Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Hello Elle and Rusty

Hope you are both fine - Here, all is quiet on the Eastern (or is it
Western) front;

May I ask what it is that Mr. Michener did to the children?

I think my husband quite liked Michener and I am sure he read
Alaska, particularly because he was born in Alaska and never
landed in the States before his 6th birthday.

Hello, Elle!
I do not think you would like the book, although it is very good.
Up there with Centennial.
But, have a wee think!
It is cold here!


Hello, Pigale!
Hope you are getting through the Winter OK!
Now, Michener!
He married this lady and they adopted children from an orphanage.
Some time after that he and his wife parted and got divorced.
They sent the children back to the orphanage.
Horrible people!

Hello again, Pigale!
Alaska is a very good book.
I really enjoyed reading about it.
Lots about Russia and shipbuilding, Peter the Great, gold, salmon etc and of course the Native peoples of Alaska.
Incredible research must have been done before a word was written.
Michener and Bill Bryson were my favourite authors.
Then I learned what Michener had done to his adopted children....

Yes Rusty, I understand now - It was a disgusting thing to do
indeed!

I can't quite remember what my husband enjoyed the most about
the book - He did go back to Alaska when 14, on a long summer
holiday and worked with the timber men on the river - rather
dangerous job I believe.

But one thing he always said is that only people who are born in
Alaska can really adapt to the life there - 23hours a day of daylight, or 23hours a day of darkness, not everyone can adapt to that coming our regions!

Hello, Pigale!
Yes, a dreadful way to treat the children.
There is quite a bit in the book about the darkness and the celebrations when "the sun comes back again".
The Alaskans call the rest of the USA, "the lower forty eight".
I learned that in the book, too!

Good morning, Pigale!
Chilly here!
I have found Michener's obituary.
The children are briefly mentioned in it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-james-michener-1236580.html

Just had a look at the loch.
Webcam is showing a snow covered nest!
No snow here, though!

Good morning, Elle!
A cold morning here!
The Pribilofs were an awful place to be sent!
Hope you have avoided the rain on your walk!
Wonder if your new friend, "the lady from next door" will visit today?
Maybe bring pancakes!
I am just going out.
Going to cheer on Elise Christie in the Short Track later this morning.

Good Morning Rusty!

Hope you enjoyed your walk/shopping etc...

Thanks for the link for Michener's orbituary - shall read it soon,
I have just had a look at the Loch, and is the nest covered in
snow, but I think it is still snowing up there -
Is it cold your way?

Not bad here, just grey - wonder if the sun will visit us today?

Good morning, Rusty!
I am home again now..... yes, thank you, I managed the walk without getting wet.
It has started to rain now, though.......
A miserable looking grey day.......
I refreshed my memory by reading Mr. M's obituary....what a toad of a man!
How could any decent person adopt a child and then "return" him/ her to the orphanage when "no longer required"?
I think my favourite of all Michener's books - and I did enjoy them prior to my discovery of his character - was the very first one I read.
About Lame Beaver , Levi Zendt........and Elly.
I did like Elly!
I think that was "Centennial"?
As I said, I still have "Alaska " as yet unread.
I hope Elise does well in the Short Track!




Hello, Pigale!
I am sorry I missed your post last night.......
I think I had fallen asleep whilst reading my book!
The dog woke me up...my book was on the floor....I let her out , then went to bed!
Yes......what a cad Mr Michener turned out to be!

Hello again!

Well, if it were not for that paragraph about the two boys, you would
think he was an extraordinary, clever great man!

What I don't understand is how he could possibly have returned
the boys to the orphenage, having had such an unhappy
childhood himself! It does not make sense - not to me anyway!
I would have thought he would have wanted to spare such
unhappiness to the two youngsters!

Full of details as they seem to be, I don't think his books would
go down well with me - I do like realistic fiction, well researched
etc, but with an easy-to-read, flowing style of writing - which he
did not have from what he himself admits.

Have you read ALL his books, even the non-fiction ones?