Heroes of the Frontier

I love camping out in the wild, so for me reading this novel was a vicarious extended vacation.

The novel centers on a woman who escapes to Alaska with her two children and makes her way across the state in a beat-up rented recreational vehicle they call the Chateau. The fantastically flawed and appealing Josie and her two children are all wonderfully drawn. Anyone who has ever gone camping will get a kick out of all the details of life in this wreck on wheels.

The novel is not just laugh-out-loud funny; it’s also profound and deeply felt. I also… show more.

I’m a huge fan of Dave Eggers’ writing and Heroes of the Frontier was a bumpy back road into the wilds of Alaska and straight to my literary heart. His protagonist is a single mother on the lam from her ex-husband and leaving behind her profession, lost to a lawsuit. In spite of the character’s desperation, Eggers makes me laugh, he makes me cringe with embarrassment, he makes me feel like these characters are family. Like a real road trip, I sometimes found myself wondering Are we there yet? But I forgive him for the extra miles and all that… show more.