Parallel Logic: A Barrow Memoir
In Parallel Logic Elise Sereni Patkotak demonstrates she is a  true humorist and storyteller. In 1972 twenty-two year old Elise made a  life-altering decision to leave her family and friends in New Jersey and  take a job nursing at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Barrow,  Alaska.Her first years in Barrow were spent in homes without flushing  toilets or running water. There was no way in or out of the village except  by plane that arrived about three times a week, or boats that came up once  a year when the pack ice receded from shore.Elise experienced things  in Barrow she never imagined existed, from spring whale hunts to camping  out on the tundra in 20-below temperatures. Humor was necessary for  survival when living in a house so small that when your guest went to use  the honeybucket, his knees touched the knees of the person sitting on your  couch.This memoir about the northernmost state were the sundoesn't  rise from the end of November to the end of January will delight and  entertain.