Contests of Strength
A cinematic and involving historical novel, Contests of Strength traces a love that is challenged by village circumstances.
History and modern science meet amid secrets and romance in Melissa Slager’s historical novel Contests of Strength, a story about human resilience.
In an isolated seaside village along North America’s West Coast in 1700, two people feel trapped in the traditional roles their community assigned them. Dushuuw, struggling with matters of the spirit, is required to assist his brother with his whaling work, even though he feels that his temperament is better suited to battle. And Amuun’axsum, a woman with noble ties, is relegated to service to the village shaman. The two meet and fall for one another, but an earthquake and a devastating tsunami threaten their village as well as their future together.
The story starts off slow, but as village life and politics give way to the immediacy of the natural disaster, the novel becomes cinematic. Before the crisis, exposition is used to establish the setting in clear, somewhat foreboding terms. Village life is informed by the imposing cliffs, the ever-changing, often violent ocean, and the dark, dense forests:
And the roaring grew louder. Not the sound of a pulsing sea, nor a storm-fueled wind—something monstrous. On the ground, a thin layer of seawater surged landward. Its foamy front cut around their feet.
While people’s conversations involve sometimes convoluted syntax, leading to distractions, the thorough characterizations are ably shaped by people’s interactions with their surroundings and with one another. Uhpahs’s perceived naivete is challenged, as is Amuun’axsum’s bitterness, as the story continues. The women, though they live in a restrictive society, are particularly well fleshed out. Though, at one point, when a trade deal threatens to take her away from her lover, Amuun’axsum seems to accept her fate, she proves resilient when the wave comes; she and other women remain with a woman who’s in labor.
The tribe’s rituals are well detailed, deepening the story on the whole. To gain clarity over his disappointment, do away with his anger, and refocus on hope and his own future after his love’s dismissal, for example, Dushuuw finds a secluded shrine under the moon and the stars, paints his face according to his father’s instructions, speaks words that his brother taught him, and cleanses himself in a pool. Such visceral connections to nature add to the richness of the tale.
In the riveting historical novel Contests of Strength, two people decide whether to honor tradition and strengthen their community or to forge new paths for themselves in the face of a natural disaster.
Reviewed by
Katelynn Watkins
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