Author Howard Frank Mosher in The Great Northern Express, writes of not just his journey in an OldsMobile to a 100 cities on his book tour but also of his life and the people in it - his wife, uncle Reg and students he taught.
His memoir has the simplicity of Jose Saramago's 'small Memories' as well as a story structure in each chapter. Some chapters have a neat ending to a story started in previous chapters, making a story happen over chapters.
Uncle Reg's and other characters phantom appearance and dialogue reads like a Prairie House Companion session.
In one of the chapters, 'Prof told us' and 'Prof said that' got annoying. Made me wonder if that chapter should have been with Prof as the narrator.
Author not minding being referred to as 'Harold' and his humorous way of looking at his cancer experience in trimesters and his big trip a big grant tour, maintains his light hearted tone even while trying to make a difference in the life of his students steering them away from mill jobs. Its an effortless one sitting book read.
The author asks 'But who would write the stories we were hearing everyday right here in the Kingdom?'. He has captured them well, the funny stories of hunting, representing the culture of the place.
If I had read any of the author's previous work, I could get more attached to the memoir.
I will compare this with Queen of the Road
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