Four Quarters of Light

May 15, 2006
Inspired by boyhood memories of reading Jack London's The Call of the Wild
, Keenan (An Evil Cradling
) travels from his native Ireland to Alaska with his wife and young sons in this memoir that was first published in the U.K. in 2004. Like most who first experience the wilds of Alaska from the comfort of an armchair, Keenan soon discovers that family travel through the great wilderness is more difficult than his romantic notions had prepared him for. Writing with insight, Keenan is adept at communicating the frigidity of the natural landscape, as well as its sturdy people. He treads carefully among the wildlife and its caretakers, learning about Alaska from a hired guide who allows him entry to events that most travelers are kept far away from. Keenan, with and without his family, drives a dog sled under the night sky, fights "blizzards" of mosquitoes, visits a gold mine and talks to many Alaskan inhabitants who have remained despite the unrelenting climate. Although his writing can get bogged down with repetitive comments on the state's power and elusiveness ("Alaska never stays still long enough for you to get a hold on it"), Keenan's strength is in his respect for Alaska's strong simplicity.

July 1, 2006
As a boy in Ireland, Keenan dreamed of Jack London -s Alaska. When he grew discouraged trying to complete his novel "Turlough, " mysterious letters from an anonymous muse in Alaska encouraged him. Now a father, Keenan (best known for "An Evil Cradling", about his five years as a hostage in Beirut) finally followed his restless yearning for this unknown northern land and traveled with his family to spend the summer there. And so commences his Alaskan sojourn: dog sledding on a frozen lake under the northern lights; attending a gathering of the Athabascan people in Arctic Village, a native Gwich -in settlement in the far north, where he learned the interconnection among the people, the caribou, and the natural world; visiting an Eskimo healer at a remote fish camp, where he underwent a mystical healing on a desolate mountaintop. Throughout his travels in the vast wilderness, he pondered the philosophical aspects of life and the intermingling of physical reality and the spiritual. At the end of his Arctic journey, Keenan finds his own spirit is renewed, and so will readers. Recommended." -Janet Clapp, Athens -Clarke Cty. Lib., Athens, GA"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.