I Married the Klondike by Laura Beatrice Berton

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Challenges:
The Canadian Book Challenge-Yukon Territory
I had originally chosen "The Call of The Wild" as my book to read for the Yukon Territory, but I didn't really want to read it again. So I asked my old friend, Amazon.com, for suggestions and found this little gem. In 1907, Laura Thompson leaves Toronto at the age of 29 to teach kindergarten in Dawson City. She plans to leave after a year, but stays for twenty-five. In this fascinating and thoroughly delightful memoir, we are invited to experience the decline of the jewel of the once great Klondike Gold Rush. Laura includes everything from the strict social mores of the time, the regimented visiting schedules, physical hardships, northern lights, the rough miners, the ladies of the night, proper Englishmen and down-and-out social misfits hiding in the gulches above the Yukon and Klondike rivers. Her chatty but objective prose draws you into a frigid climate that almost seems appealing. Along the way, she marries and raises two children. Her son, Pierre Berton, grew up to become one of Canada's most prolific non-fiction authors. He writes this about his mother's book:
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"I Married the Klondike has become a minor Canadian classic, read by thousands, first as an intensely human adventure and, second, as a piece of social history. It has been anthologized, serialized, translated and excerpted for the schools . . .In her twilight years it brought my mother a modicum of fame, which she thoroughly enjoyed."
~~~
Berton shares the history of the close of that era with humor and love. Here are a few quotes to illustrate:
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"We had struggled for hours up a steep, tangled gulch, our feet deep in the wet caribou moss and our legs and ankles bruised by sharp rocks. Then, suddenly we broke out on to a sunlit hillside. On its upper reaches, fairly dancing with the joy of life, was a grove of young white birches. Lower down, towards the valley, lay acres and acres of wild flowers--clumps of blue lupins, larkspur five feet tall, monkshood and great feathery bunches of white Baby's Breath. We never spoke of that scene to each other again, but it was one of the reasons why we were returning."
~~~
"In the very cold weather a thick fog settled over the Yukon valley. It appeared as soon as the thermometer sank below forty, and, looking out from our windows, we could pretty well judge the temperature by its density. If the houses a short block away were invisible we knew it was forty below. If those half a block away were invisible, it was fifty below. If Service's** cabin across the street was shrouded, then we could be certain it was fully sixty below zero."
**Robert W Service was a Canadian poet who wrote "The Cremation of Sam McGrew", a poem Berton explains the origin of.
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Klondike Rose, the old deaf prostitute, was asked by Berton if she would like something to read, but she replied that she did not care for books. "Someone gave me a Bible once and I tried my best to read it," she said, "but I came on so many dirty stories that I closed it up and never opened it again."
This book presents a birdseye view of a time and place that has been romanticized in books and movies. It is steeped in wonderful historical facts presented in an entertaining and charming manner.
Rated: 4.5
Posted by Framed at 8:24 PM

7 comments:
John Mutford said...
It's great that this was a pleasant read. I once read Claire Mowat's Outport People simply because she was married to Farley Mowatt and was very disappointed (then I've never been a fan of him either, so that shouldn't have been surprising). When was this published and do you think it would have been had her son not been Pierre Berton?
2/06/2008 8:01 AM
Nicola said...
I'm so glad to see you liked this book. I've always meant to read it but haven't really heard any opinion on it. Will have to make sure I get to it, sounds good.
2/06/2008 11:05 AM
Booklogged said...
Will you be mooching this book? Sounds like a good one to read on a hot summer day. To think we are shivering our little goosebumps off at -4 degrees!
2/06/2008 11:28 AM
Teddy Rose said...
Thanks for the review. I had heard of this book before, but didn't know much about it. On to my TBR it goes.
2/06/2008 5:22 PM
Framed said...
John, it was published in 1954. After I read about Pierre Berton, I thought he probably had a lot of influence in getting the book published. But I didn't know who he was until after I read it. I know you didn't care for his book that you just read. Are there any you would recommend?Nicola and Teddy, Thanks for visiting. I think you would enjoy this book a lot if you like delving into history. Booklogged, it's on its way.
2/06/2008 7:08 PM
Nicola said...
Framed, I'm not John but the Berton's that I enjoyed the most are Vimy (about the battle of Vimy Ridge during WWI) and The Dionne Years (about the Dionne Quintuplets).
2/07/2008 7:20 AM
John Mutford said...
I LOVED The Arctic Grail.