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Books from the north: well-written fiction by Alaskan authors, published by an Alaskan press.

Battling Against Success
by Neil Davis
Adult

$16.95, paper
ISBN 0-9632596-6-0


Alaska at midcentury offered great opportunities to the restless and ambitious people who had survived the Great Depression and World War II. Some of those who came North succeeded; some came and left; some came and managed to beat down every opportunity that raised its ugly head. That's pretty much the story of the narrator of this autobiographical novel and his family, who wrestled with the trees, the mud, the machinery, the bugs, and most of all themselves while trying to make a living on the northern frontier. Some of the characters whose lives touched on this story are the real people who acted to join Alaska to the Union and to the 20th century-or fought bravely against both. Davis draws the reader into the often funny, sometimes sad, and always rich experiences that bring his young protagonist from childhood into adulthood.

What reviewers have to say about Battling Against Success:

In this often humorous, but mostly matter-of-fact autobiographical novel, Neil Davis tells the compelling story of growing up on a homestead near Fairbanks in the 1940s.

It's hard to tell who's real and who's imaginary in this tale, for Davis does an outstanding job of bringing all the characters to life. Certainly Davis' parents, Bon and Bernice, and his brother, Lewie, are real. But then there are the folks like Henry Grutberger, the religious fanatic who devised the perfect plow for Alaska's scrubby ground; Tom Wade, the eccentric and well-read woodcutter; and Nellie Kelley, the brawny bar owner who spices up the story.

Davis also successfully draws upon a lifetime of experience. His descriptions of the changing seasons and landscape are as accurate as they are interesting: "Fireweed's purplish blooms are shrinking up into wispy shreds of old woman's hair."

Unlike the battles against success encountered by Davis' father as he tried to make a life in this harsh land, Neil Davis has found success with this book.

-Melissa DeVaughn, Alaska magazine

[H]is sense of humor and detail are engaging....By the end of Battling Against Success, I was won over by this mature young narrator.

--Ellen Moore, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

McRoy & Blackburn, Publishers
mbe@mosquitonet.com
Last modified 9 March 1999