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There are two main characters in this novel. One is a man. The other is a continent. Christian is the man who has suffered the irreparable loss of his wife and daughter. Antarctica is the continent that, in its own way, probably understands Christian's loss but is not prepared to offer any mercy for it. Deciding to leave his home in Buenos Aires, Christian stocks a sailing vessel and plans a trip to traverse the earth's most unfriendly and uninhabitable continent alone. He is more concerned with the journey than the outcome, having reached the conclusion that an end comes to all, especially those who no longer have a valid reason to live. His passage, however, keeps providing such immense physical challenges that his emotional ennui has less and less time to overwhelm him.
With little to do on the long nights alone on his boat, Christian turns to reading and becomes enthralled with the story of an early explorer whose travels may have intertwined with those of his own family. Though not by his design, he encounters fellow humans who shake his sensitivities to the core. His interactions with indigenous wildlife also evoke feelings he has a difficult time coming to grips with.
Writer Eketoft's descriptive talent is on vivid display from the first page to last. She finds ways to depict the imposing land and seascapes in ways that mesmerize as well as describe. Her evocations of Christian's battles with the elements, as well as those confrontations with his own existence, are both searing and memorable. For maximum effect, this is a novel to be savored slowly because the author has created a world that demands attention be paid to both an unrelenting man and an unconquerable continent.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review