Undiscovered Country

By Lin Enger



Hamlet was one of Shakepeare's most popular plays, and over the years, it is become a story that is re-told by countless writers. Lin Enger is the most recent author to attempt this re-telling of a son avenging his father's death.

Jesse Matson is hunting with his father one day when he hears a gunshot in the direction of his father's hunting stand. He runs through the woods and finds his father's body, a portion of his head missing from a gunshot wound. The death is deemed a suicide but Jesse has reason to doubt it. His father's ghost visits him and tells Jesse it was Jesse's uncle Clay, his father's jealous brother. Jesse starts formulating how he can trick his uncle into admitting guilt, but then he begins to plot his uncle's murder, to avenge his own father's death.

Everyone around Jesse tries to tell him that he needs to let it go, that he is insane, that he has no proof. Jesse stands firm in his belief of his uncle's guilt.

Lin Enger is a very good author, his story of deception and disloyalty is a timeless tale. He has written a book that makes the reader intrigued by the duplicity of the characters. However, he does employ some techniques of a modernist writer, in that he uses no quotation marks in the entire three-hundred pages. To someone who enjoys a more "conservative" approach to writing, the absence of quotation marks is distracting and at times confusing. I found myself having to re-read quite a few passages to understand who was actually saying what. Certainly, Lin Enger's nod to authors such as Henry James and James Joyce is respectable. Modernist literature is just not my "cup of tea." Had the book simply used quotes, I would have given a glowing review.

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