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Rating: 
Summary: beautifully written memoir of childhood in Alaska
Review: A terse, elegantly written account of childhood in California and then Alaska in the 1930's and 1940's. The reader can visualize, hear, taste, and smell the environment in each scene.
My only complaint is that the book left me with a somewhat unsatisfied feeling when it was over, like a film with beautiful
cinematography and fine acting, but no passion or climax. That the author is a distinguished photographer is no surprise--the understated yet precise images, the richness of the background detail, and the masterful use of perspective (voice in writing) are worthy of a fine photograph.
Also, the final three paragraphs seem to be an artificial "ending" grafted onto the work at the suggestion of
an unimaginative editor.
Otherwise, the time spent reading this deeply felt and wonderfully re-created childhood memoir is time well spent.
Those who like this book might want to also read a very different but equally fine childhood memoir called A PLACE IN EL PASO by Gloria Lopez-Stafford, dealing with growing up in the
El Paso/Juarez area during the same period of late 1930's/early 1940's.
Rating:
Summary: ALASKA
Review: Being as I'm from Alaska I really wanted to read this book. I found the descriptions of Alaska to be memorizing. I had never heard of my state described in such a way as to make me long for home. Scully is an amazing writer. This book not only has depth but heart. A wonderful story!
Rating:
Summary: ALASKA
Review: Being as I'm from Alaska I really wanted to read this book. I found the descriptions of Alaska to be memorizing. I had never heard of my state described in such a way as to make me long for home. Scully is an amazing writer. This book not only has depth but heart. A wonderful story!
Rating:
Summary: A different world!
Review: What really affected me reading this book is this cold shattered childhood with restraint feelings and emotions which resembles the places where she grew and moved. I didn't feel any warmth, the severe cold of Alaska spread all over the novel even when she found stability for a short period of her childhood. Life is an open never ending experience with its ups and downs, and this is what the story is all about. Each person has his own story to tell, but what made this one different is that you actually grow with Julia, from the little girl's point of view, seeing the world through her eyes, reading her own words, to the teenage girl who tries to find answers, who expresses her wonder of certain people and behaviors, and then the woman, you sense her growth, her helplessness and her quest to understand life.
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