lenth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may be the pandemic, but I can't concentrate enough to finish it. I did get as far as their returning from the journey, but that still leaves me with 100 unread pages.

One difficult thing for me is it is written in different voices, each of them spelling places and names differently, and in the case of Sacagawea, names, pronouns, etc. are completely turned on their heads and not even capitalized. Even after 3/4 of the book, I'm still unsure what/who she is talking about 1/3 of the time.

And there is disillusionment. All my romantic notions about early adventurers is replaced by the realization that they really weren't very nice people.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the writing was lovely, the subject and narrative form of this book made it a real challenge for me to get into. I appreciate what Hall was trying to do, and I appreciated the very strange Sacajawea chapters more with other context for what she was referring to, but those were hard parts of character development to wade through. The story mostly focuses on Mr Lewis, but there are other characters interspersed through out this one. I don’t know who I would recommend to read this one. This was not really my cup of tea and challenged me as a reader to plod through it (as it was read for a book club).

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the expedition through the eyes of its three main characters, Lewis, Clark, and Sacajawea. Historically accurate while filling out the characters through three novelization. It worked. I didn't realize Lewis was beset by mental illness. The glimpses of native culture and life were also interesting. An accessible way to learn about an important but little known episode in American history.

[Stephanie VanHeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style may not be for everyone, especially incorporating voices of people who knew very little English. But I thought the author captured the lives of the these famous historical characters in such an ingenious way. I appreciated the sarcasm and irony he played up. This author is witty and clever and brave. This was a fresh way to see the story of Lewis and Clark’s adventure. If you love history I recommend this book.

[Magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written fictional account of the Lewis & Clark and company. How the author creates a different voice for each character allows the reader to experience different aspects of the complex journey. Overall, it’s a humbling, poignant book and reflexion on life and death and how we destroy each other and ourselves

[Caleb Edison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something seemed really off about the narratives. The attempt to make Natives appear three dimensional in the story didn't really land in my opinion and I wondered if I wasn't still reading an adaptation of a history told to middle schoolers. I liked the concept! Maybe I just don't care for the people, also.

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting; but only if you have the background information on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Stick to Undaunted Courage, which Brian hall also used as a base and I'm sorry to say that his fictional invention adds very little to the understanding of the historical events.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough book to review. Fascinating characters, interesting writing, but also not something that I "just couldn't wait" to pick up again. That being said, well worth reading and full of "who would have known!"s.