A really interesting biography about a woman who went into Alaska and never came out. I enjoyed learning more about what life is like in the far reaches of Alaskan civilization, and about the sled dogs and the races. It felt a little short and a bit raw, but overall it was great.

Would you ever consider living off the grid?

I have always been fascinated by dog mushing and races like the Iditarod. This book gives you such good nuggets of stories surrounding dog mushing, but it also illustrates how nature can be a balm for our souls and how appreciating creation can be our connection back to why we exist. In the best way, this memoir reads like fiction. I always wanted to know what happened next and the word pictures Keith paints transport you to the wilderness.

A poignant, heartbreaking, and inspiring tale of rising above circumstance, you need to read this book if you are at all a fan of memoir.

An interesting account of life in the Alaskan wilderness. I admired the courage and determination of the author as she faced the harshness of the land and the tragedies that later came her way.

I wish the writing was not done in the present tense. The story would have flowed better, I think.

I was not interested in the dog mushing and skipped all those parts.

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

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A truly fascinating story that I was excited to read, but unfortunately the style of writing was not my cup of tea and sometimes took me too much out of the scene to fully enjoy the book as it deserves.

A Cold Trail
I have not read any other Tracy Crosswhite books, so I may have been at a disadvantage when reading this one. It worked as a standalone. Tracy and her husband are believable characters and the mystery was intriguing. I enjoyed the pull Tracy felt between returning to detective work and balancing that with motherhood.

Synopsis

Katherine Keith is epic and so is her manuscript. In a world where people breakdown or have a conniption-fit if their phone runs out of power there are others; extraordinary, resilient, talented, survivors that put the rest of us to shame. Whilst most of us consider we have had a bad day if we miss a phone call or a connection at the airport; this woman deals with exceptional challenges and never fails to meet them head on.

Katherine takes us on a journey from her most formative years as an adolescent and on to her 20’s. Partly forgotten memories emerge and create dissonance that she combats through the implementation of superhuman physical challenges. She tries to rein in her early experiences against the back drop of mountains, wild rivers, and valleys.

At 21 years old Katherine moved to Alaska and performed several jobs before finding her reason to remain. Happiness is fleeting, and an accident leads her to dig deep and change her circumstance. Coping with deep-seated loss, she seeks to drive away the overwhelming sadness with training; ultimately competing in the Iron Man Race and in several triathlons. Practical problems require practical solutions and we are there along for the ride as Keith uses academia to elevate herself substantially, economically, and psychologically. She endures through pilot training and engine malfunctions to earn her private pilot certificate.

One cannot help but feel inadequate for all that this woman achieves through sheer brute determination and personal application. Set against all the trials and tribulations is Keith’s passion for the wilderness and its solitude. In the wilds facing down the elements, living on the edge, and racing across the environment you feel she is the freest.

Interspersed through the book are Keith’s recollections of her Endurance Dog Sled Races. These races include: the Yukon Quest, the Iditarod, the Kobuk 400, and the Kuskokwim 300. They occurred during a period that spanned from 2012 to 2017 set against numerous and increasingly destructive personal experiences.

I am filled with admiration for Katherine Keith’s ability to get up again and again and continue fighting. She is all the more exceptional as she was also a single parent with all the responsibility that brings.

Her spiritual beliefs she found to be irreplaceable. When times were at their worst, she gained solace in their tenants. We are left in no doubt that without her core beliefs she would have had to struggle even harder to survive.

Conclusion

I have no reluctance in recommending this book to you. Katherine Keith’s tale is genuinely epic, as is the woman herself. After all the adversity, grief, heartache, misery and misfortune Katherine has never given up on her goals. She is currently working her way to climb 7 Summits in 3 years.

They are as follows:

Mt. Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Vinson Massif, and Carsten Pyramid / Puncak Jaya or Mt. Koscuiuszko

When she isn’t planning the next adventure, she can be found working in her company with John Baker, owners of Remote Solutions, LLC based in the town of Kotzebue, Alaska. They provide the community with essential project management support and design tailored for remote communities.

Acknowledgment

My sincere thanks go out to: NetGalley, the Author, Katherine Keith, Blackstone Publishing (2020) for affording me the opportunity to review; Epic Solitude.

Epic Solitude is the true story of Katherine Keith and her quest for meaning in the wilds of Alaska. Throughout her life, the author has found peace and fulfillment in the remote places of North America. This continues into her adult life as Keith and her husband, Dave, build a cabin far from civilization in Alaska. There they carve out a happy life amidst the hardships and isolation of living "off the grid," It is not until tragedy strikes and Katherine finds herself alone with her infant daughter that she is forced to fight for their lives, both physically and spiritually.

