The Barrens A Novel of Love and Death in the Canadian Arctic by Kurt Johnson, Ellie Johnson

Looks like I’m the first person to rate and review this book and in this instance I’m glad to do so, because I enjoyed this novel and think it deserves an audience.
    Interestingly enough, this is a father/daughter collaboration about (among other things) a pretty unconventional father/daughter relationship. The other things are, specifically, a death-defying white water rafting trip through the Artic wilderness…with a body in tow. Because just dragging yourself, a canoe, and a ton of supplies through the inclement weather and hostile environs apparently wasn’t enough. I seriously don’t get the appeal of these sorts of adventures, but then again it makes them all the more interesting for me to read about.
     So, meet Lee, our protagonist, inspired in her adventurous spirit and her sexuality by the daughter side of this author combo. Lee gets dragged on this crazy adventure by her girlfriend - their relationship is just new enough that a lot of madness can pass for a good idea. The girlfriend drops off in the most modern of ways – taking a selfie – and Lee is then stuck with first a severely injured person and then a body. In a fit of inspiring dedication, she decides to bring the body back and so she drags it along. Lee’s supplies and spirits are getting precipitously low, but her inner strength preservers and on she goes.
     Meanwhile, through flashback style stories told to stay sane, we learn of Lee’s most unusual upbringing by her off-grid fanatic father. Those stories always interest me, think Leave No Trace in movies, but with a much less likeable/sympathetic father figure. Still, it’s nuanced, complex and compelling. It’s also something Lee survives, much like she is determined to survive this wild trip, so in many ways this is a survival story and a good one at that. Strong emotional engagement all around, this book gives you a protagonist you want to succeed.
      The writing is very vivid, it brings the story to life in all of its privations and quiet and dangerous beauty of nature. The book really doesn’t need the subtitle (and I don’t like those), it speaks for itself. It’s engaging, exciting and entertaining, all the things you’d want in a book. A family drama, a love story, an adventure, a survival thriller, a coming of age story. Well done, Johnson family. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.