The Ski Jumpers by Peter Gaye

A writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap into a past of soaring flights and broken family bonds.

Very interesting story. I never thought of ski jumping before this book. It had no real plot, more like a journal of their olives. Good characterization. No murders, just family memories, good band bad.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

Jon Bargaard comes from Minnesota where his father taught him and his brother from a young age to ski jump. As Jon has received a diagnosis that will change his life completely, he unburdens himself and seeks to find true reconciliation with his brother. As Jon tells his truth he finds that much of what he previously believed about his mother was actually false.

This is a complicated book with so much going on. People are complicated. Our stories are complex. Peter Geye demonstrates this vividly with Jon Batgaard. There was a lot to enjoy in this story. I particularly loved the descriptions of ski jumping: flying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Peter Geye is a Minnesota author that has written some excellent novels. (I am thinking, in particular, of his Eide Family trilogy: The Lighthouse Road, Wintering, and Northernmost.)

In The Ski Jumpers, he brings us Jon Bargaard, an author facing Alzheimer’s, whose family history is bound to ski jumping. This history is also one filled with lies and deception that seem to be, more often than not, simply the result of misfortune and difficult choices rather than a lack of love. Jon also wishes more than anything to be able to somehow heal the shattered relationship with his brother.

I am not a ski jumper, nor has it ever appealed to me, but the author has done a marvelous job of making me feel each jump and understand the need to jump. I guess that is not so strange, in that he started jumping as a child, was quite skilled, and currently is coaching the sport in Minneapolis. His love for the sport is obvious.
I truly enjoyed reading this book! How much, you ask? I am hoping that my almost-5-year-old granddaughter will give it a go. See https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/u-s-ski-jumping-is-looking-for-more-friends-in-high-places/

The Ski Jumpers is a heartwrenching novel about familial relationships and, of course, ski jumping. The novel jumps back and forth in time, in a way that truly feels like someone describing their memories. After a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's, protagonist Jon Bargaard revisits his past, and readers get to tag along. His life was full of both pain and joy, and it made for an engrossing read. The thoughtfully described depictions of ski jumping were the icing on the cake in this deep novel by Peter Geye.

In spite of the title, this book illuminates complex male relationships far more than life as a ski jumper. Fathers, brothers, uncles, and friends - by choice or necessity - hate and love, fight and support, abandon and cling, and finally towards the ends of their lives accept one another and find some peace in a deeper understanding than the good/bad dichotomy they learned at a young age. Some readers will appreciate the bits of Minnesota ski history, the quality of life on the North Shore, and the description of flying on skis. A gangster mentality alternates with a more ordinary outlook on life, creating a tension that moves the plot along.

As someone who has always admired those who ski jump, I wish I could find a way to try it out virtually. This was a family/life story that was unspooled slowly, feeling very mid-Western in the delivery. A tragic story of family secrets and family dysfunction. A well told story of how people find their way in the world dealing with the cards they are dealt.

I was interested in reading about ski jumping, a sport that seems so exhilarating and inaccessible. This aspect of the story was certainly interesting, but this book is a lot more, dealing with family and with the onset of a serious disease.

I really enjoyed it. For me , three major themes-
a) the magic of ski jumping. Most of us have probably seen it on the Olympics, but here is the technique , the courage, and most of all the soaring magestic magic of it all.
b) family. Its highs, lows, tragedies, feuds all laid bare, and most importantly the sacrifice a father will make for his son. Touching, and so very true for so many of us.
c) the main character-Jon-an accomplished professor and author, facing the frightening diagnosis of early onset Alzheimers, realizing the consequences for himself and his family, and , in a long car ride with his beloved wife Ingrid, wanting to while still able,unburden himself of a terrible event of his past.
A good read.

A good quick fun read for an afternoon escape, a weekend at the beach, a long plain ride etc. It will take you away and won't disappoint.