Tip of the iceberg

the long version

"Growing up in remote central Canada, Larry O'Connor was spellbound by the country farther north - the unknowable white expanses, the harsh lives of its indigenous peoples and animals, and the exploits of its legendary explorers. A memoir of self-discovery, Tip of the Iceberg samples the history and lore of the frozen wastes as it reveals a young man's journey across his family's past.". "O'Connor is the kind of child the Eskimos might have left to the elements: undersized, frail, an outsider. Yet he is willful, driven to lift the pall that emanates from his father to blanket the entire family. Underlying the physical coldness of place is an emotional chill. O'Connor's father is a stern, secretive man, barely knowable to his son, misunderstood by those around him. While father and son are poles apart in their temperament, O'Connor senses the traces of a hidden, softer man in his father, the man who retreats to a lockbox of memorabilia in the middle of the night."--BOOK JACKET.