Review of Ghost Trails by Jill Homer

February 25th, 2009

Disclaimer: I received my copy of Ghost Trails directly from Jill Homer at no cost.

Ghost Trails
©Copyright 2008 by Jill Homer
Contact Jill Homer at jillhomer66@hotmail.com
First edition, November 2008
$8, ISBN — 9780557024070

I have long been a reader and fan of Jill Homer’s very popular blog “Up In Alaska“, and was excited when I discovered she has written a book. Jill’s blog is engaging, and the pictures she uses artfully depict landscapes most of us don’t even think of experiencing. The stories on the blog flow around her training and riding her bicycle. Jill’s posts aren’t necessarily written as an treatise about winter cycling, but they absolutely lend themselves to that. Jill’s mileage log and continual riding in temperatures where most of us push the button on our remote car starter, and let our car warm for 20 minutes before the 5 minute drive to work prove that not only is it possible, but there are people who find it enjoyable.

With that small introduction of my knowledge of Jill and her style of writing, let me tell you a little about her book, Ghost Trails.

Jill begins the 185 page book with an account from her most troubling time spent racing the Iditarod Trail. She’s forlorn: at a physiological wall miles and hours from any form of help, with nothing to rely on but the few items she’s carefully prepared for this 350 mile race. Jill also can rely on her iron will, which at the moment is fading, freezing into temperatures as low as minus twenty. There is nothing to do but hope that what her body can’t do, her equipment can. She says “I wondered if I would ever wake up. I had no way of knowing for sure,” and with that, succumbs to the cold tired punishment that is the Alaskan Iditarod Trail race.

The book then goes back and begins the explanation of what got Jill from being the typical teenage girl in Utah to this unlikely point so cold and far from everything comfortable. But the explanation doesn’t come full force at you, as each chapter is an alternating account of the Iditarod Trail race and Jill’s life, with the life stories building to the race itself. At times the alternating chapters seem like two completely separate books, both interesting, with a tenuous connection to each other that the reader perceives will eventually meld into one story that is Jill Homer. This very nearly happens, but interestingly ends not with the story of the conclusion of the Iditarod, but with with Geoff and Jill moving to Alaska from Idaho, such that it is the feeling of ending at the “beginning.”

Geoff, Jill’s boyfriend, plays an integral role in the development of the Iditarod Trail racer. Geoff is there very nearly from the “beginning of Jill”, but is introduced by a mutual friend in New York. The free spirit’s outlook on life promotes Jill’s wandering, and they begin outdoor pursuits together, including canyon rafting. Geoff’s naturally-great-at-everything persona helps Jill build on her natural abilities, and they prosper together. As such, maybe the book ending on the chapter about their final move to Alaska is fitting.

As a reader of Up In Alaska, one becomes accustomed to Jill’s writing being punctuated with great pictures.  Jill is great at photography.  Sure she has a great camera, but she also knows how to use it.  I was disappointed that Ghost Trails only has pictures from Jill’s adventures at the beginning of each chapter, and at that, a generally low resolution version.  To say it was disappointing is an understatement.  But this book is not Jill’s blog, and I certainly would not hold the lack of pictures against the book.

Also unexpected was the writing style variation from blog to book.  In her blog Up In Alaska, Jill’s words flow smoothly, written by a clearly intelligent writer, such that they need no editing.  In Ghost Trails, word choice seems poured over, and often verbose.

All told, Jill’s story is an interesting one.  I won’t say “inspring” since even as a cyclist that’s on the fringe of what is considered possible for humans, and that makes me applaud Jill even more fervently.  Ghost Trails proves that preparation will take one very far, and determination will almost assuredly fill the gap.

Thanks to Jill for the opportunity to review her book.

J

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