This is the story of Uqsuralik, from her childhood, when she suddenly has to go through life alone, in the middle of Winter, in Antactica. It follows her entire development from girl to wife, ending in death. The story is written in the first person, told by Uqsuralik.
No clues are given as to when this story takes place. Could be 19th century or early 20th century, but the reader has no idea. This annoys me.
In short
An essentially boring book, which leaves me mostly with questions about these communities, and which, unfortunately, does not give me any desire to explore them further, but I learned about them a little bit anyway. It also shows that animism and shamanism, though fascinating, are like all the beliefs, in that they make people frightened, and do not make them better, without conflict, without violence.
The style
Unfortunately, Uqsuralik has a rather dull character. She has no sense of humour and everything she says is written in the same uniform, distant and resigned tone, as coming from someone who lives only because she has to.
I have missed descriptions of landscapes, such as those of the ice pack or the tundra during the summer months. It was also as if the Inuit lived in a world where there were no colours. A search on the internet for "Winter in Antarctica" and "Summer in the Antarctic tundra", however, reveals such beautiful and colourful images!
Also, Uqsuralik tells it all like someone who assumes you know what she is talking about. Caribous, musk buffaloes are not described, not a single fish or bird. How houses are built, how society is organised, that too is told superficially, as if you knew as much as the main character. While reading, you don't pay much attention to all the details, because of these incidental mentions, because of the boring style, and the descriptions or interpretations are often too light. Afterwards, one is left with a lot of questions.
But the style improves from the middle of the book. It only improves slowly, but little by little, the characters become more alive, feel emotions and sometimes even laugh. The summers are no longer forgotten after just a few pages. And there are even descriptions of landscapes towards the end! They are not very good descriptions, but at least there are some.
Animism and shamanism
The author seems particularly fascinated by the animism and shamanism of this civilization. Here the explanations are superficial, but less. Although superficial, I had an image of it.
Just like in our country, where people are afraid of hell, the Inuit lived in fear of misfortune, during their life or after death, and are looking for fortune. (Uqsuralik was not allowed to hunt at sea with a harpoon because something animistic had happened, but she was also not allowed to hunt on land with the harpoon either because the harpoon had killed animals in the sea. She was on her own, but she no longer hunted because of the beliefs).
The author is honest
And here the author really has one merit: she likes animism ad shamanism, but she does not claim that this society is more ideal than ours. Jealousy, revenge, power, abuse of women, rape, theft, all this and more exists in the animist shamanic Inuit community. Just as in Christianity with us or other religions and beliefs with others, their faith only frightens them, but they don't become any different, end conflict and sorrow.
Shamans do indeed research the different states of consciousness, as Uqsuralik can "come out of her body" (we can do this here too, for example out-of-body experiences are well known, and scientists study them).
All these states of consciousness are fascinating, but they have never been able to bring about a fundamental change in humanity and an end to violence. The author describes things as they are, which is a merit, especially since she seems to love shamans and animism so much.
Feminism
The author also defends women. The main character, a woman, is an excellent hunter, and later becomes a shaman. Other women are also very important in society. But women are also raped or abused by men.
Sometimes feminism goes a bit too far for my taste. Uqsuralik drops a phrase like "men have more power, but without us they wouldn't be here", and concludes that women are the more powerful of the two genders. I don't see why women should be more powerful than men. For me, true feminism is equality for all, men and women, without any search for power.