Compass is a book told by an unreliable unlikeable white narrator “Guy” who is a former academic (likely a failed academic) who has become an author writing the tales of other white explorers. You know Guy isn’t his real name and he is meant to show all the white hubris of explorers who have made similar stumbles into the polar regions.
The Inuit town and various townspeople are the most developed in the book and are definitely set as a foil to one dimensional Guy. He is determined to see the Edge where land, ice, and ocean all meet in the Arctic. Unsurprisingly the trip goes astray and it becomes a novel of survival.
I enjoyed it as a love story to the Arctic circle and to the Inuit people and their lifestyle. For me, it failed as capturing all the harm white man has done to both. Several elements of the story didn’t seem to tie in to the story arc and added to it not landing right.
The Inuit town and various townspeople are the most developed in the book and are definitely set as a foil to one dimensional Guy. He is determined to see the Edge where land, ice, and ocean all meet in the Arctic. Unsurprisingly the trip goes astray and it becomes a novel of survival.
I enjoyed it as a love story to the Arctic circle and to the Inuit people and their lifestyle. For me, it failed as capturing all the harm white man has done to both. Several elements of the story didn’t seem to tie in to the story arc and added to it not landing right.