I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company is a fine novel and, though it is not intended to be a history text, it is a successful effort to portray humans coping with a rough and unpredictable world during Thomas Jefferson's administration. The use of multiple points of view and multiple styles is a bit surprising when you first encounter it, but the chapters are separate and are clearly labeled. The contrast between fussy-speller Lewis and extrovert Clark is amusing and insightful. I'm not sure American Indians, or Shoshones in particular, talked and thought just the way Hall portrays Sacagawea's inner monologue, but I'm pretty sure they didn't speak or think like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm either, and I give Hall credit for a creative try. We even get some insight into Lewis's faithful dog, though luckily Hall doesn't attempt a doggy stream of consciousness. Near the end, there is a hilarious send-up of Washington Irving that tells us a good deal about America as it was, and America as it would become with the closing of the frontier. I learned a great deal from this book, because it immersed me in a long-gone time. Our country has a rough, brutal, foul-mouthed and heroic history, and you'll end this book with sympathy, insight, sorrow, and admiration for its people. What more do you want?

Brian Hall shows great skill in immersing the reader in the inner life of his characters. Fans of "The Saskiad" will find more of the same intensity and insight in "I Should be Extremly Happy," but this time the story is told intimately from the point of view of several different characters. The main characters are thoroughly explored, inside and out. Each is a product of his society and upbringing. Through the eyes of other characters we see their virtues and faults, and their internal voices explore their own blind spots and vanities, and their harsh self-assesments. Lewis in particular has many facets: rugged explorer, tender and loyal friend, aspiring intellectual, procrastinator, shrewd leader, and manic-depressive. I found myself identifying with Lewis as though we were kindred souls. Surely not every reader will have the same strong reaction, but I hope that everyone can enjoy a character who is so alive on the page as to elicit such sympathies in at least this one reader.With the character of Sakagewea, Hall has made an ambitious attempt to protray the mental landscape of someone from a very alien society. She has a different viewpoint and different priorities in everything she does, from telling time, to interacting with her infant son, to navigating the world around her. (Prepare to learn new ways of thinking about north, south, east, west, and left and right). And of course her narrative voice is completely unique. While her role in the expedition has suffered its ups and downs in different accounts, here she is neither deemphasized nor lionized. A thought-provoking and absorbing book, this is not a straightfoward historical novel, or a kid's book, or a light read, by any stretch of the imagination. Many times I had to flip back and reread a passages to understand what had happened, and I was constantly scampering for the dictionary, but it was well worth the effort. I'm not a Lewis & Clark enthusiast, so I can't say how well the historical narrative holds together, but taking this novel on its own, I think Hall has succeeded brilliantly in exploring a well-known story in American history though imaginative characterizations.

This beautifully written historical novel about Lewis and Clark and their extraordinary expedition conveys not just the historical facts of the tale, but also an artist's sense of the emotional and psychological workings of the minds of the main participants in this astounding journey. The author made me realize how a fine novelist is somewhat like an actor who is able to inhabit the mind of a character and convey that character's essence to his audience. To read this book is therefore like making the journey as if the reader were each of the main participants in it. An additional pleasure for me was learning a great deal about the history of this country in this well researched book.

THIS BOOK IS A SHEER JOY!The adventures of William Clark and Merriweather Lewis have long been ample fodder for historical prose. Their expedition is probably the most memorable story of "See America First" type travel, and their triumph in exploring an unknown America has been well documented since the Jefferson era. But never has the story been so personal, nor as involving, as Brian Hall's take on their trek."I Should Be..." gets its title from Lewis's actual invitation to Clark to join the Corps of Discovery in exploring an uncharted Western America. The novel imagines the dialogue between the men, along with their native guide Sacagawea and Sacagewea's husband Toussaint Charbonneau, and uses the words of the foursome to propel the story from Washington DC to St. Louis, and then through the great Northwest. It removes the tale from the traditional dry narrative type of historical novel, and gives the characters rich, imagined lives that make the expedition almost personal to the reader.All books of this type rise and fall on the strength of the cast, and Hall has populated his players with the necessary hopes, despairs and neuroses that would go hand in hand with creating a legendary tale. Lewis's grandeur in his mission and Clark's seeming envy at playing #2 in what was described to him as a mission led by equals are among the many plot devices used by Hall to make allready known charecters take on human form. A hysterical and well imagined portion of the book describing the naming of rivers after Lewis and Clark (where Clark gets the short end of the stick) is only one example of how well this story plays out.Since the book is told in dialogue form, the chapters were Sacagawea describes the journey are difficult (Hall uses a device that blends English and Shoshone that is slightly confusing) but essential to the plot. This is a minor gripe for a book that is revolutionary in its retelling of history.While everyone is familiar with how the story plays out and ends, there is a coda to the novel that describes Lewis and Clark's lives following the expedition that was new to me. Lewis's post-expedition live was tragic, while Clark became a mainstay of St. Louis society. Taking the book through their post-expedition lives gives Hall a great opportunity to expand on the price of fame and the fall of legends. He hits the mark with eloquence and sincerity.I had never read anything by Hall prior to this book, so I don't know if the richness of this story could have been foreseen, or if he just got lucky. I will be looking forward to reading some of his other works now, for his talent in bringing character and emotion to one of history's greatest duo was incredibly impressive.