Book Review by Ron Dart, of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia

Conrad Kain was definitely the crown jewel of the 1st generation of Canadian mountaineers. Earle Birney, one of our finest Canadian poets, lauded Kain in his dramatic poem sequence, Conrad Kain (1949). Where the Clouds Can Go tells, in a graphic and not to be forgotten way, the full and vibrant, demanding and challenging life that Kain lived. The combination of poetic biography by Birney and edited prose autobiography by J. Monroe Thorington offers the curious reader a variety of paths to trek into the multilayered world and ethos of Conrad Kain.

The publication of Raising Kain should be greeted with much applause. This innovative tome is part biography, part fiction and part delving into Kain’s varied life via a creative journalistic approach. The book claims to be a ‘historic novel’ and that it is in many ways. Facts are carefully laid on the table, but there is also some ‘purely fictional’ interjections in the biography that spice up the tale being told. The front cover has an iconic black-white photo of the young Kain as an insert with a larger photograph of a soft alpine glow hovering on a snow crowned peak. The book is also laced with excellent and not often seen photos that depict and judiciously describe Kain’s mountain life from Austria to Canada. Raising Kain is, in short, a superb companion interpretation of Kain that cleverly complements other reads of Kain.

Read full review