The Smoke Jumper [Paperback]

Here the story takes an abrupt change in direction. Julia, overwhelmed by feelings of obligation, helps Ed adjust to life without sight, and ultimately marries him. Connor, unable to bear seeing the woman he loves married to another man, takes off to begin a new career as a photojournalist in the various war-torn countries of the world, returning from time to time for brief visits. When Julia and Ed are unable to have a child due to Ed's apparent sterility, they convince Connor to father a child for them. Shortly thereafter Connor departs for good, thrown into despair at the realization that he is now severed not only from Julia, but also from a daughter that is not his. It is only after Ed's eventual death that Julia can embark upon a journey of her own and allow herself the hope that perhaps she and Connor might be united at last.

If the above synopsis of the story seems a bit disjointed, that should give you an idea of how the book itself runs. Evans has created a hodgepodge of settings, plotlines, and themes that undermine the significance of the title. Less than half of the book actually deals with smoke jumping (and even here it is not the primary object of the story), with the theme only recurring briefly at the very end, under entirely different circumstances. Perhaps it would be more descriptive to say that Evans "dabbles" with themes. He dabbles with smoke jumping, he dabbles with delinquent teenagers, he dabbles with music, he dabbles with blindness, he dabbles with photography, and he dabbles with various wartorn places such as Bosnia and parts of Africa. None of them really has anything to do with the central love triangle, and seem tacked-on and interchangeable. In the second part of the book, each time we see Connor, he is in a new place, in the middle of a different war or conflict. We get bits and pieces of the various stories, but the reader is left at best indifferent and at worst downright confused due to the lack of groundwork for the scenes. We are simply plopped down in one place for a short while, then snatched right back up, never to return. There is not enough devlopment for us to truly understand or even to care what is going on in each of the places Connor finds himself.

Another problem, partly stemming from the above and partly due to the writing style, is that the story seems very unrealistic. One can't really imagine all of this happening in real life. The interaction between characters frequently seems affected and unbelievable. The dialogue is often unnatural. In particular, the speech and mannerisms of the teenagers in Julia's program, and later of her own 8-year-old daughter Amy, do not reflect the actual patterns of speech and behavior of children in those age groups. Adding to the sense of falsity is Evans's frequent use of cliche ideas and phrases such as "I've loved you from the first moment I saw you," and "he woke with a start and for a moment couldn't figure out where he was." Such declarations and images have been so overused that one can only groan at coming across them yet again.

I was also horrified by the scene in which a young African soldier is made to publicly appologize to a girl he raped in front of all their peers. In real life such a display would be utterly humiliating to the victimized girl, especially considering that she had told no one about the incident. And yet the girl in the story seems absolutely fine with the arrangement.

There are also a few factual errors in the book which, while relatively insignificant, still disappointed me slightly. For example, Amy has curly hair, while both her parents - Julia and Connor - have straight hair. Curly hair is a dominant trait in humans, so if a person carries the gene for curly hair, they will HAVE curly hair. Therefore, neither Julia nor Connor could have carried the curly hair gene, since both have straight hair, and so there is no way Amy could have inherited a curly hair gene from either one.

So far I've only expounded on the faults I've found with the book, but I must say it's certainly not among the worst I've ever read. While not entirely engaging, it is moderately entertaining and very easy to read. For a reader less nit-picky than myself, the storyline may even be enjoyable. It's the kind of book to take with you to a doctor's office waiting room or similar situations, where you aren't inclined to read something "heavy" and yet still need to pass the time. Overall though, I wouldn't highly recommend it. It just doesn't live up to Evans's potential, and I'm sure you can find numerous more worthwhile alternatives in recreational reading material.

So...on to the book. After reading both of Nicholas Evan's other novels, this one was a bit disappointing. However, I did enjoy it, it was written beautifully, it just didn't move or inspire me like The Loop or The Horse Whisperer.

Without giving too much away, this story is about Ed, Connor and Julia. Ed and Connor are best friends and smoke jumpers in Montana together each summer. One summer Ed brings his new girlfriend Julia along, as she's a counselor for troubled teens in a near-by camp. What ensues is much adventure, as they all have jobs that lean towards the dangerous side. After the summer fades, their lives all take very unpredictable turns, leading them each in their own direction. Will they all stay friends, down these roads life leads them?

What I enjoyed most about this book was that the story was so unpredictable. Evans did a good job of taking us down a path that was amazing as it was surprising. Again, it's not my favorite of his, but he took a chance with something slightly different and did a pretty good job of it.