I really enjoyed this novel. It's about an American man who is on a ship in the Arctic, on the coast of far eastern Russian where the Chukchi people live. He has an accident that causes him to lose his hands, and while he is healing, the boat departs without him. He eventually assimilates into the Chukchi culture and this novel is the story of him doing that. As the story progresses, outside influences begin to creep in, and this reintroduction of western culture and people shows just how deeply John has adapted to this new way of living.

I thought this was really well done. Sometimes books that are this foreign in culture and setting are hard for me to connect with, but I think because there was a well-drawn American character experiencing this way of life, I was able to really get what the author was trying to say.

Highly recommended - a great look at a different culture and way of life, and also a good exploration of what matters in life. ( )

In the second decade of the 20th century, a young Canadian sailor, John MacLennan, comes to the far North to the northern tip of Siberia. His ship is stuck in ice and detonating charges to free it, he suffers terrible injuries to his hands. Three Chukchi tribesmen start to take him to the nearest hospital, miles and miles away, and on the way his hands turn gangrenous. So a shaman-woman amputates all but several fingers. Upon return to the Chukchi settlement, they find the ship has left without John, after a storm has broken up the ice. So he lives among them and takes up their customs. They help him and he finds, instead of being savages and frightening, they are trusting and really human, in the best sense of the word. Much of the book is a description of their daily lives--joys and troubles alike. John acculturates, adopts their customs, takes on a wife, and finally has to face a decision when his mother arrives: does he leave and go back to Canada a cripple or does he stay?

This was a marvelous book. Not only is there the description of a people, but the village elder Orvo, speaks much wisdom. Sometimes the writing was a bit awkward and clunky, but that could have been the translation.

Highly recommended. ( )

It's 1910, and Canadian sailor John MacLennan is aboard a ship frozen above the Arctic Circle, north of Siberia. While using dynamite to try and create a path through the ice to open water, John is injured, and the captain decides John's best chance of survival is with the local Chukchi people, who promise to dogsled him to the nearest doctor. The rest of the novel chronicles John's experiences with the Chukchi.

If you are looking for a well-written piece of literature, this is not it. The style and the plot construction feel amateurish. The beauty of this work lies in the details about the Chukchi way of life. The author, himself, was born in Chukotka lands and writes convincingly of the ice, Northern Lights, walrus hunts, and ceremonial rituals. He uses Chukchi words throughout, and I hope the author's dozen novels and collections of stories help preserve the language. One of the themes of the novel is the benefits and drawbacks of interaction with non-Native peoples. Although his characters are stereotypes (the greedy White merchant, the violent gold rush prospectors, the head-in-the-clouds scientists), the conversations between John and Orvo, the village elder, touch upon important questions of Native rights, condescension, prejudice, and exploitation.

Although reviews of this book have been mixed, I found it interesting enough to make up for the lack of literary polish. ( )

It’s cold on the northeastern tip of Siberia, really cold, especially when you’re a group a ice locked sailors from everywhere except where they are icebound. When the opportunity presents itself to break through before the hardest part of winter arrives they do so however it is costly for one sailor in particular, John MacLennan. It becomes clear to sailor and native alike that he needs emergency medical attention. It’s a long trip for the inhabitants of Chukotka to make but the captain of John’s ship, Hugh Grover vows to stay until John’s return. Grover's decision forces John to learn what it truly means to be called a man among the Chukotka.
Polar Fog is a beautifully written novel. It presents what I love most about reading. Being taken away to a place and a people I had no idea existed. As it was for John it was for me, the reader, it was the chance to spend some time with the residents of Chukotka, learn their customs, their strengths and their talents ( )

Das Buch erzählt eine sehr ähnliche Geschichte wie "Der mit dem Wolf tanzt": Ein weißer Mann, der bei einem Naturvolk Aufnahme findet und sich zu einem der ihren entwickelt.John, ein junger Kanadier, bleibt bei den im äußersten Nordosten Sibiriens lebenden Tschuktschen, nachdem er bei einer Explosion schwer verwundet wird. Obwohl ihm nach Wundbrand von einer Schamanin beide Hände teilamputiert werden, kann er dort ein vollwertiges Mitglied der Gemeinschaft werden. Zunächst denkt John viel an eine Rückkehr in die Zivilisation, doch gerade aufgrund seiner Verletzung, jedoch zunehmend aufgrund der ihm imponierenden klaren Werte und schließlich aufgrund der persönlichen Bindung durch seine Frau und Kinder, bleibt er, selbst als er am Ende des Buches abgeholt werden würde. Da der Autor selbst ein Tschuktsche ist, ist das Buch sicherlich besonders beeindruckend und glaubwürdig. Die Lebensweise dieses Volkes wird deutlich. Doch das Buch ist auch spannend, interessant, menschlich. ( )