The Great Death

I found this book to very enjoyable, I felt it emphasised the hardship that the native Alaskans’ faced and enlightened me on their extraordinary way of live.

This book is about a small Alaskan village that is ravished by a terrible disease. Millie and Maura are the only survivors from their village. Along with their two dogs, Millie and Maura try to travel down river to find a trading settlement where hopefully they will find other people. However, during this epic journey almost nothing goes to plan and lives are lost.

   This book is great because it’s full of courage and family loyalty and you really feel the author portrays the emotions excellently. Moreover, Smelcer manages to capture the overwhelming beauty of the harsh but beautiful Alaskan landscape and makes it rise vividly from the page.

Lastly, Smelcer manages to tell us in an underlying theme about how a peaceful and enduring culture destroyed by ignorance and greed. Furthermore, I found this to be a real eye-opener because it really does make you think that it was completely wrong for us to go and destroy an entire culture just for money.

Mathew S3