Outside Passage: A Memoir of an Alaskan Childhood

by Julia Scully

Book Overview

When Julia Scully was seven years old, her father committed suicide, and she and her sister were sent to an orphanage. Two years later, emotionally damaged by the isolation and brutality of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375500839
• ISBN13: 9780375500831
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 219 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

A different world!

What really affected me reading this book is this cold shattered childhood with restraint feelings and emotions which resembles the places where she grew and moved. I didn't feel any warmth, the severe cold of Alaska spread all over the novel even when she found stability for a short period of her childhood. Life is an open never ending experience with its ups and downs, and this is what the story is all about. Each person has his own story to tell, but what made this one different is that you actually grow with Julia, from the little girl's point of view, seeing the world through her eyes, reading her own words, to the teenage girl who tries to find answers, who expresses her wonder of certain people and behaviors, and then the woman, you sense her growth, her helplessness and her quest to understand life.

beautifully written memoir of childhood in Alaska

A terse, elegantly written account of childhood in California and then Alaska in the 1930's and 1940's. The reader can visualize, hear, taste, and smell the environment in each scene.My only complaint is that the book left me with a somewhat unsatisfied feeling when it was over, like a film with beautifulcinematography and fine acting, but no passion or climax. That the author is a distinguished photographer is no surprise--the understated yet precise images, the richness of the background detail, and the masterful use of perspective (voice in writing) are worthy of a fine photograph. Also, the final three paragraphs seem to be an artificial "ending" grafted onto the work at the suggestion ofan unimaginative editor.Otherwise, the time spent reading this deeply felt and wonderfully re-created childhood memoir is time well spent.Those who like this book might want to also read a very different but equally fine childhood memoir called A PLACE IN EL PASO by Gloria Lopez-Stafford, dealing with growing up in theEl Paso/Juarez area during the same period of late 1930's/early 1940's.

A GREAT BOOK !!!!

This was such a good book. I loved it. I think that it shows such soul and courage from this little girls "journey". It pulled me in and I couldn't put it down!!! Julia Scully is such a brilliant author and just wait,. . . she'll be in the big business !! It was interesting to read about Alaska that I hadn't known before. It was so well written.!!!!I'm telling all my friends!!

It is an awesome book!

I think that this book shows how hard it is to grow up in these conditions as a young child and teen. I think that Julia showed a great deal of courage even though she was the youngest. It's hard enogh to get through life without having the burden of moving a lot and going through numerous situations where her strengh was tested. I really enjoyed the book and would like to see her write another. I've read it once and I think I'll read it again. :)

this is a wonderful book.

More than just a travelogue of Alaska, the author lets you relive her multilayered childhood. I went on vacation before finishing it, and forgot to take it with me. I couldn't wait to get home and finish the book.