Back Story Alaska

If you enjoy memoirs, Back Story Alaska may be a book to your liking. The book is all about the author, Lance Brewer, who loved Alaska, mostly for the fishing trips it offered, and he visited it regularly from his home in Southern California. This small eight-by-eight-inch paperback is well designed, illustrated with photographs throughout. Brewer relates his adventures, including many people he encountered, in fourteen chapters, and his chronicles read like a personal journal. They are in chronological order starting in 1993 when his father gave his spot on a ten-day fishing trip to his young son, the author of this book. Each of the fourteen stories ends with a poem written by Brewer. The writing is not a page-turner; in fact, it is rather mediocre, lackluster. The photo illustrations are mostly of wildlife, some of people and scenery, and float planes. They are mainly small, not much larger than thumbnail photos, and not one of them deserves a second look—they are quick snapshots with no artistic flair. Captions would have been nice to see. The quality of the poems is up to the readers’ judgement.