Due North by Mitchell Smith (review)

368 'WesternAmerican Literature Home Truth. Byjanis Stout. (NewYork: Soho Press, 1992. 278 pages, $19.95.) Native Americans frequently employ a four step approach to problem solving: 1. Show up 2. Payattention 3. Tell the truth 4. Don’t be tied to a particular outcome Janis Stout must have been at least subconsciously aware of this procedure as she allows Meg, her 27-year-old Dallasite protagonist, to tell her story in Home Truth. Meg shows up as daughter of parents who abandon their family; sister to Michael, an out-of-work musician, Beep, a selfishlybeautiful sister, and Lisbeth, severely retarded and blind; wife of Stan, an egocentric automobile mechanic; mother of two small children, Gail and Davey; and friend to graduate students Patti and Rob. As is the case with many women who juggle roles, Meg pays attention to the needs of each of these characters while neglecting her own needs. The crowning blow comes the day the school where Lisbeth has been living decides herviolentbehavior can no longer be managed, so Lisbeth issent to the only place available, Meg and Stan’shome. The truthbecomes painfully clear. Lisbeth’serratic and demanding behav­ ior not only “finishes off’ Meg and Stan’s faltering marriage but also resensitizes the scar tissue of Meg’s memories. In the process, Meg uncovers weaknesses (her martyr’scomplex) and strengths (her abilityto establish priori­ ties) that enable her to endure. Stout’s story is realistic. In a larger sense, the situation created by inad­ equate facilities for Lisbeth’scare reminds us ofour responsibilities toward the handicapped. But Home Truth functions on a painfully personal level, too. Meg struggles—alone—yet each move creates another problem. Home Truth ends without a resolution, but Meg is not tied toaparticularoutcome. She survives. There is meaning in her struggle for any reader. JANE BOUTERSE Texarkana College DueNorth. ByMitchell Smith. (NewYork: Simon and Schuster, 1992. 333 pages, $21.00.) “Sara stood on the foxuntil itdied. Ithad hissed ather, shown itsneatwhite teeth, skipped around the number four leg-hold. ...” Reviews 369 So goes the first image of Due North, a stunningly alarming story of a lone woman surviving far up in Koyukon country in high tundra on a mountain, trapping. The first account ofSara Maher retrieving dead and wretchedly dying animals from steel leg-holds in bitter cold well below freezing not only breaks down gender stereotypes (eco-feminism premises aside), but issome ofthe best chilling blowbyblow description I’ve read in a long time. Such vividdescription as her time in BillyMitchell Koyukon village or the very realistic shredding and eating of her husband by a grizzly sow are even better than those first Jack London encounters I remember not breathing through as an adolescent. Albeit adventure storytelling at its best, this novel far transcends mere wilderness thrills and chills. Its substantive plot and subplots deal with pro­ foundly complicated issuesofwhite and Native relationships, trapline killingfor pelts, waste of Alaskan wildlife, and the decadent, self-centered, hyper-con­ sumption of the Lower 48. The novel takes a wounded (emotionally) Sara to Sea-Tac airport, to a whining recently divorced sister on Mercer Island (neigh­ borhood of overbuilt, conspicuous consumption in Seattle), a spoiled smartassed kid, fat white populace, food gorging, overspending at its worst. Smith carries this off with such forthright, factual detail, that it is all too real for comfort. Sara’s ultimate repulsion to the Lower 48 and unwanted return (elder Koyukons do not want her in their territory “playing Indian”) unfolds many twists and turns, much moral and ethical resolution, highlybelievable character changes through a plot which leaps over the completely expected resolution. Someone told one of my male creative writing students that a man should NEVER NEVER write from the internal view of a woman. Smith completely defies that premise. I thoroughly enjoy the smashing of stereotypes, even a feminist’s, resulting in invigorating characters so alive they stride out of the novel and goad you into new expectations ofyourself. If I have one reservation about this very fine storyteller, it is a mere whimpering leftover from having one of my legs caught in the steel trap of academia: isthis great literature? It has some accoutrements ofstorytelling at...