The Expeditions

October 15, 2007
a haunting coming-of-age tale set in an emerging nation groping for identity,the first novel from MIT research scientist Iagnemma follows his story collection, On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction
. Working his way across the country at 16 in 1844, Elisha Stone dreams of becoming a naturalist after running away from his aging Massachusetts minister father and ailing mother three years earlier. He signs on as an assistant to survey expedition leader Silas Brush, but the guide, a ne’er-do-well named Ignace Morel, disappears as the party is set to depart for the unexplored northern Michigan peninsula. Ignace’s wife, a beautiful half Chippewa woman named Susette, takes over as guide at a time when woman guides were unheard of. Back in Massachusetts, the Reverend Stone, who is slipping unknowingly into opium addiction, receives a dramatic letter Elisha has sent to his mother, who has died. Impulsively, the guileless minister sets out to find Elisha, ostensibly to tell him of his mother’s death, but also to reconcile with his son. The plot is marvelously structured, and the secondaries (including humbug Jonah Crawley and his teenage clairvoyant fiancée, Adele Grainger) add real color. Beautifully written and outstandingly researched, Iagnemma’s first novel is a keeper.

Starred review from January 15, 2008
Set in the remote wilderness of 1844 America's uncharted Michigan territory, this is a stunning debut novel from the author of the collection "On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction". The narrativeparallel journeys of 16-year-old runaway Elisha Cook and his Reverend father, who leaves his Massachusetts home in search of his sonis heartfelt, well researched, and deftly written, presenting the travails of frontier life in a manner that is both intelligent and urbane yet also raw and unflinching: the historical record of violence and despair that accompanied America's northwestward expansion is captured in full and vivid detail. As the book hurtles along with all the adventure and romance expected of a historical novel of this sort, a lone thread of tender melancholy reminds us of the cost that nation building imposes on those the nation is built over. Recommended for all academic and public libraries.Christopher Bussmann, Pratt Inst. Lib., Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2007
It is hard to ignore that Iagnemma is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although there is a distinguished literary tradition of doctors who write?Chekhov called medicine his wife, literature his mistress?scientists who write are difficult to find. Iagnemma's first novel distinguishes itself not only through its intricate descriptions of nature but also through the energy and wonder the protagonist, Elisha, brings to these descriptions. The story is neatly divided between Elisha's expedition into the wilds of nineteenth-century Michigan and his ailing reverend father's attempt to locate his son. When the father is not concealing his illness, he is meditating on faith and loss, though the reverend's introspection is less compelling than Elisha's observation. Some chapters sag with unnecessary attention to direction or minutiae. As with many journeys, the rewards here are surprising: ?Elisha told Mr. Brush about the first specimen he?d collected, a gnarled brown shell that looked like a nub of tobacco; its odd shape made it seem like a hoax by God on unsuspecting scientists.?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)