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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb first hand account of a new life in the Yukon, 15 Nov 2005
Dorian and Bridget suddenly decide that life in Cornwall, UK is just too boring and mundane for them. They want to get out there and live a different life, not based on wages, taxes, mortgages, bills, insurance and the rest. Together they decide on Canada, and before they can wait any longer they are off there. The Good Life tells the story from the moment they feel uneasy in the UK, through travelling around Canada, until they realise that the Yukon was exactly what they were looking for. Then starting their new life up there, with all the adjustments to a completely different lifestyle (hunting for food and collecting wood) in a different environment (fast flowing rivers in summer, and continuous below zero celsius freezing in winter). There is a lot I liked about this book. I liked the first hand account Dorian has written from only a few years ago (1999-2001), rather than someone else summarising it. His many descriptions carry the details of someone who was there experiencing these events, and the emotions he felt along the way. I liked that it was about fairly ordinary people from England moving to the north of Canada. Okay, maybe not ordinary to want to do such a move in the first place. But they both had jobs and paid their taxes and bills like the rest of us. They were not hunting, fishing, outdoors types (yet). So what they experienced is what most of us would experience if we tried it. I liked their attitude. This was clearly a monumental change in their life, but they felt so strongly about it that they just got on with it. Doubt never seemed to enter their mind. The Yukon felt right, and they went and stayed there. And mostly I found myself agreeing with all of the points Dorian makes about the difference in living direct off the land in a different part of the world, and being jealous and envious of someone who had done it while they could. They are far happier in the Yukon, and are living a full life for themselves, rather than earning wages in order to pay taxes and buy goods from a supermarket. They have found a life that is far more fulfilling than the one they had before, and one in which they truly feel at home.
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