Author: George Robert Minkoff

Publisher: McPherson & Co.

ISBN: 0929701801

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The Weight of Smoke is the first in a trilogy of novels by George Robert Minkoff which fictionalize Captain John Smith’s action-packed and (possibly) self-aggrandizing memoir of life on the high seas – and practically everywhere else.  “Weight of Smoke” deals primarily with Smith’s experiences at the founding of Jamestown, although the narrative contains many flashbacks which dip back into his adventurous past which includes European wars, private duels and enslavement.

What saved Jamestown from extinction, of course, was the discovery that the land was good for growing tobacco and Minkoff delineates very clearly the mounting English cravings for “the leaf.”  Although the benefits of smoking were being hotly debated back in England, everyone was doing it and the inclusion of this Old World dispute makes the first part of the novel historically very interesting.

What readers crave most in a tale of Jamestown, however, is much more than a history of tobacco  in the New World: they want some enlightenment on the supposed relationship between Pocahontas and Smith and in this respect even Minkoff’s description of Smith’s initial encounter with the Powhatan’s favorite child doesn’t disappoint: “She was standing alone, apart, her firm breasts bare, her long hair shining darkly as nights in collision, her eyes a blackness beyond depth, innocent and regal in her nakedness . . . Our eyes met.  She didn’t glance aside.  My lips moved.  I forgot Newport and Powhatan involved in their gestures of state . . . She still stood, calling me, pulling me away from my moment of history, from my thoughts of great enterprise.”

Minkoff’s writing is often downright strange, as seen in the following passage where Smith describes his birth, current situation and destiny all in one oddly written paragraph: “Unlike you, I was betrothed to air.  My shrew was circumstance, hollow was my birth.  My strides in pigmy boots.  What cause is mine? . . . I am the turmoil.  All kingdoms are not suffice.  I am larger than the air.”  Did anyone – at any point in history – ever speak the English language in this bizarre manner?  I seriously doubt it.

But if Minkoff’s overreaching creates the occasional overblown paragraph, he is also quite capable of writing prose of absolute beauty: “The landscape’s blue stained with golden shadows of the sun” and stunning insight: “In France again after three years, I heard of the death of Elizabeth two years before, in 1602.  Do all our lives come to this, a spot of gossip on a Paris street?”

The style of The Weight of Smoke is much too esoteric make it a good primer on Jamestown history but for those with a previous interest in all things John Smith, Minkoff’s novel definitely has its moments and is highly recommended.

The above review was contributed by: Kathryn Atwood:  Kathryn Atwood's poetry, reviews and essays have appeared in numerous online and print journals, including "The Aurora Review,", "Afterimage," "Void Magazine," "Wild Violet," and "PopMatters." 

When she's not writing or driving her three kids around somewhere, Kathryn is usually teaching at a local music studio or givng vocal performances with her husband on the  subject of American song.

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