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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Very invested in OR-7s story now. Wish this could have included more of that but overall really enjoyed it. Didn’t expect to!
DNF at page 114.
I was excited to dig into this, as Mary Roach's work was used as a comparison. Alas, Wolfish reads like a college essay where the writer is striving to make word count. For me, this book does not succeed as a study of wolves, nor does it succeed as a memoir. Wolfish relies heavily on quotes and delves into many unnecessary details of the author's boring (reading between the lines, extremely sheltered and privileged) life. I think the overall concept behind Wolfish is intriguing, but the execution did not work for me.
I was excited to dig into this, as Mary Roach's work was used as a comparison. Alas, Wolfish reads like a college essay where the writer is striving to make word count. For me, this book does not succeed as a study of wolves, nor does it succeed as a memoir. Wolfish relies heavily on quotes and delves into many unnecessary details of the author's boring (reading between the lines, extremely sheltered and privileged) life. I think the overall concept behind Wolfish is intriguing, but the execution did not work for me.
Another book I read so you don't have to! Don't be fooled by this book's title, subtitle, and summary (as I was) - this is not a book about wolves! It is a memoir that the author tricks you into reading by saying it is about wolves! I would not be as upset about this fraud if it were a more compelling memoir, but the author, unfortunately, is much, much, much less interesting than she thinks she is. I would have preferred a book about wolves.
Every single interesting thing in this book is actually just a quotation of a different author. This reads like an academic paper written by a marginally precocious student at a second-rate liberal arts school. The YA language is jarring in a pseudo-academic arena. Way too many uses of the word "I" for a work meant to be about an entirely different species. The only good thing is the author does reference other books that are actually about wolves, and the human-wolf relationship through the ages, as this book was meant to be about. So at least we are put on the right track to find books that do not have this kind of false advertising.
TL:DR: Don't read this book, it is boring and also not about wolves.
Every single interesting thing in this book is actually just a quotation of a different author. This reads like an academic paper written by a marginally precocious student at a second-rate liberal arts school. The YA language is jarring in a pseudo-academic arena. Way too many uses of the word "I" for a work meant to be about an entirely different species. The only good thing is the author does reference other books that are actually about wolves, and the human-wolf relationship through the ages, as this book was meant to be about. So at least we are put on the right track to find books that do not have this kind of false advertising.
TL:DR: Don't read this book, it is boring and also not about wolves.
Really more a 3.5, but rounding up for how amazingly researched and well written this book is. Though it could meander a little too deep in the weeds for me at times, I think these meditations on fear are really well done.
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
It feels longer than I anticipated but expect I will return to it
I found this absolutely insipid, and DNFd at 15% through the audiobook. I loathe nonfiction books that claim to be about one thing but actually aren't, and this falls squarely in that category. This is NOT a book about wolves. It's a memoir by an early 20-something, privileged white girl to whom - by her own admission early in the book - nothing dramatic or noteworthy has ever happened. What follows is a vapid, dull, unfocused ramble about her experiences fearing men, as if she's the only woman ever to have had the epiphany that men can be dangerous and cause women to fear, or that Little Red Riding Hood could be read metaphorically. Slow clap for the author for figuring that out?? She keeps promising that she's going to talk more deeply about fear and specifically about wolves as metaphors for fear, and the history of that idea beyond just LLRH, and maybe the book gets there eventually, but I'm too fed up with it to find out. Every now and then a fact about wolves is thrown in, and she makes a half-hearted attempt to track the journey of a particular wolf that was collared in Oregon (or was it Washington? Some western state, but I can't remember which, since she spent so little time talking about this, one of the only actual wolves she brought up).
Also, avoid the audiobook at all costs. The narrator is horrible - it was like listening to a soap opera, not something billing itself as serious nonfiction about a scientific subject. All wispy breathiness and melodramatic pauses. I feel a bit sexist saying this, but it enhanced the feeling that this was written by a spoiled little girl who felt like her navel-gazing account of her own boring life and completely unoriginal observations about fear were worth taking up other people's time with. Why do people like this feel entitled to write memoirs?? Ugh.
Also, avoid the audiobook at all costs. The narrator is horrible - it was like listening to a soap opera, not something billing itself as serious nonfiction about a scientific subject. All wispy breathiness and melodramatic pauses. I feel a bit sexist saying this, but it enhanced the feeling that this was written by a spoiled little girl who felt like her navel-gazing account of her own boring life and completely unoriginal observations about fear were worth taking up other people's time with. Why do people like this feel entitled to write memoirs?? Ugh.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
An impressive debut from Erica Berry that meanders often seamlessly between the very personal world and that of the nature. Incredibly well written and bringing with references that show just how vast and varied her research into these topics were.
I particularly enjoyed the sections about wolves in popular fairytale, about Little Red and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and the ways in which these tropes were examined and applied to our current understanding of fear, victimhood and truth.
I can't imagine what topics Berry may tackle next, but will look forward to whatever she writes moving forward.
I particularly enjoyed the sections about wolves in popular fairytale, about Little Red and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and the ways in which these tropes were examined and applied to our current understanding of fear, victimhood and truth.
I can't imagine what topics Berry may tackle next, but will look forward to whatever she writes moving forward.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced