Trask

 Trask by Don Berry is a paragon among Oregon novels. It isn't Sometimes a Great Notion, but it's a terrific story of European settlement and Indigenous resistance that makes me, an Oregonian, view the foothills around my house with a new sense of gratitude and wonder. Elbridge Trask, a (real, historical) mountain man lives in the coastal plains south of Astoria. He feels an inchoate desire to explore the interior--the thick forested regions south down the shore. To do this, he needs to recruit local Clatsop tribesmen to help him navigate the many obstacles and negotiate with the wary Killamook tribe. Their journey is meticulously detailed and fraught with tension. The collapse of Trask's optimism and the subsequent conflicts lead to an ending that is shocking, original, and transcendent. 

One of the joys of Trask is its reality: the landscape is familiar to anyone whose visited the north coast of Oregon, from Seaside to Ecola State Park to Short Sands and beyond. They aren't called that in the novel, of course, but the shore is accurately portrayed as it would exist without Anglo settlement. The landscape itself is a major character, at times benevolent, often hostile. Trask is a book that stays with you, and visits to the Oregon Coast--which happen about three times a year for me--will forever be altered by this powerful text.