Keith writes about her life in a mesmerizing way that makes the book difficult to put down. She takes the reader on the Iditarod with her and team of sled dogs, then flashes back to the life that led her there. Fans of Cheryl Strayed's The Wild will enjoy this book, but I think there is something for any reader. I picked it up because I love to read about Alaska and sled-dog racing but gained so much more. This is one corageous and tenacious woman!.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an ARC of this book now available. This books started as a 3⭐️ and mostly finished as 4⭐️. The book bounced around between different timelines especially in the beginning and often the changes in timeline didn’t really make sense. It was a choppy read and in the first third it made it hard to empathize with the author because you don’t really understand what had happened to her. Once the author gets to Alaska the story becomes easier to follow and you finally feel for the author. But then toward the end the timelines jump around again and you feel you are missing chunks of her story (for which I then googled news coverage to learn more.) Despite the books disjointed pacing, I still recommend this one especially for those who find healing in nature and adventure.

When I read books, I like to collect quotes that speak to me. Sometimes, I only find one or two quotes in a whole book. In Epic Solitude, I didn't even get out of the introduction and I already had a long list of quotes I didn't want to forget. What a wonderful memoir from start to finish!

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This memoir is about one woman's journey in life with challenges and going into the wilderness to gain herself back. In Minnesota she grew up wanting to travel to Alaska but moved around the lower 48 for a while before finally moving up north. Through this time there are deep traumas that she overcomes.

The writing was a bit off for me, it took a bit to get into her "voice" and the timeline is not linear. Also, you can just feel the "heart" with the Alaska and dog sledding better than others. This book at times was just so overwhelming with the deep loss and trauma that Keith went through that it can be hard to read. But overall this is a great book to learn more about the Far North along with the chance to hear another women's voice in overcoming adversity and living an amazing life.

Tigger Warnings are needed: Suicided attempts, Suicided, child sexual abuse, and infant loss.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing a free egalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a lover of solitude, I was drawn to this book by its title and then the cover cinched the deal. My dog Bea is a retired sled dog and I thought it would be interesting to get a glimpse into her former profession.

I like a good outdoor adventure story, especially those about women. Keith became enraptured with Alaska after reading Arctic Daughter by Jean Aspen when she was ten years old. Growing up in Minnesota she’d camped with her brother and dad which grew her love of nature.

After marrying at a young age, Keiths’ world is rocked when she starts having unbearable nightmares of abuse. She turns to harmful physical behaviors to mask her emotional pain. After divorcing, Keith turns for relief to the wilderness.

The first 20% of the book was a challenge for me to read. Keith’s rawness resonated and I needed to put the book down for a few days. I’m glad I picked it back up because the story took off for me as Keith writes about her move to Alaska. She purchases an old ice cream truck that doubles as her home and heads north. She’s no trust-fund baby but takes odd jobs along the way to pay for food and gas.

Throughout the memoir Keith mentions some of the ways she’s made money to make ends meet: kayak guide, selling guns (she had a federal firearms license), putting on bake sales, going on wooly mammoth ivory hunting expeditions, to name a few. The issue of money is, I imagine, a big question for people who would like to live a similar lifestyle.

Surprisingly, Keith doesn’t mention the prize money for dog sled races. She instead focuses on her love of being out with her dogs. Perhaps it is isn’t intentional that she doesn’t mention the prize money because, really, just surviving these races sounds like her primary goal. But since she mentions other modes of income, I did wonder why prize money wasn’t mentioned (unless I missed something, which is entirely possible). She doesn’t shy away from including the fact that races are protested by animal rights groups.

In the Lower 48, Keith had found a balm in nature excursions, but in Northern Alaska, she finds deeper healing:

"Here, above the Arctic Circle, my life is no longer a living nightmare. The threat of self-extinction seems far off, obscure, and absurd. Certain words or phrases still trigger flashbacks, but they have become more manageable. Arctic solitude highlights all shortcomings and sensitivities. My thoughts can get trapped in the past, leading to a few days of total exhaustion, negativity, and pain. Dark periods exist, but instead of months they now last only days. I hope that perhaps even these will pass. Flashbacks and self-harm don’t belong in the life I am building."

Alaska helps her deal with old demons even as the unforgiving conditions of camp life create new horrors. Keith learns the hard way that naive optimism can kill in an environment as harsh as the Arctic Circle.

After the death of her infant daughter and then her husband, Keith heads to the University of Alaska, gets her degree, a pilot’s license, and becomes a musher.

"I study the art of running a team of dogs and surviving the Arctic winter. A month after I arrive, I drive a small dog team for the first time solo. Two weeks later, I am on the runners of a fourteen-dog team. There is no turning back. The lifestyle completes me and transforms all my past goals and dreams into something better."

