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Book Reviewed by:Both sweeping and exquisitely intimate, award-winning author Bart Yates blends historical fact and fiction in a surprising, thought-provoking saga spanning 12 significant days across nearly 100 years in the life of a single man, beginning in 1920s Utah.
"Each day is a story, whether or not that story makes any damn sense or is worth telling to anyone else."
At the age of ninety-six, Isaac Dahl sits down to write his memoir. For Isaac, an accomplished journalist and historian, finding the right words to convey events is never a problem. But this book will be different from anything he has written before. Focusing on twelve different days, each encapsulated in a chapter, Isaac hopes to distill the very essence of his life.
There are days that begin like any other, only to morph through twists of fate. An avalanche strikes Bingham, Utah, and eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister, Agnes, survive when they are trapped in an upside-down bathtub. Other days stand apart in history—including a day in 1942, when Isaac, stationed on the USS Houston in the Java Sea as a rookie correspondent, confronts the full horror of war. And there are days spent simply, with his lifelong friend, Bo, or with Danny, the younger man whose love transforms Isaac's later years—precious days with significance that grows clear only in hindsight.
From the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to a Mississippi school at the apex of the civil rights movement, Isaac tells his story with insight, wisdom, and emotional depth. The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl is a wonderful, singular narrative that will spark conversation and reflection—a reminder that there is no such thing as an ordinary life, and the greatest accomplishment of all is to live and love fully.
Day One
February 17, 1926. Bingham, Utah
Each day is a story, whether or not that story makes any damn sense or is worth telling to anyone else. If you live a long time, and your memory doesn't completely crap out, you end up with enough stories to fill a library; it's nearly impossible to pick and choose a mere handful to write about—a stupid, arbitrary stricture I've been cowed into accepting by a dead bully. Why I lack the testicular fortitude to just say no is a vexing question, but what aggravates me even more is the fact that I have no idea where to start.
Okay, I'm lying.
I actually do know, but it irks me beyond belief to give Aggie the satisfaction of following her advice. That she now only exists in my head is beside the point: I'd like to maintain at least a smidgeon of autonomy in my own skull, for God's sake.
Is that so much to ask?
Sadly, in this case, it is.
You're very unattractive when you whine, Isaac.
That's what she'd say, of course, if she were still here. I ...
I found this book very poignant. I have often looked at my life reflecting on the passage of time as I have moved through history and experienced personal growth (Jolene B). It is almost guaranteed that readers will be reflecting on their own life's "moments" while reading. That was my experience and it made me wish I could coax more days' adventures from my dad who will be 100 in November! (Connie K). The characters are so well-developed that I feel as if I know them personally, and I am genuinely mourning the end of the book, as I will miss them greatly (Karna B)...continued
Full Review
(564 words)
(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl by Bart Yates is written as a series of vignettes based on twelve days in the life of the main character, which include personal moments and historical events, both famous and lesser-known. One of these happenings is an avalanche that Isaac survives at the age of eight with his sister in the town of Bingham, Utah. This event appears to be based on a real-life disaster that occurred on February 17, 1926.
Bingham, Utah was a popular miners' community in southwestern Salt Lake County, situated in a canyon of the Oquirrh Mountains. Mormons Thomas and Sanford Bingham settled there in 1848, and ore was soon discovered, but it was only in the 1860s that the area began to develop as a mining...
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