THE STORY OF COMOCK THE ESKIMO

by Robert As told to Flaherty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 1968

Comock lived it; Enooesweetok and others drew what might have been; Flaherty related it; Edmund Carpenter, equally at home in the subarctic, assembled and shaped the parts; an anonymous book designer has fused them into a tasteful, expressive entity. It's at once a picture book and a story but primarily it's a document in the sense that Nonook is a document, portraying Comock's perilous journey to an island reputed to be rich in game, his ten-year stay there with those of his family not lost to him by an ice-break, and their eventual return in a small umiak buoyed by inflated seal bladders. In tone and substance akin to the stories of James Houston, this is if anything more taciturn; when Comock kills companion Annunglung, who has gone mad, he notes simply that ""It was his blood the dogs smelled first."" But all is not grim or humorless (Comock has a stubborn wife). The tiny drawings, hardly more than silhouettes in most cases, have considerable vitality though you need to look closely to distinguish the details. Framing the narrative are introductions by Flaherty and Carpenter, a postscript by Carpenter, which round out the documentation but also contribute to the problem of just who, among children, will be attracted to this maverick (oblong format, miniscule drawings, small print, mature content), however fine it is.

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION