Where does Alaska rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
As an Alaskan I love this story. The narrator is a bit slow, and not a dramatic reader, but for the material lends itself well for his style which sounds more like a lecture from a history prof. It works well, although I must admit I had to set the speed to 1.25 (sacrilege to some I know, but it is kinda slow otherwise). As the grandson of pioneers up here in Alaska, my kids are 4th generation born on the grands homestead, I can say I identify with so many aspects of this story it is hard to know where to start.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Hard to say. Probably Missy, she reminds me of many sourdough ladies I know in real life. But there are so many who i could almost identify as people I've known. The Flatches are like many families I've known in the interior backwoods outside of Fairbanks. The Vims are much like many outsiders that see Alaska as only profits lining their pockets.
Which scene was your favorite?
The Nome gold discoveries. Always wish I'd been around back then. Also the interractions between Big Ears and the Vims family
Any additional comments?
It was obviously a remaster of the original cassette or cd version, and there were plenty of remnants of that original, original intros a la "Disk-4", repeated lines from original when the new disk was inserted, etc. Also there were a good amount of seriously mispronounced words, both Alaskan words and several location names that were actual American names. Otherwise, I felt like I was immersed in my own culture in a deep learning sort of way. Loved it.