Alaskans by Tanyo Ravicz
Release date: 2008 / 197 pages
Synopsis (from back cover): “Here are ten celebrated stories of contemporary Alaska, a full-color, no-holds-barred portrayal of life in the Great Land. Alaskans paints a series of unforgettable portraits of Alaskans in all walks of life. A firefighter confronts his mixed identity as a wildfire rages; a teenager discovers one of the perils of cannery work; friends hunt for happiness at the top of the world; rivals meet over the grave of the man they loved. Spirited, wide-ranging, by turns tender and blunt, written in a lean and vigorous prose, the selection includes Tanyo Ravicz’s classic novella ‘A Fox in May,’ in which young Jed Hanson, a boy on the cusp of manhood, becomes immersed in the terrors and beauties of the natural world.”
Review: Last month I was privileged to write a kit on A Man of His Village per the request of the author. Ravicz also asked me to design a kit on his latest work, a collection of short stories entitled Alaskans. Since I enjoyed his novel so much, I was excited to read Alaskans and was not disappointed in the least.
One challenge in writing short stories is creating complex, compelling characters, in a short span of pages, that readers care about and yet are able to walk away from with a sense of closure and wisdom. Ravicz is very good at this. Without exception, each story creates a vivid, fully realized world with sympathetic, interesting characters that add something significant to the world of the reader.
While I enjoyed some stories more than others, I did not regret reading any. I have been to Alaska a couple of times and my lasting impression is of vast, untamed wilderness (even in the towns). Ravicz first became interested in Alaska as a young boy and has since spent many years there. In a recent interview, he expressed my overall impressions of this great state:
‘There is something absolutely unique about Alaska,’ Ravicz continues. ‘All of the extremes are more extreme there. It offers more than just a setting, it conditions people in a different way.’
‘There is a great mystique to Alaska,’ the 1979 Palisades High graduate tells the Palisadian-Post. ‘You’re closer to a lot of archetypes. The size of the place, the scope of the place, it isn’t just more land. It’s not just quantity, it’s qualitatively different.’
I love these two quotes — Ravicz finds a way to express both of these concepts beautifully through his fiction… So, if you enjoy short stories, or great character development, please check out Alaskans. Well worth your time…
Love the book over!
My SS post is about short stories!