This book recounts the events of a massive and damaging wind storm in northern Minnesota on July 4, 1999. I moved to the state two years later, and wasn’t very aware of the event before reading the book.

The style reminded me of books I’ve read about the Granite Mountain fire and Mount St. Helens eruption, in which an author follows various characters through the days surrounding the event. Unfortunately, there’s more of a sameness here, as people go to the Boundary Waters, canoe, portage, pick a campsite, see the clouds approach and trees fall, while others have meetings about how to proceed. Some people are injured and need rescuing, but for most people it’s just a hassle getting out through all the downed trees. I’m sure it would be a more exciting read for people who actually lived through it, but I doubt even that could make paragraphs of names of people who attended meetings afterward very interesting.

It’s a very human-centered book, and I would have been more interested in meteorological and ecological aspects which are touched on very lightly, if at all.

Thanks to the University of Minnesota Press and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.