This Much Country

Written and Narrated By: Kristin Knight Pace

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Wellll, this has its merits… -but- it has plenty of >meh< also

Ya know? I dunno why, but I’ve a thing for books about sled dogs and sled dog racing. Over at the library, waaaay back in the days when print books were available (Now? Print? Meee? Ya gotta be kidding!), I’d park myself by the particular section on Nature and aaalll things sled dog racing. I read a MULtitude of them, and most of them just wowed my socks off. I mean, in Central Texas summers with drought conditions and perpetual heatwaves? Gosh, ANYthing that could get me a-shivering in delight was embraced.

-BUT-

Reading so very many of them has set me up, as in: High bar set for other stories of wild frozen lands and racing to meet… and HOPEfully to top. And while This Much Country was pretty much a pleasure to listen to, it in no way got anywhere meeting those hopes and expectations.

From the get-go, author Kristin Knight Pace sets up what will be a recurring topic throughout the book: Her love life. She’s been chatting and falling in love with a dude waaaay somewhere else, they finally meet, it’s like they’ve known each other all their lives, let’s get married, blah blah so tickled to be in love blah.

Marriage, the guy starts turning into a dud, then he starts shagging someone else. And Kristin has meltdown after meltdown, hoping, begging to make it work (A truly unfortunate thing to hear…). Nay, divorce is finalized, and she has no direction. Enter offer to house-sit and pet-sit in Alaska. According to the Publisher’s Summary, that’s where she finds out how strong she is, on her own and working hard. …Uhm… that’s actually where she finds another guy and starts getting all lovelorn and twitchy first.

The best parts of the book are, naturally, of her first MAJOR race, the Yukon Quest, and then onto the Iditarod. There, we get to see how fatigue and exhaustion can overwhelm, can cause hallucinations. But there also is the beauty of such vast lands, the sky, the glimmering shimmering lights in the night. Ms. Pace writes some truly lyrical things, showing her to be a keen observer of her surroundings, an admirer of the glory surrounding her. And she often relates the kindness of strangers, people who helped out, as it’s just the way in the country. It’s mightily heartwarming to think that somewhere, some place, of course it WOULD be a gazillion (And six!) miles away from where we are, there are people who just are, who just be, who just assist where they can, who don’t judge but befriend as life goes along. To think there are such places is reeeeally nice to think of.

One of the things that kept me from appreciating the writing, however, was Pace doing the narration herself. She’s older than a spring chicken, but her voice just sounds soooo young. So as she’s attempting to convey how breathtaking things are, or how fraught they are, it just sounds like a (Very) young teen’s screeching attempt for gravitas. Bummer, I know. Still, how on earth can I really judge her on something she has no control over? I shan’t, but it does indeed make the listener sooo removed from the beauty, the power, the story.

Further, if you’re looking for studies on the human/animal bond, look to other racing books. It’s beYONd apparent that Pace adores her dogs (Oops, forgot to mention that she does squeaky voices in attempts to portray whatever dog’s thoughts are at the time… MOST unfortunate…!), but very little airtime/focus is given to this relationship. Indeed, she’s flabbergasted when another racer gets all her own dogs ready and goes to each one (High pitched tones here as well, oy my ringing ears!), and rousingly ruffles them up, petting and huzzah-ing them into a frenzied pitch of energy and anticipation of joyous run run running. Nope, it simply befuddles Pace, and ‘tis business as usual for her. Three dogs are of note: Moose, Solo, and Little Head, but even those are kinda afterthoughts to what is basically a memoir of her life in Alaska, how her relationships are doing, etc etc et good golly gosh cetera.

Not the best, not the worst. A generally good attempt, but an editor was needed to rein in her wallowing in All Things My Emotions, and p’raps one coulda prodded her to add more of racing trials and tribulations and joys.

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I truly gotta go scroll for other racing audiobooks. One with more about… DOGS! Once again: Huzzah Huzzah Huzzah!