I found The Pathfinder while looking through cheap books at my local Goodwill and when I saw that it was written by the same author of The Last of the Mohicans I was enticed to check it out. The Last of the Mohicans movie is excellent, and while I have yet to read the book it is based on, I assumed that the writer would be fantastic as well. This discovery also led me to The Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper's fiction series based on the main character Natty Bumppo, aka The Deerslayer, aka The Pathfinder, aka Hawkeye. This character was played by Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans, although I noticed some significant differences in the portrayal of the character from this book.

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The Pathfinder takes place after the events of The Last of the Mohicans and follows Natty as he helps escort Captain Saltwater and his niece, Mabel Dunham, to a fort deep in the wilderness near Lake Ontario where she is to unite with her Father, Sergeant Dunham. Pathfinder and his long-time Delaware Native American friend Chingachgook and their young navigator friend Jasper Western, work to fend off attackers and are betrayed by Arrowhead, the Native American escort hired to help them get to the fort.

They finally get to the fort and Sergeant Dunham, who is a long-time friend of Pathfinder's, tells him that he intends to wed his young daughter Mabel to him but Pathfinder is skeptical of the match as he is much older, uncomely, and wild, as he sees it. Mabel is also pursued by another suitor named Lieutenant Davy Muir, who has had four or five wives before. Mabel is not particularly interested in marrying either of them but she loves Pathfinder for saving them from the attacks before getting to the fort and loves his honesty and noble nature. Jasper Western seems smitten with Mabel and they have a kind of unspoken report but her father insists on her marrying Pathfinder.

While this decision is being contemplated and the suitors attempt to convince her the group sets off on a military mission across the Great Lake Ontario on a ship called The Scud, captained by Jasper Western, to a remote Island amongst the Thousand Islands where they are to relieve a contingency of men stationed there and make any attempt to thwart the French. This book takes place during the French and Indian War in the late 1750s, similar to The Last of the Mohicans.

When Mabel is left behind on the small island so that her Father, the Sergeant, can pursue the French she and a few others are attacked by some Native American fighters paid by the French. Among them is Arrowhead, who escaped capture. Arrowhead’s wife, June, befriends Mabel and helps her barricade herself in a blockhouse in the hopes that her Father and his men, along with Pathfinder and Jasper will return to save her. It seems that their position was treacherously given over to the French and that there is a traitor in their midst.

After some harrowing days stuck in the blockhouse, Mabel is eventually joined by Pathfinder and the others to enact a rescue. The Sergeant's mission did not go as planned and he was injured but made it back to Mabel during the rescue attempt. After the events on the island Mabel and Pathfinder promise to wed as soon as possible and Pathfinder is truly happy about this arrangement as he loves Mabel but when Jasper's love for Mabel threatens their friendship Pathfinder puts it to Mabel to decide between the two.

Natty Bumppo is such a modest and strong protagonist and his character is respected by all. This book dives into the sensitive side of a man of the woods who longs for the comfort and nurturing nature of a good woman but who is in turmoil over his lack of confidence in his ability to make a good husband for her. He can't help but fall for her fine character and yet he knows it is an unlikely match but if he could be lucky enough to gain her love then maybe he could be happy. As much as this book is about the struggles of frontier warfare it is also about the uncertainties of courtship.

The most striking part of this book is the writing. James Fenimore Cooper was born in 1789. He was well-educated and served in the Navy. The language and style of his writing are immensely difficult to follow as my mind is accustomed to the modern way of things. I'm not sure if everyone talked in the slow, plodding, and sometimes oddly poetic way of this book but it is very different from how English is used today. Some of the words used do not exist anymore and the speech seems more like Shakespeare than the American dialect but it was oddly compelling to push through. It reminded me of reading old philosophical works or the Bible in that it required a translation of sorts and an ability to push past ambiguity for the bigger picture to reveal itself. Its chapters were insanely long and it is entirely too verbose but the tone and depth of the text were singularly enthralling.

This book is not for everyone but it was a lot of fun to get through. The characters come to life and have uniquely memorable personalities. Pathfinder is a stoic but very relatable character and acts as an ideal archetype for which to show off the imperfections of those around him. He believes everyone has their gifts and should live according to their nature. He doesn't begrudge those that have conflict with him but he doesn't shy away from protecting himself and those that need defending. He is accustomed to the ways of the natives but also maintains that he has the character of a Christian white man. The biggest difference between the book and the movie was how Natty in the book spoke like a white man and accepted the Christian culture but in the book, he was much more like that of the Native American.

I recommend this book to hardcore Western genre lovers or those who are interested in reading a book written by a celebrated writer of the 19th century.

Here is an excerpt from The Pathfinder:

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