Elliott Merrick (1906–1997)

Ever since reading The Lure of the Labrador Wild by Dillon Wallace years ago, I have indeed been hooked on the place. This is the 4th or 5th memoir I've read about the region. They all center on the small town of North West River which was originally settled by French voyagers and Scottish fishermen. It is a fascinating place the more one learns about it, being perched on the doorstep of two great wildernesses - the northern inland forests to the west and the sea to the east. It is also the northern-most town on the Eastern seaboard with access to a road. Keep driving north and the road stops there. This is a memoir by a young Australian nurse who worked at a medical mission in North West River the late 20s and early 30s, before meeting and marrying her husband Elliott Merrick who was also there as a school teacher. Merrick came from blue blood, his father ran the countries largest lead company in New Jersey and Elliott was a Yale grad, but he enjoyed nature and went his own way. He wrote about a dozen books during his lifetime including penning this memoir about his wife, as retold in her voice. The memoir recounts her experiences with patients and the characters she encountered. At some point the mission doctor became sick and left, she took over doing duties and performing treatments she had no formal training it but never lost a patient. Life there in the 1920s was so much different than today, they were closer to 1720 then 2020. Elliott wrote a couple other books about Labrador including True North which looks more my speed with expeditions into the wilderness, but this provides stories about the people and life of a frontier nurse.… (más)

I haven't finished it but I notice that if one doesn't type something into the review box then one doesn't usually win another first-read. Unless one is Chris Wilson, who defies all rules and logic to win freakin' first-read after first-read (we hates him for that). I've been sitting on this one for a long time, reading it slowly. Some thoughts to place here, so that I can maybe have a chance at winning more books again:

- this dude lived out a childhood dream I've had since reading Gentle Ben, leaving all the cities and roads behind to live up north

- his view of the native peoples was disturbing. it's like the conflicted feelings society seems to have generally about poverty, where aww we should help them but they're all criminals so they need to keep away.

- nature is so damned beautiful

- not much about his wife

- while I'm jealous of his adventure, I'm also a bit irritated that he did this. Like this dude: [b:American Shaolin: One Man's Quest to Become a Kung Fu Master|1116851|American Shaolin One Man's Quest to Become a Kung Fu Master|Matthew Polly|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181139409s/1116851.jpg|200605].… (más)