Trask: 1st book of a classic “Oregon Trilogy”
Trask. By Don Berry.
Oregon State University Press, 2004. 348 p.
(Copyright 1960 by Don Berry and first published by Viking Press)
Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.
Mountain man Elbridge Trask, living in the Clatsop area in the 1840’s, has a hunger for even wilder, less settled areas. He plans a trip down the coast to the area inhabited by unfriendly natives, the “Killamooks” as Tillamook, Oregon, was typically spelled in those early years.
But the real story is Trask’s inner life, compellingly imagined by author Don Berry. Trask barely knows his own mind at times, is unsure of what he wants, at least on a conscious level, but his heart leads him inexorably onward towards his fate. While at times beset by doubts and inner turmoil, he never hesitates when making the most crucial decisions, and at times, speaks almost without thinking, yet expressing his deepest desires.
Also significant is Trask’s relationship with his partners in travel, two Clatsop Indians, one young and untested and the other, Charley Kehwa, is a tamanawis man, one who has visions or dreams of a supernatural nature. Trask is too hard-headed to believe in such things, but is affected by them all the same.
Berry followed Trask with two more novels, Moontrap and To Build a Ship. These three tales “form a loose trilogy that tells the story of [Oregon’s] origins better than any history book”, according to the book’s introduction. This first volume is a tour-de-force and a powerful, impressive narrative.
ISBN: 0-87071-023-0
Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.6 BERRY 2004
Also available as a talking book on cassette.
Not available as an eBook or as a Braille edition.
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August 11th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Seems like an interesting read on an interesting man.
Do you have any other recommends on similar books?
August 12th, 2011 at 10:49 am
Thanks for reading, and for your question. There are some other fine reads on the Pacific Northwest frontier. Try some of these past suggestion lists from the Washington State Library:
Fall 2003 Washington Reads | Washington Territorial Days
Spring 2006 Washington Reads | The Oregon Trail
Westerns Set in the Northwest
There are also two other novels by the same author, Don Berry, that form an “Oregon Trilogy”, Moontrap and To Build A Ship. Both have been featured in recent Washington Reads book recommendations.
Happy reading!