A review by jcstokes95
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I feel like this is the novel that flew too close to the sun. Charlotte McConaghy’s second novel is full of beautiful lines; my copy is covered in excessive underlines. There is no doubt in my mind that this author can write evocative prose. So many arresting phrases, however, when it comes to structuring the action of the novel, Once There Were Wolves became incredibly muddled for me. 

We follow Inti and her sister, Aggie, in the present day, Inti is rewilding Scotland with native Grey Wolves. When a man turns up dead, her beloved wolves are suspect number one for the townsfolk, but eventually, her actual lover becomes suspect number one in her head. This makes this book a very confusing combination of romance, mystery, thriller and climate fiction. In addition to that, we get flashbacks to the sister’s childhood with a mentally ill father and then a separate flashback timeline to their life in Alaska where a terrible, awful thing happened to Aggie, the trauma of which both sisters are reeling from. 

So, that is…a lot to put in a two hundred and fifty page book. I think this is the crux of the problem. McConaghy wants to do so much but sacrifices a lot of depth for breadth. For this reason, I spent a lot of time feeling like there was supposed to be a “moral” but never getting a clear message between all the constant movement. 

I applaud the ambition, she is tackling supremely interesting themes. I wanted her to land them because her writing piqued my interest. But that doesn’t make it any clearer to me what the message was. Characters often repeat that humans need to “rewild” themselves. But I was unclear on what that meant. Duncan rails against seeing abusive men as powerful monsters, but instead as just men. This is a good sentiment, but none of these men every seem to be held to task by the people who share this view in the story. Inti sings the praises of predators in the ecosystem, and I’m sure we’re supposed to make some connection between the wolves and the human predators of the novel. But that’s made muddy also. I just could never get clear on the message. 

This was a book club read, and my friends pointed out that the victims of domestic violence in this story lack a lot of agency and there is a lot of “savior” behavior that actually endangers them, particularly from Inti.
In the end, one of these women is killed by a spouse, one’s spouse is murdered, and one kills herself.
  It’s a pretty…bleak message for victims.

All of this taken in mind, I was ready to give this book a passable, respectable rating until I read the last 12 pages. Never have I been so enraged by an ending. If this is a twist, it’s piss poor and pointless. Worse yet, the acceptance of all characters of the fact leaves the story feeling like it never had any stakes whatsoever. The tension which was, actually quite effectively created, drifts away like it was a mirage the whole time.
Like murdering someone in this town was actually never a big deal.
Plus, the lack of any conclusion or consequence makes it feel like the author has handed you a big mess and said, ‘hey, you figure it out’. Particularly frustrating because so much of this book has incredible potential, and I would certainly read from this writer again once she has tightened a bit of her themes up.
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