"Heartwood" features a missing A.T. hiker, the searching game warden, and an elderly internet sleuth скачать в хорошем качестве

"Heartwood" features a missing A.T. hiker, the searching game warden, and an elderly internet sleuth

Hi! Welcome to Episode 112 of Pink’s Picks Book Recs: commentary from a retired high school English teacher. Today’s novel, “Heartwood,” by Yale professor, Amity Gaige, is lauded by author Angie Kim as a “nail-biting missing-person thriller, an inspiring wilderness survival tale, and a deeply moving exploration of the complexities of mother-daughter bonds,” and I would add, an ode to nature (much like “Wild Dark Shore” and “Broken Country” from Episode 110). The term (and title) “heartwood” is defined on page 1 as “innermost substance, like the core of a tree” and perfectly describes the journeys of self-actualization that each of our three protagonists are on. The main characters are: 42-year-old hiker, Valerie, who goes missing on the Appalachian Trail; Lieutenant Bev, a 57-year-old Maine state game warden who leads the ground search for Valerie and has “been in the business of finding lost people for thirty years” (3); and, 76-year-old “Lena whose favorite new sub-genre [is] memoirs of outdoor catastrophe” (47) and she “becomes an unexpected armchair detective” (front flap) from the confines of her Connecticut retirement community. The narrative unfolds from their points-of-view, but also includes: on-line posts from the Maine Warden Service, transcripts from interviews recorded by wardens, transcripts from the tip line, (Rescue) Team Assignment Summaries, an on-line forum for Appalachian Trail hikers, a newspaper article, and a sub-reddit messaging app. These rotating perspectives prove to heighten the drama and suspense. What do I love about this book? My fondness for Maine settings began 60+ years ago with Robert McCloskey’s, “Blueberries for Sal.” More recently, I enjoyed “The Berry Pickers” and “The Frozen River” (from Episodes 96 and 93) -excellent pieces which pay homage to The Pine Tree state (or territory in “Frozen”). I love Gaige’s pervasive use of bird imagery and name symbolism. Valerie’s trail name, “Sparrow,” falls into both categories. Most of all, I loved learning about the Appalachian Trail; for example, the terms: “thru-hike [], section hike” (9), “flip-flop hike” (8), and “supported hike” (25). “Only one-quarter of [] thru-hikers achieve their goal” (9) “trekking the 2190+ miles…which takes 5 to 7 months” (Appalachian Trail Conservancy). Section hikers complete “a couple hundred miles every summer” (9). Flip-flop hikers begin their journey in the middle of the trail – in Harper’s Ferry, WV – then head North. Later, they return to Harper’s Ferry and walk South. A supported hiker “does not need to constantly hitch hike or taxi into towns for resupply…the supporter…is a saintly role…[l]ots of waiting in [the] car at trailheads” (25). Valerie is both a flip-flop and supported hiker. Her husband Gregory reported her missing when she failed to appear as scheduled at one of those trailheads. On the A.T. “…crime is rare. Since [its] completion…in 1937, only a handful of people have been victims of violence…fatalities are largely accidental” (25). “Virginia is home to the most miles of the trail (about 550), while West Virginia is home to the least (about 4). Maryland and West Virginia are the easiest states to hike; New Hampshire and Maine are the hardest” (https://appalachiantrail.org). “Usually, the A.T. is a dirt path,” but in Pennsylvania, the “trail is made entirely of rocks”, thus is dubbed “PAINsylvania” (36). In a journal Valerie writes while awaiting rescue, she notes that A.T. hikers are “all recovered, in recovery, or unrecoverable…Everybody’s got a reason to hike the trail” (82). Her reason is to heal from the trauma of being a nurse during COVID when she was forced to become “a porter…[a] scribe, a janitor… [and] an undertaker. I love how Gaige interrupts the momentum of the search to provide back story for Valerie, Beverly, and Lena effectively developing characterization. Each of the three protagonists grapples with: mothering, motherhood, being mothered, being unmothered,” losing a mother, or choosing not to be a mother – conflicts that are reinforced by the challenges of Mother Nature. “Maine is the worst place on the A.T. to get lost” (5), so hikers are advised - before entering an area called The Hundred Mile Wilderness – to have “a minimum 10 days of supplies and [be] fully equipped” (5). Lastly, “Heartwood” has an incredibly satisfying denouement. I give it an “A.” https://www.amitygaige.com