The Longest Winter

"The Longest Winter" by Julie Harris. St. Martin's Press, NY, 1995 This book is a work of fiction, but it is based upon the actual experiences of John Robert Shaw from South Carolina. In 1926, Shaw attempted to fly an old-fashioned Curtiss Jenny biplane down the Aleutian Chain in Alaska. Unfortunately, a storm causes him to crash on April 23, 1926. On the rocky, cold and treeless island, he is cared for by the Native Eskimos. The Eskimos actually performed major surgery on his wounded body, as Shaw lost some of his left leg, much of his left arm below the elbow, and, as he discovers later, vision in his eyes caused, probably, by his head injury. I had surgery a few years ago and I have never felt so helpless as in the bed the day after. Imagine waking up in a cold place, with people who do not speak your language and finding out, day after day, as you get stronger, that you are missing this part and that part of your young body! The author, Julie Harris, does a good job in getting inside Shaw's head and describing the depression and exhaustion and despair that he must have experienced as he grew stronger and stronger physically. Some of her best writing, in my opinion, revolves around the description of daily life of the Eskimo on the "uncharted" island. The world of Robert Shaw is again shattered in 1943 when the he and the Eskimo population are "rescued" by the United States Navy from impending Japanese invasion. The Japanese DID invade some of the Aleutian Islands and did remove the indigenous Eskimo population of those islands to camps in Japan. A small group of U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boats arrive at Shaw's island to "rescue" everyone from the Japanese invaders. The Navy personnel are amazed to find Shaw, who speaks English, but that does not prevent the sailors from abusing Shaw's daughter and other good looking Eskimo girls. This is just one indication that Shaw will have a hard time returning to civilization. John Robert Shaw returns to mainland Alaska and then to the lower 48. He revisits his old homestead in South Carolina, but nothing is the same. Or is it that Shaw has changed? You will have to read the book yourself to learn if Shaw decides to return north to Alaska, to his Eskimo family.

I became engrossed in the fascinating culture of these people whom the main character ends up living with, and learning so much from. This was one of those books you wish didn't end, or at least you wish you could follow the characters through the rest of their lives and find out what happens to them after you finish the last page.

This is one of the best books I ever read. It is a facinating story about a man living in our times, who suddenly finds himself living among Eskimos, according to THEIR ways and traditions. These Eskimos have little or no knowledge of the world outside of their frozen tundra and speak their own language. The author did a splendid job of telling the story, it was compelling. It is hard to imagine a culture so different from our own and was simply facinating reading about this man trying to adjust to their ways, as he had no choice, because he was stuck there. THIS book should be a movie, of this I have no doubt.