Rich Shapero

I want to say something nice about this book, but I'm having trouble. I will admit that heavy drug-usage and self-centered obsession with finding oneself are not things I can relate to, but that was the least of my complaints. The prose was overwrought with awkward metaphors and obscure adjectives, so bad that I could just see the author congratulating himself on his cleverness and originality. The dialogue was so forced that it made soap operas sound Oscar-worthy. The description was so show more flowery that it interfered with the story, making the narration clunky and hard to follow. The story itself took leaps and bounds through time, skipping over massive amounts of necessary exposition, transition, and even conversation - I lost count of the times two people would say meaningless sentences and then the text would say that they understood exactly what the other meant. That's fine, but I the reader was still completely lost, and after a while I stopped caring.The characters evoked exactly no sympathy whatsoever: they're overemotional and completely irrational. The story revolves around Sam, a disillusioned Berkeley student in the late 1960s who has a strange obsession with rams and little concern for anything or anyone else but his own desires. His wife Lindy is a complete doormat, working a dead-end job to fund her husband's drugs and solo trip to Alaska to research his book, incidentally called Wild Animus. The second she starts standing up for herself and asking, ever so timidly, that Sam (now called Ransom for some reason) make any effort in their relationship whatsoever, she breaks down crying and begs forgiveness for being such a bitch. She breaks down crying almost every scene she's in, come to think of it. Every character is constantly on the verge of an emotional collapse or breakthrough, which usually happens (the first time) very soon after the introduction of the character (then several times again after that). I wonder if everyone in the author's world is of weak emotional character except, of course, Ransom, who shows no emotions whatsoever.It's a train wreck of poor writing. Even the bolded sections, which I guess were supposed to be spiritual chants, were of the literary quality of your average 15-year-old would-be poet. For a few chapters it was funny, then it became tedious, then annoying. I labored on, telling myself I wanted to finish it so I could write a thorough and fair review, but then I realized that the only reason I was still reading was because the prologue strongly implied that Ransom would die by the end of the book. I ultimately decided - about halfway through the book - that such drivel was not worth my time when the only thing I had to look forward to was the offing of the main character, which would doubtless be as poorly written, uninspired, and pointless as the rest of the story. show less

This whole book just seemed to disappoint me at every turn. We start out in post-nuclear apocalypse United States, and I would rather have continued reading about that. Instead this weird left turn happens once the character Estra is introduced, wherein the become denizens of the sky. First problem for me is that Estra seems to be some sort of manic-pixie dream girl type, whose sole purpose is to save Arden from the toil in his life. And then she is villainized for not being perfect. Don't show more get me wrong, she makes mistakes, but they are framed as these horrendous grievances against Arden personally, because if she does not exist to teach him how to live a good life, then what is she even doing? (Note the heavy sarcasm). All in all, I really struggled to get through this book, and it was only the short length that really prevented me from just giving up all together. show less

The author writes beautifully and has a very deft hand with a turn of phrase, however I didn't really enjoy this and struggled to keep focused on it. I liked the idea of a person seeking divinity by reconnecting with nature, but in the long run the guy is simply batshit crazy. I couldn't sympathize with any character in this book.

If you are a person of faith, HOPE represents a deity or higher power who alternately loves and despises you, rewards and punishes, gives or takes away, and disappoints and gives great pleasure. Likewise, the mine boss is a savior who can charismatically charm the population into belief. He is your father confessor, your encourager, your conduit to HOPE. HOPE appears to believers as a beautiful, alluring woman or a nasty bear or a glint of ore in the mountain. If you are not a person of show more faith, putting stock in HOPE is like playing the lottery and knowing that almost no one wins. The mine boss to non-believers is a travelling medicine show snake-oil salesman, slick with lies and ambition only for himself. Which type are you and how would you survive this nightmare? Shipwreck, hostile weather, grueling workdays, inhuman punishment, lack of food, deaths of fellow workers and a maniacal overseer make for revolutionary thoughts. Are you made of the right stuff to lead the revolt? I loved the book, the writing style, the plot, and the cover art is magical. This one made me think. Who could ask for more? Me. My thanks to the author and Goodreads for a complimentary copy. show less