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peachani's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
It's nice that the author was able to reminisce about his childhood, but we should probably leave this book in the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Animal death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Classism
sknappy1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Grief
Minor: Racial slurs
melist6's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Classism, Death, Blood, and Bullying
Minor: Violence
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The emotional trauma of this one is strong, but it’s also a sweet story at its heart. Full review to come!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, and Animal cruelty
emilyjmasters's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy this at all. I cannot believe this is a book handed to children, or that we're worried about two dudes kissing when this book actually contains a child getting split open with an axe??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Animal death
booksandbraids's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This review for the version recorded by Mr (Brian) Young for education purposes, published on YouTube,
Approximate running time 6hr50m.
Having been recommended this book by U.S. Americans who had it as a childhood staple and probably were taught to it in school, I was a little taken aback by the content. I can see that it is steeped in a lot of cultural ideals that might make it an interesting book to discuss, especially if you are in a country where those ideals are common and unchallenged. This is the story of a boy who lives with his family on Cherokee land, where he is home educated, and spends most of his days running wild and barefoot in the woods. He wants to hunt and feels a desperate desire for a pair of hunting dogs to love, and to work with.
The depiction of someone who loves nature so much that they want to run around and kill everything is still quite alien to me. The hunting and trapping ethos and how it's spun as an adventurous thing for boys to do, comes from a world that I'm glad I was never really part of. As a child I also liked to catch things, but it was a strictly catch and release type of thing, and the frogs, bugs, and ducks outwitted me most of the time. I can see some use in living off the land (and water)... so yes I guess I can see how there is a lot to discuss, especially if you are reading this to a class of city kids.
I'm frustrated by the portrayal of women in the story as feeble-minded, emotional and lacking in stomach. This was the sort of adventure story that I grew up with and that contributed to my own sense of internalised misogyny. I can understand how I never identified with any of the girl characters in these types of stories and was only ever interested in "boy stuff". The lad doesn't even know his mother is pregnant until it's specifically said, and that sort of division of gender roles in a caring family is really weird to me. I guess it was par for the course at the time this was written, but it comes across as badly aged and unhealthy to me these days.
I found the main character often promising things of little consequence but great difficulty, that he hadn't thought through, and then bearing down to attempt to live up to those promises. This stubbornness was framed as virtuous, and not something to learn from. Whenever he was overwhelmed he would fall into supplication to his God, and I found it ridiculous that he was continually bailed out by lucky circumstance. I guess luck running out is somehow considered a coming of age. The reframing of ups and downs as the providence of God was, mildly distasteful to me, but I could see how it would be heartening to those of Christian Faith. I'm not sure how this sits with the separation of Church and State in schools in USA.
I expect that for some young readers this would be a pivotal learning experience as many books aimed at children don't deal with grief. I could see this being in there with classics like Charlotte's Web, Watership Down, and _That Scene_ in the "The NeverEnding Story" movie, as being those tear-jerking childhood moments of sadness and growth for children who were otherwise "protected" from difficult discussions of pain and loss.
The story's name bothers me more than anything else in the book. It tells of an "old indian legend about the red fern" which in the same breath is deftly coopted and overlaid with Christian aesthetics of sacred angels. I guess the reason I rate it so much lower than average reviewers is because I am not 9 years old and it is not a nostalgia story for me. It is not fresh or new to me, and the cultural ideals it lauds do not champion diversity, and do not appreciate indigenous culture. I do love a story where a child can triumph in an adult world, and though I love the birds, and plants and landscape depicted, I find the pursuit of hunting animals for their furs to be, generally needless and distasteful. I'll chalk this one up as anther for which I am not the target audience.
Approximate running time 6hr50m.
Having been recommended this book by U.S. Americans who had it as a childhood staple and probably were taught to it in school, I was a little taken aback by the content. I can see that it is steeped in a lot of cultural ideals that might make it an interesting book to discuss, especially if you are in a country where those ideals are common and unchallenged. This is the story of a boy who lives with his family on Cherokee land, where he is home educated, and spends most of his days running wild and barefoot in the woods. He wants to hunt and feels a desperate desire for a pair of hunting dogs to love, and to work with.
The depiction of someone who loves nature so much that they want to run around and kill everything is still quite alien to me. The hunting and trapping ethos and how it's spun as an adventurous thing for boys to do, comes from a world that I'm glad I was never really part of. As a child I also liked to catch things, but it was a strictly catch and release type of thing, and the frogs, bugs, and ducks outwitted me most of the time. I can see some use in living off the land (and water)... so yes I guess I can see how there is a lot to discuss, especially if you are reading this to a class of city kids.
I'm frustrated by the portrayal of women in the story as feeble-minded, emotional and lacking in stomach. This was the sort of adventure story that I grew up with and that contributed to my own sense of internalised misogyny. I can understand how I never identified with any of the girl characters in these types of stories and was only ever interested in "boy stuff". The lad doesn't even know his mother is pregnant until it's specifically said, and that sort of division of gender roles in a caring family is really weird to me. I guess it was par for the course at the time this was written, but it comes across as badly aged and unhealthy to me these days.
I found the main character often promising things of little consequence but great difficulty, that he hadn't thought through, and then bearing down to attempt to live up to those promises. This stubbornness was framed as virtuous, and not something to learn from. Whenever he was overwhelmed he would fall into supplication to his God, and I found it ridiculous that he was continually bailed out by lucky circumstance. I guess luck running out is somehow considered a coming of age. The reframing of ups and downs as the providence of God was, mildly distasteful to me, but I could see how it would be heartening to those of Christian Faith. I'm not sure how this sits with the separation of Church and State in schools in USA.
I expect that for some young readers this would be a pivotal learning experience as many books aimed at children don't deal with grief. I could see this being in there with classics like Charlotte's Web, Watership Down, and _That Scene_ in the "The NeverEnding Story" movie, as being those tear-jerking childhood moments of sadness and growth for children who were otherwise "protected" from difficult discussions of pain and loss.
The story's name bothers me more than anything else in the book. It tells of an "old indian legend about the red fern" which in the same breath is deftly coopted and overlaid with Christian aesthetics of sacred angels. I guess the reason I rate it so much lower than average reviewers is because I am not 9 years old and it is not a nostalgia story for me. It is not fresh or new to me, and the cultural ideals it lauds do not champion diversity, and do not appreciate indigenous culture. I do love a story where a child can triumph in an adult world, and though I love the birds, and plants and landscape depicted, I find the pursuit of hunting animals for their furs to be, generally needless and distasteful. I'll chalk this one up as anther for which I am not the target audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Classism, Violence, Bullying, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexism, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Physical abuse
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