'A Wall of White' looks at avalanche

“A Wall of White” by Jennifer Woodlief, 2009, Atria Books, $15/$19.99 Canada, 243 pages: For two solid weeks, you were practically attached to your television.
You couldn’t get enough of the winter Olympics – snowboarding, speed skating, figure skating, bobsledding, luge …
And the skiing! Those athletes made it look easier than you know it is, with their jumps and mid-air twists, leaps and landings. You were treated to excitement every night, and (admit it) you even stayed up late to watch.
Fans of winter know that, while snow can be something to play in, it also calls for caution and extreme awareness. In the book “A Wall of White” by Jennifer Woodlief, you’ll see how too much of a good thing can be very bad.
Just over the mountain from Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe’s Alpine Meadows has been a popular skiing destination since its establishment in 1961.
Despite a Class A avalanche status (the “highest possible hazard designation”), Alpine Meadows offers easy slopes as well as challenging courses for skiers who love “extreme sports.”
Each morning, long before most skiers awaken, patrol teams set out along the ridge near the resort to scout for dangerous conditions. In 1982, the (mostly male) patrollers working at Alpine Meadow each loved the outdoors and skiing, and they loved blowing things up.
Using dynamite to disarm avalanches was a major perk of the job for many of them, and when dynamite didn’t work back then, a military-issue Howitzer was used.
But on the afternoon of March 31, 1982, nature took over the job.
It had been snowing heavily for four days. Because of the geography of the valley, the storm roiled, unmoving, and by that morning, more than seven feet of snow had fallen on an existing 89-inch base. The snow came down horizontally. Visibility was measured in inches.
Below the mountain, employees of Alpine Meadows milled around, waiting for confirmation of a closing, waiting for the storm to end. In nearby condos, snowbound, weary resort guests carefully emerged for food, fresh air and information.
And then, from one of the patrollers via radio, came a string of communication. It was mostly unintelligible, but one word was clear.
“Avalanche.”
Despite that I’m the kind of person who thinks “fireplace” when I hear the word “snow,” my heart was pounding as I read “A Wall of White.”
Author Woodlief has a way of building up her narrative, and even though we know what happens, she makes it feel like an edge-of-the-seat, fresh shock. Readers will come to genuinely care about the people involved and will experience sadness and jubilation at their outcomes.
The detailed explanations of avalanche-forming spoke to the science geek in me, which I completely enjoyed. Oh, and go ahead and sneak a peek at the pictures: there are spoilers, but not anything that ruins the tenseness of this well-done book.
Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast or you believe snow is best enjoyed from a cozy chair, “A Wall of White” is going to give you a new appreciation for white fluffy stuff. Now in paperback, this is a book you’ll plow through in no time.

‘ANGELOLOGY’ REVIEW
“Angelology” by Danielle Trussoni, 2010, Viking, $27.95/$29.95, 452 pages: Every day, a battle rages inside you.
Basically, you’re a nice person. Your parents raised you well. You know the difference between right and wrong. But now and then, life becomes like the cartoons of your youth: a little angel-you whispers a good deed in your right ear, while a little devil-you hollers for nastiness in the left. You fight hard to hear the good decision but sometimes, it’s more fun to be oh so bad.
And sometimes, the war between good and evil is completely out of your hands. In the new novel “Angelology” by Danielle Trussoni, the battle has waged for millennia.
When Evangeline Cacciatore was dropped off at St. Rose Convent in New York at the tender age of 12, she never questioned her father’s reasoning. After her mother disappeared, Evangeline’s father wasn’t the same, and though her heart ached for answers, Evangeline moved on with her life. Once she was old enough, she became Sister Evangeline of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, keeper of library and mailroom at the convent.
So when a letter arrived beseeching the nuns to allow access to their archives, Sister Evangeline knew that Sister Philomena’s answer was already “no.” Still, when the handsome author of the letter showed up, unannounced, at St. Rose’s, his request intrigued Evangeline.
As a researcher, Mr. Verlaine was looking for clues to a puzzle that began with cryptic, post-war correspondence between a Mother Superior and a wealthy woman. On behalf of a strangely wizened client, Verlaine needed to know how these women came to know one another.
In her twilight years, Sister Celestine found old memories and odd comfort in her isolated convent room. Arriving at St. Rose’s in 1944, her life was never really with the other sisters. She was there only to wait for Evangeline to ask the right questions. She prayed that she could protect Sister Evangeline before it was too late.
In a 1940s apartment in Manhattan, Percival Grigori was in terrible pain. Once the powerful heir to the Grigori line, his wings had been magnificent and his strength, unmatched. But now, suffering from a disease for which no one knew the cure, Grigori waited.
Somewhere lay the instrument that would restore him. Someone had it. And when it was found, his race would return to their former glory.
Though there are timeline errors and some eye-rolling predictability here, and though this book is sometimes too long and detailed, I was stunned at the overall complexity and brilliance of this novel.
Author Trussoni builds many layers into this Dan Brown-ish tale, and while they mesh together in the end, be warned that this isn’t a novel to attempt when you might be distracted.
Steeped in Biblical dogma, mythology, history and classic literature, “Angelology” is vast, and demands complete attention through lush, dark writing and characters that are oddly cold.
If you’re looking for a novel you can really bury yourself in, I think you’ll truly like this one. Nowhere near light as a feather, “Angelology” is pretty darn good.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.