Title: Julie of the Wolves
Author: Jean Craighead George
Have I Read it Before:No
I was pretty psyched to read this one. I have read My Side of the Mountain many times and it is one of my (many man many) all time favorites. I couldn't help but assume that Julie of the Wolves would have some similarities in both style and story (after all, they have the same author), but after reading it, I felt let down. However, this could be entirely my fault for assuming.
Miyax (Julie being her "white people-name") has
runaway from an unhappy marriage in hopes of getting to San Fransisco
to live with her pen pal. She is alone in the Alaskan wilderness,
running out of food and only has the hope that she can depend on a
nearby wolf pack to help her survive. Life on her own is
extremely difficult and more than once it seems like she may not make
it, but will the wolves help her pull through?
I felt that this book was lacking my favorite parts of so many other survival stories; how they do it. My Side of the Mountain and other books spend a great deal of time focused on how the character catches food, builds shelter, cooks, etc. I feel that Julie
didn't have that same richness and my imagination wasn't nearly as
engaged. I also didn't feel as connected to her character from the start
and that too much of her character development came later in the story.
I think it would have been a good decision to explain fully why she ran
away earlier in the book so that I would care about why she was all
alone. I'm glad I finally read this book, but doubt that it will be one I
read again.Happy Reading!
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