Grand Ambition

by Lisa Michaels

Book Overview

In Lisa Michaels's enthralling debut novel, she weaves the tale of two young newlyweds, Glen and Bessie Hyde, who set out in 1928 to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. The pair hoped to set a record: Bessie would be the first woman to negotiate that treacherous stretch of the Colorado River. When they failed to appear at their destination on time, Glen's father mounted a desperate search to find them. Based on the few known facts of a true story,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393322955
• ISBN13: 9780393322958
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Man vs. Nature: Legend or Folly?

Based on an intriguing premise, Grand Ambition is a novel I wanted to savor. But I couldn't, because once I started, I found myself turning the pages compulsively. This is a story that spawned it's own urban legends for more than 70 years. Newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde spend their honeymoon in 1928 shooting the rapids through the Grand Canyon on a scow designed by Glen, who has dreamed of this journey. Although Bessie has no experience, she has great enthusiasm and a willingness to take a bite out of what life has to offer her. They hope to set a record for speed, but if not that, then Bessie will be the first woman to successfully shoot the rapids. After the trip, they plan to lecture and write a book describing the adventure, using Bessie's skills as an artist to illustrate their story.But something goes wrong. After a last sighting, the couple are never seen or heard from again. Glen's father, Hyde Sr., launches a rescue effort to discover the fate of his son and daughter-in-law, hoping to find them still alive. Mr. Hyde contacts everyone who has had contact with the young couple and religiously follows up every clue. When their scow is found floating lose with all necessary supplies still on board, the obvious becomes more and more ominous.Michaels alternates chapters between the events as they happen to Bessie and Glen and the desperate rescue attempt by Glen's father, with a tension seesawing between hope and despair. The character of Bessie is finely tuned, her youth ultimately allowing fear to overshadow her expectations that Glen can really keep her safe on this increasingly terrifying dance over the whitecaps. Has Bessie put too much faith in Glen's strengths rather than her own? What if Glen, for all his brave posturing, is wrong?The terrible truth is there from the beginning, but Michaels' characters, particularly Bessie and her father-in-law, are so courageous, so full of spirit, that the final pages come too soon. So little is really known about this couple and their fate that the author gives them voice and dreams, even those that shatter.

A haunting evocation of historical figures

Absolutely gorgeous prose! This seamless narrative drew me in from the first page. Lisa Michaels not only succeeds in resurrecting and imagining Glen and Bessie Hyde, two obscure historical figures, she also blesses them with beautifully felt inner lives and engaging dialogue. The author also accurately evokes the cultural climate of the 1920s as Glen and Bessie (like Lindbergh and others) dare to be swept away by an ebullient mood of possibility. I was struck by Glen and Bessie's straining human desire for both intimacy and immortality, two ideals that alternately draw them together and pull them apart throughout their journey. An inexorable fate pursues them down the harrowing straits of the Colorado River, and eventually claims them, but the reader is left to contemplate the idea that love, rather than ambition, demands the ultimate courage and sacrifice.

Gripping and beautfully written!

I've long admired the work of Lisa Michaels (Split: A Counterculture Childhood). This book, about the doomed trip of Bessie and Glen Hyde down the Colorado River in a home-made boat, could be called a real page turner except one wants to linger over the gorgeous sentences describing the Grand Canyon and the wild rapids. The novel richly paints an intimate portrait of two young people striving for a charmed life. If this novel doesn't garner some literary prize, the judges aren't paying close attention to the emergence of a very gifted writer.

Wow!

One of the best books I have read in the last few years! I have never taken time to write a review before but feel compelled to spread the good word in this instance. A rare poetic adventure novel. This is a tremendous book, the story is captivating and the writing is lean and beautiful. I go out of my to recommend this novel to friends, family and passing acquaintances. As a previous boater on the Grand Canyon I was amazed by how true this felt; it is as good and evocative a description of the rapids and the canyon as I've ever read. This is a gem.

Thrilling, Exquisite, Haunting

What a thrill to ride along with Bessie and Glen Hyde on their grand adventure down the Colorado River! In reimagining these real-life figures from the 1920s and their quest to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon, Michaels has written a suspenseful, exquisite novel. I was as swept away by Bessie and Glen's romance as by their heart-stopping--and ultimately, haunting--journey. I couldn't put the book down, and then I was sad for it to end. So I read it again.