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Candace F. (Lincoln, NE)
Alaska, an emerging frontier
First, I want to say I love the cover of this book. The title and the cover drew me in from the start.
This is a story of friendship, courage and love between friends, siblings and a man and a woman who entered into a marriage without knowing one another. Marie longed for a family and a home of her own while Lawrence wanted to claim land in Alaska, build a life and leave his living legacy. Melinda Moustakis has clear descriptive writing that not only gives you a vested interest if the characters but makes you feel like you are there and experiencing the trials of early settlement in Alaska and the struggle to achieve statehood. This story is about complicated relationships, celebrating victories, terrorizing fear and deep loss of a child. The characters are bonded by the trials and accomplishments they endure through hardships of living and loving in a cold untamed land. A tale I won't soon forget.
Barbara O
An Ode to Alaska
I couldn’t put this book down. Melinda Moustakis wrote a love story, Alaskan style. “Homestead” tells the story of Alaska in the 1950’s pre-Statehood and a newly met and wedded couple carving a dream out of the Alaskan wilderness. In beautiful spare language, the story describes the harsh realities of two people, still strangers learning to survive together as well as learning to know one another as they attempt to build a life together. You will care about these two people as the author slowly reveals the back stories of Lawrence and Marie and why they are driven to create a legacy despite all the hardships they encounter. It’s not just the story that makes this a good read, it’s also the language. I look forward to telling all my friends, you must read “Homestead”.
Pat C
A Beautifully Written First Novel
Homestead by Melinda Moustakis is a beautifully writte novel about two people with damaged pasts attempting to start over in the the Territory of Alaska. But this novel is so much more--it is of a marriage made in haste, the attempt to make it work as they are trying to tame the spectacular wilderness of Alaska and at the same time learn how to live with each other and create a family. Both characters, Lawrence and Marie are so well developed that the reader feels that she knows them. But the star of the novel is Alaska just before statehood. The author in poetic prose describes the beauty of this wild land that it makes one wish to have been there at that time.
I highly recommend this book.
Anne_C1
Wonderful story of homesteading in 1950's Alaska
In poetic prose as lean and and haunting as the Alaskan wilderness, the author tells the story of a marriage begun in haste but enduring through seasons of hardship, sacrifice, tragedy, and joy. Both Lawrence and Marie are in search of a refuge from troubled pasts, and the land and cabin they build on their homestead plot in 1950’s Alaska represent the fulfillment of their dreams.
What happens when a dream is realized but does not satisfy the longing? Can love survive secrets? These universal themes are beautifully explored in this novel.
Beverly D. (Palm Harbor, FL)
Wild Alaska
A beautifully written chronicle of a dream, an adventure and lives lived in pre-statehood, wild Alaska. Laurence and Marie are gambling on each other to be the other half they may be missing... although neither of them seems to know what they're missing. Every day brings another challenge. The descriptions of the countryside are perfection and the sense of uncertainty permeates every sentence. Highly recommended.
Molly M. (Anchorage, AK)
Haunting, lyrical, and frustrating
First, reviewer conflict of interest: I have lived in Alaska for 50 years and have also proved up on a 5-acre homesite under the 1862 Homestead Act. So, my reading attention was split between whether the "place, characters and overall plot" were realistic, and then secondly, the author's style and use of language. The descriptions of Alaska and homesteading were mostly close to home. I could quibble about some things but won't. However, the main characters perplexed me. They are both clearly damaged and have extreme difficulty with relationships. But the male-female workload divisions described by the author seem unrealistic. Homesteading requires a team effort with both partners doing outside and inside chores if they hope to survive, let alone thrive, even in the 1950s.
The author's writing is somewhat stream of consciousness with lots of run on sentences that can sometimes be difficult to follow. But overall, her prose is beautiful, with lyrical descriptions of Alaska wilderness, seasons, and characters from the 1950s, as well as Alaska's transition from territory to statehood. Even after finishing it, the book continues to haunt me. It would be a great choice for a book club because it would stimulate a lot of discussion on multiple fronts.
Chris_H
Homestead
Melinda Moustakis makes Homestead a book about so much more than just building in Alaska to earn a homestead. She brings Marie and Lawrence to life by describing the challenges of their lives beyond what was outlined by the government as Alaska is becoming a state. Marie and Lawrence are both faced with individual hardships while faced with the shared experiences of making a difficult life together work. They are married before they even know each other. Marie experiences isolation and loneliness. Lawrence is dealing with past trauma that carries into his marriage. Both struggle with how to be a family emotionally while physically enduring the hardships of building their homestead.
Bev C
Homestead
Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.
Our story begins in June 1956 as Lawrence Beringer, 27 of Blackduck Minnesota, in the Bureau of Land Management, chooses lot 041180 in Point MacKenzie, in the territory of Alaska.
"...his land, his homestead...Where he will cut timber and till the ground and build a cabin of his own measure. He will claim what he is owed, And by the work of his hands this will all be his." (150 acres)
In July 1956, Marie 18yrs old from Conroe Texas visits sister Shelia in Anchorage, Alaska with the firm intent to never return home.
This debut explores beautifully the complexities of Lawrence and Marie as individuals and as a married couple and takes us on a heartrending journey as they work this land in an attempt to secure a deed. The wilderness is both breathtaking and terrifying. I highly recommend you take the time for this adventure.
Thank you to Flatiron Books for an advanced readers copy.
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