The Globe has a great Sunday section called “Ideas” from which I cull many suggestions for future reading (see page on right). I always enjoy Katherine A. Powers’ (hereafter referred to as KAP) quirky book reviews. This week she reviewed The Terror by Dan Simmons which is about two British ships lost in the Arctic in the 1800s. I don’t read historical novels anymore – there are so many bad ones – but KAP declares with her usual elan that “this tale of a doomed expedition is the best and most unusual historical novel I have read in years.” The following quote from her review added a chilling contemporary dimension to the historical situation:
The Sir John Franklin of these pages is precisely the sort of man you would not want in command of a perilous venture. Wealthy, pampered, and rigid, he is dismissive of unwelcome facts, even that the tinned food is putrefying and otherwise tainted. He is bored by details, including vital ones concerning ice conditions. He will not hear of advice that contradicts his druthers and is convinced of God’s involvement in his life. To him, it is a given that the mission will be accomplished.
Sound familiar? Let’s just hope our ship of state does not follow too precisely the doomed trajectory of Franklin’s vessels.
I’ve read many books on Antarctic exploration, especially firsthand accounts of the Scott and Amundsen race for the poll and the wonderful Endurance by Alfred Lansing, about Shakleton’s heroic escape from Antarctica after his ship was destroyed by the ice. So, I think I will add this one to the list.
