Northern Exposure or Something More Modern?
In this second installment in Sarah Stonich’s “Northern Triology”, readers are drawn into a world where losing Rauri would mark the end of an era.
Rauri Paar is the closest thing that Hatchet Inlet has to a living legend, even though many details about his existence are pure conjecture, and nobody even has his phone number, but…..Rauri should have shown up by now. Hermiting away from November to May, the appearance of Rauri is comparable to the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day. His islands -- they’re as close to sacred ground as you can get. But the fact of the matter is that something just isn’t adding up. Should someone call a medic to see about him? Should someone make the all-day trip to Rauri’s island to check in on him?
I had a hard time connecting with the setting during the first chapter. On one hand, I pictured Hatchet Inlet to be a very simple and remote location, reminiscent of Northern Exposure, where cell service wouldn’t even be an option. On the other hand, I would sometimes envision the inlet to be a more modern place, where meth dealers were among the inlet’s list of problems, and paying $8.50 for a pound of brittle would be no big thing. It was just a little hard to reconcile in my mind exactly where this was all taking place.
All in all, the beginning of this novel is just sitting "OK" with me. Do I want to know where in the world Rauri is? You betcha. I definitely need a little more to hook me before I could dive in much further, though.
Rauri Paar is the closest thing that Hatchet Inlet has to a living legend, even though many details about his existence are pure conjecture, and nobody even has his phone number, but…..Rauri should have shown up by now. Hermiting away from November to May, the appearance of Rauri is comparable to the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day. His islands -- they’re as close to sacred ground as you can get. But the fact of the matter is that something just isn’t adding up. Should someone call a medic to see about him? Should someone make the all-day trip to Rauri’s island to check in on him?
I had a hard time connecting with the setting during the first chapter. On one hand, I pictured Hatchet Inlet to be a very simple and remote location, reminiscent of Northern Exposure, where cell service wouldn’t even be an option. On the other hand, I would sometimes envision the inlet to be a more modern place, where meth dealers were among the inlet’s list of problems, and paying $8.50 for a pound of brittle would be no big thing. It was just a little hard to reconcile in my mind exactly where this was all taking place.
All in all, the beginning of this novel is just sitting "OK" with me. Do I want to know where in the world Rauri is? You betcha. I definitely need a little more to hook me before I could dive in much further, though.