Agree with Megan also. The best means of teaching someone to do something is to give them the tools to do it with. It shows your faith in them and their ability. I really do love Jim and his son, they are the best thing that has ever happened to Kate.

I love Megan’s comments! She is so right. For this book I agree with everything Megan said. I was going to go with something else – but the good thing is it will keep! For now it’s Jm’s gift.

I’ve thought often of entering items into the history of Kate Shugak in 20 objects; but each time I go to enter, I look at previous entries, and always think “gee, they said it better than I ever could have”, and just read and enjoy others’ thoughts. This time, I did not look at previous entries, (thought I’d just go for it, hehe), so please excuse if folks have already come up with the object I’m thinking of, and/or said it better than I could 🙂

I have truly loved rereading these books every month in advance of the 20 object discussion. It’s like visiting an old friend who I adore, reminiscing for a bit. (It’s also an exercise in self-control, as I only get ONE a month, argh!!!) As I read, I admit I’m reading with a slightly different purpose; trying to see if any object jumps out which really ties the story together.

For this month, for this book, for me, it is the fishing line. The ubiquitous spool of fishing line that Kate finds in Auntie’s catch all basket; the fishing line that Auntie uses to nearly magically restore the drift net to full strength; the fishing line which takes a life (rather gruesomely, but in all honesty – I could really see the scene!). I admit, that in my own life (down here in Southern California), I ALWAYS have a spool or two of fishing line around the house. I’ve used it for sewing my daughters’ Girl Scout patches onto their vests; and then later awards onto their Letterman Jackets. (Growing up, my mother even used it to sew her belly dancing costumes, although she never danced in the Roadhouse…). When my eldest daughter was married this past September, I used fishing line to string over 100 individual tiny LED lights in the bushes, to transform a campsite in Big Sur, into a fairytale landscape fit for a wedding night dinner. (Some of the guests then took a handful of them each, creating little chandeliers in their tents, magical lights floating above them in the dark-thank you fishing line!). I’m not sure what my husband uses it for – he doesn’t fish (and I’m probably better off NOT knowing); but occasionally he will ask me for my spool of fishing line to use in the garage. Although not to the extent that I am sure that it used in Alaska, fishing line helps me to hold little parts of my own life together. Thus, every time I came across it this time, it was an AHA moment. The fishing line weaved itself throughout Whisper to the Blood, pulling it all together.

I also felt that the fishing line itself, is almost a metaphor for the Aunties. The fishing line keeps the drift nets together, much as the aunties keep The Park together. The fishing line is strong, it is tough, it is almost invisible as it does it’s job. The same can be said for the Aunties. They are strong, they are tough, and invisibly they are working behind the scenes in The Park (as well as out in front in Bernie’s Roadhouse), but they are the indelible force which holds the community together. When they tried to stretch their reach further than they should have (offering a bounty for Louis’ death; having the Grosdidier brothers take care of the snow machine bandits); they were not as effective. If fishing line alone was used in the drift net, it would most likely fail. If it was used without the trees, and a quickly moving snow machine, it would not have been deadly. However, using it for its strength, to help hold the net together, it becomes one with the net, as the Aunties are one with The Park. The fishing line can be deadly, as it was when MacLeod was decapitated, as when the Aunties offered a bounty for Louis’ life. The fishing line can also be life giving, when it helps catch enough fish for subsistence living to continue; as the Aunties give their guidance for generations of Park Rats.

I’m sorry, I’m probably reading too much into the fishing line…and the Aunties… but for me, the fishing line is the Object for Whisper to the Blood. (Although, having served on a council seat myself for too many years, Robert’s Rules is an EXTREMELY close second!). Hope this wasn’t way too long.

Heather Cowan