Heroes of the Frontier

Reader Lowman’s fervent reading highlights the comic pathos of Eggers’s latest novel, a character study of a 30-something Josie who has abandoned her failing dental practice and conventional life in Ohio, in search of something she can’t exactly define but knows that she needs. Without breaking the flow of the narrative, Lowman gives voice and character to Josie’s children, accident-prone five-year-old Ana and precocious eight-year-old Paul. Lowman easily distinguishes the friendly and hostile people the family encounters on their picaresque Alaskan adventures. She makes Josie’s irrational, often ditzy decisions ring true: run away from troubles, fly to Alaska (which is as far as she can go without a passport), rent an ancient RV, subject your children to fierce forest fires and periods of fear and hunger, as well as lots of happy encounters with nature and people. In short, give the kids the freedom to grow healthy, smart, and strong. [em]A Knopf hardcover. (July) [/em]