Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company

A Novel of Lewis and Clark

by Brian Hall

  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Jan 2003, 432 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

Brian Hall's compulsively readable novel vividly re-creates Lewis and Clark's extraordinary journey into the unknown western frontier. Focusing on the emblematic moments of the participants' lives, the story unfolds through the perspectives of four competing voices-from the troubled and mercurial figure of Meriwether Lewis, the expedition leader who found that it was impossible to enter paradise without having it crumble around him, to Sacagawea, the Shoshone girl - captive and interpreter for the expedition, whose short life mirrored the disruptive times in which she lived. Bringing the day-to-day life of the expedition alive as no work of history ever could, Hall's magnificent novel fills in the gaps and provides a new perspective on the most famous journey in American history.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"In I Should be Extremely Happy in Your Company, Mr. Hall tries to penetrate and examine Lewis and Clark lore by creating strong narrative voices for the major players in this much-examined event. In the process, he is able to fill in gaps. The brooding character of Meriwether Lewis, as evidenced by Lewis's abundant letters and journals, is constructed here with particular verve, even if Mr. Hall sometimes seems to be shoehorning actual written observations into Lewis's conversation. Readers can judge for themselves." - The New York Times, Janet Maslin.

"Though it joins a crowded field of Lewis and Clark narratives, this formidable third novel by Hall is not to be dismissed." - Publishers Weekly.

"The result is a compelling if sometimes difficult-to-follow tale that can be well recommended to all fans of serious historical fiction. It is particularly suitable for public libraries, though as a word of caution, it should be pointed out that these Native Americans are not bashful about using graphic terminology to describe natural functions." - Library Journal.

"Not easy, but a serious, ambitious, complex and greatly worthwhile book. Just like the trip." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

L Pardini

Tedious and Hard work...an exhausting slog
I love to read. I love a challenge. I love words. By the time I gave up on trying to get through this book, I was ready to throw it in the Missouri River!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Brian Hall Author Biography

Photo: Madeleine Moss

Brian Hall grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and attended Harvard College. After getting his bachelor's degree in English in 1981, he ran away for two years, bicycling and camping in western and eastern Europe. On his return, he wrote his first book, Stealing from a Deep Place: Travels in Southeastern Europe. Seven books have followed, five of them novels. He worked freelance as a journalist for a short time, writing for Travel-Holiday, the New York Times Magazine, and the New Yorker. He teaches at Colgate University and lives in Ithaca, New York.

Author Interview
Link to Brian Hall's Website

Other books by Brian Hall at BookBrowse
  • Fall of Frost jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more historical fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

They say that in the end truth will triumph, but it's a lie.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.