Fram by Steve Himmer
Available January 13, 2015
I received an ARC from the publisher.
A fantastic romp with an ending that couldn’t make sense any other way. Oscar, a bureaucrat made dry and brittle by a life of paperwork and duplicate copies, lives in his imagination. He nurtures a childhood dream of being an arctic explorer, something he vicariously fulfills by working at the U.S. Bureau of Ice Prognostication, an agency created to counter the Soviet’s Cold War threat. The agency never died, nor did Oscar’s dreams.
He spends his days living those dreams by imagining what might be discovered in the Arctic then generating the reams of paperwork to prove that these “discoveries” are real. Towns, schools, mining companies and paper mills, even hot springs are all drawn onto the vast emptiness of the ice. At home, he communes with decades of old National Geographic magazines that trumpeted the original polar explorers’ journeys.
When Oscar is sent on an actual mission to this place he has only ever dreamed about, he becomes entangled in a snarl of espionage and rival agencies. As he digs deeper into the secrets and strangeness, he discovers that the arctic expanse of his marriage has been as important an element in his life as the actual region. At the end, readers will know that there could have been no other resolution to the bizarre journey that is Oscar’s life.

This work by Peter Terrin is a fantastic book that looks into many areas of the human mind at the same time. Written in spare prose that reflects both the setting and the lack of information the guards have about the outside world, the novel is truly a literary and storytelling triumph.
I received a copy from the publisher so that I could write a review of the translation, and was rivited by the work. I haven’t heard about this author before but the concept was interesting. While I expected a dystopian style read, what I found was much more nuanced and stylistic than the usual novels in this genre.
The guard who takes the lead in the narrative is not the leader inside the two-person squad. That choice from the author opened up this story to telling a subtle yet powerful story about confinement, control, voluntary subjugation, and the dynamics of human relationships in personal and organizational terms. The same elements can be read on an extended level that touches on elements we’re experiencing in different developed cultures today.
All these elements unfold in tiny ways that are no less powerful for the gradual movements involved. Some readers have responded to this work with confusion, claiming that they either didn’t understand the work or that later events were not supported throughout. I disagree. This novel reveals itself to readers who pay attention. For those who want more from a dystopian story than the usual justice-is-served or all-are-doomed endings, The Guard is the one to read. The Guard will be available in English starting Jan 6, 2015 in the U.S. and Canada.

A beautiful fable for adults. This work has it all: a central character you really care about, descriptions of the setting and places she visits that come alive with meaning, and questions over not only whether she will survive this terrible winter but what will happen to her friend in the end.
The images drawn by the author were fantastical yet always stayed embedded in what might really occur. The danger was real while being heightened by her youthful outlook both because children can fear things they don’t understand and because they ignore risks adults know are extreme.
At the end, the heart of the book blooms. This is the girl’s heart, her way of looking at the world, and the shift that occurs for her because of what has happened to her friend and her friend’s mother. Truly a lovely, almost achingly beautiful work. If I could give this six stars, I would.

In many ways, this was a book well worth reading. I feared at first that it would turn out to be a “look at all the witches in Salem” story but discovered a nuanced, well-written book that delves into a woman’s past. The use of an unreliable narrator is always tricky for an author to pull off, and Barry does an exceptional job for the most part. She balances what readers learn through the protagonist with the viewpoints of other characters, all filtered through the protagonist but valid nonetheless.
In addition, the writing itself is of very good quality. That alone kept me reading long enough to give the plotline a chance, and to connect with the main character. I was happy that it kept me reading long enough to care about the woman.
There were moments when it slipped back into too-common cliches, and a few times I thought that if it continued in that vein, I would put it down. But I never abandoned the novel.
The ending was beautifully written, well crafted, and yet it was dissatisfying. Despite all the points that proved the protagonist was unreliable, her total lack of memory concerning her sister simply wasn’t credible. I was disappointed over this but not to the point that I will refuse to read other books by this author. I will seek out her other books to see if she handled them better.

Very well done in terms of writing style and choices, and the concept was interesting. This book follows several people who all feel that they participated in the accidental death of a child. The single night of her death haunts them for twenty years; each handles that event in different ways.
It was very difficult over the first 100 pages and even at points later to remember who was who, though. I struggled to keep track of the individuals, their histories, and the tracks of their lives. That was particularly annoying as I got further into the book. But in the end, I was glad to have read this.

What an astonishing book. I considered and passed by this novel several times before giving it a chance, and I’m glad I did.
This is a quiet tale…not in terms of plot but in how the author presents the different lives. There is a lot of upheaval for the individuals, and each has to work out their relationships with each other in their self-made family and with others. But the voice and how each of the events and relationships are presented is paced in a way that makes you feel the lives they are leading.
Really an exceptional experience.