The chronology of Epic Solitude is confusing at times because the writing isn’t always clear and the structure of the story goes back and forth in time between sled-dog races and other life events. This didn’t terribly distract from the reading because Keith’s story is so compelling, but stronger editing could have helped make for a smoother read.

The Arctic Circle is a land of extremes that suits Keith perfectly as she is a self-confessed woman of extremes. Her descriptions of daily life way — way — off the grid and her sled dog race experiences are epic. She’s completed both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. The volunteer support at rest stops for these races sounds amazing — from people who clean up after the dogs to veterinarians and medical personal for the humans — but for the most part, mushers and their dogs are alone out there. (The Yukon Quest doesn’t allow mushers to carry two-way communication devices. Mushers have an emergency transmitter that once pushed sends help and automatically eliminates them from the race.)

You can’t read this memoir and not admire Keith’s tenacity. What she’s been through is jaw-dropping. Her physical determination as a musher and Ironman athlete is buoyed by the love of family and friends as well as her exploration into spiritual traditions. She’s written this memoir to help others get through their own hard times:

"No words have the power to take away the pain and emptiness all people carry from the impact of loss. I share my story to empower others to search for their way to live life to the fullest despite that pain. Find the beauty. It’s epic."

I highly recommend this memoir to outdoor adventure enthusiasts, memoir readers, and folks working on healing their own demons.

An excellent memoir that included touches of arctic adventures and quiet reflections. The writing was transportive; you could share in the cold numbing air and next enjoying the sun warming your skin. Excellent addition to any library and book club prospect.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a really hard time getting into this story as I felt the first 30% of this book was a little boring for me. I didn't really feel engaged with the author until her story moves to her life in Alaska. Once I got to this part of the story the emotions started to become very real and heartbreaking, she lost so much in a very short timespan. I didn't really enjoy the back and forth between past and present while telling about her life and think I would much prefer a more linear telling of her story.
Once you get into the telling this was a very captivating memoir sure to be liked by many people.

This book was a quite a ride, I can tell you that. It broke my heart several times over.

The first half of this memoir I was not convinced. Though I felt for the author, I could not quite connect to the writing style and I struggled with the way Katherine expressed herself. When you are reading a memoir, you want to feel connected to the person telling his or her story and this what was not happening for me in the beginning. However, I think this changed the moment she arrived in Alaska.

The second half of the book had me hooked. I cried with Katherine as she experienced her losses and rooted for her as she bravely fought to be the best she could be, both for herself and the people that needed her.

I once spent five days on a dogsled in the Arctic and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had, so reading about that part of her life brought back amazing memories and made me smile.

I feel like I have been through the wars at the end of this book, so I can only imagine how Katherine Keith must feel. I am so grateful that she shared her experiences with us, the readers. I am full of admiration for this woman.

If you are interested in stories of survival and hardship, read this book. It is worth your time!

Memoirs about women going out into the world to find themselves or their own truths have become a veritable cottage industry since the success of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild. While these books became instant bestsellers, the lookalikes they inspired have garnered an ocean of criticism regarding traveling long distances in search of spiritual truths, as though Henry David Thoreau didn’t do the same thing in 1854 and write a classic while his mother did his laundry for him.

With her memoir, Epic Solitude, dogsledder and wilderness athlete Katherine Keith recounts the experiences that led her from a childhood in the Minnesota woods to the Pacific Crest Trail in California to life in a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness north of the Arctic Circle. Her life has not been an easy one. Though her childhood was relatively idyllic, it took a sharp turn in her teens, leading to eating disorders, sleep disorders, and undiagnosed mental illnesses that took their toll on her life and relationships. She headed west in search of answers, hiking a long span of the Pacific Crest Trail before taking part in a series of Native American rituals that helped her unravel her past traumas. But this did not heal her, and when she hit rock bottom she bought an old van and headed to Alaska, the place she had always dreamed of living. There, she sets her feet onto a path that would lead her to love, tragedy, and ultimately a path to purpose and happiness.

“If I allow myself to get wrapped up in adversity, the wallowing can wreck my race. If I surrender, ride the waves, some breathtaking gift– a sunset, a moonrise, the northern lights– is always waiting just around the bend in the trail. This is the balance. Not only the race, but life itself.”

Truth is at the core of Epic Solitude. Keith’s travels are meant to help her discover her own spiritual truths, and every turn of the story she tells the truth about herself. While memoirists tell the truth about themselves, they often polish it up to make themselves look just a little better than the reality would otherwise show. Not so for Keith, who writes the full, unflattering truth about her own faults and failings, and doesn’t gloss over a single event of the worst mistake of her life– one that leads to an incredible tragedy.

