LitPick Review
In Seeking For Eldorado by Samuel Holloway, the main character Laslo is a 15 year old boy who lives in poverty in Kentville, Ontario with his episodically drunk and periodically absent father and dedicated, loving mother and younger brother, Ernie. A preacher comes to the area and aside from his sermonizing and prayers, he turns out to be a suspiciously good poker player which gets him a seat in the local game at Lazlo’s house. The preacher is always accompanied by his pretty red headed daughter, Lizzie (short for Elizabeth). Although the preacher forbids his daughter from fraternizing with people who are not God-fearing like Laslo, Lizzie and Laslo fall in love and repeatedly meet secretly when the preacher is away from his house. One day the preacher discovers them together and flies into a rage which results in his packing up, and with his daughter, they both abruptly disappear from the area. Broken-hearted, Lazlo eventually sets off on a journey through the wilds of Canada, letting fate carry him along but always seeking for his lost love as he faces multiple hurdles and challenges to just stay alive. Will Laslo be able to locate Lizzie in the wilds of Canada? Discover who he befriends along the way and the life of an adventurer and prospector as Laslo becomes involved in the hunt for gold in the Yukon while still searching for Lizzie. And if he is lucky enough to find Lizzie, will she still be interested in him?
Opinion:
In Seeking for Eldorado, the story is a lovely romance that surmounts distance and time. The main character Laslo is well-developed as he grows from a teenage smitten by love to a seasoned adult hardened by the Yukon and the elements. From the very first page of the book, the author captures your attention, and throughout the book, the author places Laslo in one situation after another as he travels through Canada from his home to Toronto then to Winnipeg along the Trans-Canada Highway then to Dawson Creek, British Columbia and finally to Whitehorse in the Yukon via the Alaska Highway. The description of the majestic scenery of his journey, especially of the Yukon, were breath-taking, and I now have a desire to go there and see this area of Canada for myself.
I also enjoyed Laslo’s various companions along his journey, including his adoption of Roscoe, a stray dog who seems a lot like Laslo. As a romance, this book was well-paced and inspirational. True love can be a very motivating life force, and as the author points out, “Under all the conflict going on around us, love always comes through.”
Eldorado is a metaphorical reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “To Seek for Eldorado.” This poem tells the tale of a knight who journeys to the end of his days seeking success and happiness, in the form of spirituality. Eldorado in the poem has also been felt to be a search in the physical sense such as in the discovery of gold and riches since the poem was written in 1849 during the California Gold Rush. In Seek for Eldorado by Samuel Holloway though Eldorado is a bit of both, a search for the spiritual and physical. I recommend this book to people who like nature and the outdoors, and who may be seeking their own Eldorado in their lives…
