Caribou Island by David Vann

I opened our front door and found my mother hanging from the rafters. I'm sorry, I said, and I stepped back and closed the door. 

~Page 1, Caribou Island by David Vann

Title: Caribou Island
Author: David Vann
ISBN: 978-0061875724
Publisher:Harper/2011
Pages:304

Based in wilds Alaska, we see Gary trying to build a cabin from scratch in Caribou Island. There is nothing, no plan, no clear cut vision, but just the compelling need to build a cabin in the middle of nowhere. His wife, Irene is against it. But she is helpless in a way. She thinks if she does not do as Gary wants, he will leave her. She has mysterious headaches. Dsspite tests, nothing comes up. 

Gary is one of those people who always regrets what he has done. He is most of the times thinking, what if. He has many regrets, yet he goes on to his next ventures, with a single mindedness. 

Meanwhile, their daughter Rhonda is thinking about settling down with Jim, a dentist. She tries to hold her family together. She is very worried about her parents, knows hat the cabin is a foolhardy decision but she can't do anything about it. Her brother Mark is not to bothered. 

Caribou Island speaks of the conflicts in our mind. One which we can't vocalize but are very much affected by those. Irene has never recovered from her mother's suicide. And fears abandonment from Gary. She is a terrible situation of not loving him and yet can't live if he leaves her. Raw, stark and bleak feelings take her over. 

Caribou Island is dark. It tells us how love can go wrong. After a while hope has no place. We do lose the thread once in a while but we can't let go of the novel. The building of the cabin is a metaphor of everything going wrong.