Post by kahlan on Feb 26, 2017 14:38:00 GMT
I reviewed this as part of the Amazon Vine program and gave it 4 stars.
This is an unusual and very thoughtful novel that will not appeal to everybody. It starts off quite slowly and I must admit to struggling with it at first. The first 40 pages took me three days to read and I found myself wondering what the point of such a meandering tale was; however, this was all part of setting the scene and once set, the book suddenly launched itself into the story - the rest of the book (275 pages) I finished in one night as I couldn't put it down until I had finished.
'History of Wolves' is a multi-faceted novel - there are several different time frames operating and several different stories. We have the story of a paedophile teacher (or is he?), a 15-year old girl with rather neglectful parents who leave her to her own devices and the consequences for the girl, and the Christian Scientist family and their secrets. The second two are intertwined - our 15-year old protagonist, Linda, babysits for the family and so her life becomes entangled with theirs - but the story about the possible paedophile teacher is a separate story that runs parallel to the main story instead of really being integral to it. However, all three stories are bound together by the common theme of people - what they do and feel, why they act in the way they do, and the consequences of their actions on others, as a single person's actions do, of necessity, affect other people in their circle; no-one remains unscathed.
This is not a feel-good tale - it is the story of people making poor decisions (albeit perhaps with good intentions) and the consequences of those decisions. It is a challenging book without a perfect protagonist; indeed all the characters are flawed to some extent.
The own thing that stops me from giving this five stars is the final chapter. Firstly it does not sit neatly alongside the rest of the story; it almost seems an afterthought. Secondly, it muddies the waters; after reading it, I found myself confused about the story and, having read numerous reviews of this book on Goodreads, it seems that this is a common theme. So it left me a little dissatisfied with the ending. I don't mind ambiguous endings which require the reader to give the book further thought, but this was just plain confusing, and, to me, unnecessary, although it would be interesting to read an author article and see what she intended by this ending.
Overall, I would recommend it - it is a thought-provoking and gritty read with some beautifully vivid descriptions both of nature and of people.
This is an unusual and very thoughtful novel that will not appeal to everybody. It starts off quite slowly and I must admit to struggling with it at first. The first 40 pages took me three days to read and I found myself wondering what the point of such a meandering tale was; however, this was all part of setting the scene and once set, the book suddenly launched itself into the story - the rest of the book (275 pages) I finished in one night as I couldn't put it down until I had finished.
'History of Wolves' is a multi-faceted novel - there are several different time frames operating and several different stories. We have the story of a paedophile teacher (or is he?), a 15-year old girl with rather neglectful parents who leave her to her own devices and the consequences for the girl, and the Christian Scientist family and their secrets. The second two are intertwined - our 15-year old protagonist, Linda, babysits for the family and so her life becomes entangled with theirs - but the story about the possible paedophile teacher is a separate story that runs parallel to the main story instead of really being integral to it. However, all three stories are bound together by the common theme of people - what they do and feel, why they act in the way they do, and the consequences of their actions on others, as a single person's actions do, of necessity, affect other people in their circle; no-one remains unscathed.
This is not a feel-good tale - it is the story of people making poor decisions (albeit perhaps with good intentions) and the consequences of those decisions. It is a challenging book without a perfect protagonist; indeed all the characters are flawed to some extent.
The own thing that stops me from giving this five stars is the final chapter. Firstly it does not sit neatly alongside the rest of the story; it almost seems an afterthought. Secondly, it muddies the waters; after reading it, I found myself confused about the story and, having read numerous reviews of this book on Goodreads, it seems that this is a common theme. So it left me a little dissatisfied with the ending. I don't mind ambiguous endings which require the reader to give the book further thought, but this was just plain confusing, and, to me, unnecessary, although it would be interesting to read an author article and see what she intended by this ending.
Overall, I would recommend it - it is a thought-provoking and gritty read with some beautifully vivid descriptions both of nature and of people.