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Ordinary Wolves
by Seth Kantner
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781571310477 |
Powells.com Staff Pick
Ordinary Wolves vividly immerses the reader in a way of life that is in near harmony with its arctic ecosystem. This coming-of-age tale is a complex study on the theme of being an outsider. Cutuk is a realistically drawn character, yet he is also a compelling symbol of modern civilization's most pressing dilemma — is there even time enough left for us to forge a sustainable existence amid ever-escalating environmental destruction? Be prepared to squirm, for this novel raises more questions than it answers.
Recommended by Nichole, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
In the tradition of Jack London, Seth Kantner presents an Alaska far removed from majestic clichés of exotic travelogues and picture postcards. Kantner’s vivid and poetic prose lets readers experience Cutuk Hawcly’s life on the Alaskan plains through the character’s own words — feeling the pliers pinch of cold and hunkering in an igloo in blinding blizzards. Always in Cutuk’s mind are his father Ab,; the legendary hunter Enuk Wolfglove, and the wolves — all living out lives on the unforgiving tundra. Jeered and pummeled by native children because he is white, Cutuk becomes a marginal participant in village life, caught between cultures. After an accident for which he is responsible, he faces a decision that could radically change his life. Like his young hero, Seth Kantner grew up in a sod igloo in the Alaska, and his experiences of wearing mukluks before they were fashionable, eating boiled caribou pelvis, and communing with the native tribes add depth and power to this acclaimed narrative.
Review:
"Mr. Kantner's first novel is a thing of beauty. From the prologue to the final chapter he writes with a sustained power of observation and expression that is more than a pleasure to experience. His evocations of the joy and pain of existence for all the inhabitants of the Alaskan wilderness, through all its seasons, are born of a poetic and highly empathic nature combined with firsthand experience. Ordinary Wolves is the extraordinary coming-of-age story of Cutuk, a “white” boy with an Eskimo name, whose seminal heroes (role models) include an artist father named Abe who long ago jumped ship (let's call it the USS Consumer Society) in favor of a back-to-nature life in the Alaskan wilderness, and Enuk Wolfglove, an old Eskimo hunter/warrior whose profound experience and knowledge of the wilderness are unrivaled. From the beginning this novel is a profoundly moving meditation on the agonies and degradation wrought upon the land, its creatures, its human conciousness and spirit, by the “Want-Everythings” of an otherworldly, cash-based society. Kantner's people, the individuals and the families, the “winners” and the “losers,” are treated with the utmost sensitivity. The result is simply a great book." Reviewed by Rusty Smith, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis:
Stirring and vivid, this evocative novel depicts the life of a white boy raised among natives on the harsh Alaskan tundra. "This is the Alaska the Alaskans live. . . . an extremely well-written novel that paints a gorgeous canvas of words and experience."--"The Rocky Mountain News."
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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Peter Saucerman, November 13, 2006 (view all comments by Peter Saucerman)
This is a great read touching on complex subjects. First, the environmental component - people living simply, escaping from a consumer-crazed society. Second, the coming-of-age aspect of a young man who doesn't fit in, but with a novel twist.
I read this book with pleasure, recommended it to an enviro-reading group who also enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to curling up with it again this winter.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781571310477
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Milkweed Editions
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Young men
- Subject:
- Loss (psychology)
- Subject:
- FICTION / Literary
- Publication Date:
- August 2005
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 330
- Dimensions:
- 8.62x5.54x1.01 in. .93 lbs.
