Matthew's Reviews > Alaska

Alaska is the most epic book I have ever read. I did read another Michener – Centennial – and it was very epic as well. But Alaska is super-duper EPIC! I cannot imagine how one person could write one book like Alaska much less all the other epics he wrote in his life. Michener is truly incredible.

One of the things that astounds me the most about Michener is that he takes non-fiction information, shares it with the reader in a really engaging way, and then seamlessly integrates it into a rich and colorful fictional narrative. If I told you this book is a history of Alaska from the creation of the Earth until the late 1980s and it is over a thousand pages long (depending on the edition your read), you would probably doze off just hearing the description. But it is not boring at all (at least it wasn’t for me). Fantastic characters, storytelling, historical events, disasters, triumphs, and generations of people and culture overlapping all serve to create a rewarding experience.

I will add a disclaimer to my review – one that has become very common as of late. As this book spans generations of time when ideas of what is appropriate have changed, there are some cultural depictions and language used that would be offensive if not being used to tell a story explaining how things were during these times. If you have any concern that you will not be able to handle these harsh depictions and language – even though they are historically relevant – you may want to proceed with caution if you decide to read this book.

If you are ready to invest a lot of time and energy into America’s largest and maybe most mysterious state, this is the book for you. Even if you never thought you would care all that much about Alaska and you just want to immerse yourself in an epic, historically based story, you cannot go wrong here. When I started it, I didn’t have any specific interest in learning about Alaska, but now I am very glad I did!