But while Keith tells the unvarnished truth of her life, the story itself is told unevenly. It bounces back and forth between past and present, an often jarring narrative choice that lacks an obvious reason. Are the short chapters dealing with dogsledding and the Iditarod meant to provide a guiding star for the reader when they are traversing the morass of Keith’s younger years? Are they meant to provide suspense across the chapters when she describes her failed first marriage? For the most part, they seem to chop Keith’s early life into a series of anecdotes, reducing their power in a way ill-suited to the overall story. Her struggles with mental illness are, after all, what sent her fleeing into the Alaskan wilderness in search of peace. The driving force of one’s life deserves more than a series of choppy anecdotes.

But the power of Keith’s story rises above the manner in which it is told. She spends most of her youth in a constant struggle to start over, sometimes giving in to her despair, and sometimes conquering it. While she may not be the most gifted of storytellers, Keith clearly has a fascinating story to tell. If readers can overlook the jittery pacing and questionable dialogue, then Keith’s story of rising from her own ruin is an inspiring one. As a memoir of a life lived in the extreme places of the world, Epic Solitude emerges as a solid but less-elegant heir to Cheryl Strayed’s Wild.



Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing a free egalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion.

I wanted to like this book...I love the outdoors and her descriptions of the nature around her were lovely. But I could not connect to the character. I didn't understand how she was making it through life and dealing with all her medical bills without working, how she could do things without remembering, remember things through drug use, etc.

If you have been to Alaska, you know it's a ruggedly beautiful place. And if you haven't been, you can read Epic Solitude by Katherine Keith and imagine yourself in the wild beauty of  our 49th state.

What caught my attention was the idea that Katherine heads to Alaska, not an easy place to reside, and decides to pursue dog sledding. These are not things that the average person does in their lifetime so I love the glimpse we can into Katherine's life. I am such a huge fan of memoirs and this one is very well done.

All her life, Katherine Keith has hungered for remote, wild places that fill her soul with freedom and peace. Her travels take her across America, but it is in the vast and rugged landscape of Alaska that she finds her true home. Alaska is known as a place where people disappear--at least a couple thousand go missing each year. But the same vast and rugged landscape that contributed to so many people being lost is precisely what has gotten her found.

She and her husband build a log cabin miles away from the nearest road and create a life of love. An idyllic existence, but with isolation and brutal living conditions can also come heartbreak. Chopping wood and hauling water are not just parts of a Zen proverb but a requirement for survival. Keith experiences tragic loss and must push on, with her infant daughter, alone in the Alaskan backcountry.

Long-distance dog sledding opens a door to a new existence. Racing across the state of Alaska offers the best of all worlds by combining raw wilderness with solitude and athleticism. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the "Last Great Race on Earth," remains a true test of character and offers the opportunity to intimately explore the frontier that she has come to love.

With every thousand miles of winter trail traversed in total solitude, she confronts challenges that awaken internal demons, summoning all the inner grief and rage that lies dormant. In the tradition of Cheryl Strayed's Wild and John Krakauer's Into the Wild, Epic Solitude is the powerful and touching story of how one woman found her way--both despite and because of--the difficulties of living and racing in the remote wilderness.

Ahhhh, love it! A strong amazing woman and an incredible story.

Beautiful book!

An engaging and at times heartbreaking memoir about a woman and her love of the outdoors. It was different than I was expecting – there was less focus on dogsledding than on the trials in her personal life, but this was not a bad thing; her life story is at times devastating and told with honesty.

She writes with an openness and clarity that you can tell is genuine; she doesn’t try to sugar coat anything or make excuses. That being said, I could have dealt with a different structure to the story. The actual dogsled races in the second half are broken up by longer chapters about her life fifteen years prior, which served to distract from the races and made them all blend together. Granted, other than a few interesting occurrences during each one, I’m sure most of dogsledding would seem rather boring from someone reading about it. From what she explained, the sport is long stretches in the wilderness broken up by either resting or calamity. I would love to try it someday!

Stronger than the dogsledding are her sections about trying to make a life in the wilderness. I could have used a bit more physical description of the areas, though I’m sure if I wasn’t using a Kindle edition the photos would have helped.

There is a growing focus in the novel on her spiritual journey as well. While this is something I tended to skim, there wasn’t too much of it to make me bored. It’s clear she’s not trying to convince anyone to join her way of thinking but to show one of the methods she used to right herself psychologically after her numerous traumas.

Overall, a very compelling story about an incredibly brave and resilient woman.

DNF at 35%.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as I adore stories of Alaska and outdoor adventure. However, the poor writing and lack of emotion caused me to discontinue. I really wanted to but I just could not bring myself to read more. I think one of the things that did not work in this book's favour was that the author's discussion of the Pacific Coast Trail caused me to compare it to Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and the writing of that memoir is just so much better. This book paled significantly. I enjoyed the parts about dog sledding more, but it still read as a grocery list of places/ terrain the author had encountered.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC of this book in return for review.