book club readings: ordinary wolves

if I were to have a book club, this would be on the list. seth kantner's novel, ordinary wolves, is a beautifully expansive story of the alaskan wilderness and all those living within. it is a coming of age story; a story of social unjust and racism; a story approaching some of life's toughest questions. in it the land and her people are not romanticized; it is a harsh reality set amongst a harsh landscape. and as kantner grew up in the wilderness of northern alaska himself, some say that ordinary wolves is somewhat autobiographical. I think it is one of the truest depictions of the land, native and non-native peoples, and attitudes between the two.

The sun was warm on my neck. Slowly, I felt like Cutuk again, the little boy in the big wilderness. Before this constant thirst hiding between coffee and alcohol, sugar and sex. I wondered if I had always been afraid. All my life there had been power out there that made the decisions. It hadn't been so apparent when no man owned the land and we could laugh at storms and hunt harder. But no w everything was square and electric and came off airplanes. And we lived here not really knowing what the power looked like, who it listened to, or how it held its fork.

I was tired of it. I didn't believe in it. I stood up and brushed sand off my butt. "I'm not going to be a dog. I'll take the wolf's deal."

seth kantner is a true artist. not only of the written word, but of wildlife photography as well.