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nematome 's review for:
Julie of the Wolves
by Jean Craighead George
3.5 stars
I’m glad that this is getting re-released, because I think that it deserves to find a new generation of fans. This book is very short (less than one hundred pages) and simply written, but I found it very affecting nonetheless.
The story opens with the Eskimo girl Miyax lost, alone, and starving in the Alaskan wilderness. Her only hope of survival is the nearby wolf pack, and the long ago memory of a tale that her lost father told: of one hard winter when he appealed to a wolf leader for help and was given aid. Desperate, Miyax begins to emulate wolf behaviors and communication. The wolves slowly begin to accept her presence, but she can’t rely on them for all. Miyax must unearth a hidden strength and the nearly lost wisdom of her ancestors to survive.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Miyax has another name and another life. In childhood, she left the warmth and tradition of the seal camp and her father, to join her aunt in a more developed town. There, she attended school, gained a pen pal in San Francisco, and became Julie. But at age thirteen, according to the Eskimo tradition, she agrees to marry the son of her father’s close friend. All seems well, until her husband becomes aggressive. Julie decides to flee toward the hope of San Francisco and a new life.
This is a powerful story of conflict between two identities and two sets of traditions. Julie loves the safety of home and people; she wants to have a place in society. But when Julie runs into the wilderness, her proprieties and her limits are stripped away. She loses her fear and uncertainty and she finds Miyax underneath it all. And she finds even more than that: a new family and a new home.
But can Miyax’s new home remain untouched? With the industrialized world expanding ever further into the north, her new life is not a stable one. The ending is bittersweet, but it feels like truth.
What’s most interesting to me is that I felt my own reactions to Miyax’s environment change right along with hers. In the beginning, I felt frightened for Miyax and a bit disgusted by the lengths that she was forced to go to in order to survive. But by the end, I was happily eating raw liver and packing my sled with caribou “chips” (aka, poop) for fuel right along with her. I rejoiced at the thought of Miyax turning her back on “civilized” life and surviving on her own.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Genesis – White Mountain
From the 1970 album, an epic song about harsh reality and adventure through the eyes of a wolf on the white mountain. Couldn’t be more perfect!
I’m glad that this is getting re-released, because I think that it deserves to find a new generation of fans. This book is very short (less than one hundred pages) and simply written, but I found it very affecting nonetheless.
The story opens with the Eskimo girl Miyax lost, alone, and starving in the Alaskan wilderness. Her only hope of survival is the nearby wolf pack, and the long ago memory of a tale that her lost father told: of one hard winter when he appealed to a wolf leader for help and was given aid. Desperate, Miyax begins to emulate wolf behaviors and communication. The wolves slowly begin to accept her presence, but she can’t rely on them for all. Miyax must unearth a hidden strength and the nearly lost wisdom of her ancestors to survive.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Miyax has another name and another life. In childhood, she left the warmth and tradition of the seal camp and her father, to join her aunt in a more developed town. There, she attended school, gained a pen pal in San Francisco, and became Julie. But at age thirteen, according to the Eskimo tradition, she agrees to marry the son of her father’s close friend. All seems well, until her husband becomes aggressive. Julie decides to flee toward the hope of San Francisco and a new life.
This is a powerful story of conflict between two identities and two sets of traditions. Julie loves the safety of home and people; she wants to have a place in society. But when Julie runs into the wilderness, her proprieties and her limits are stripped away. She loses her fear and uncertainty and she finds Miyax underneath it all. And she finds even more than that: a new family and a new home.
But can Miyax’s new home remain untouched? With the industrialized world expanding ever further into the north, her new life is not a stable one. The ending is bittersweet, but it feels like truth.
What’s most interesting to me is that I felt my own reactions to Miyax’s environment change right along with hers. In the beginning, I felt frightened for Miyax and a bit disgusted by the lengths that she was forced to go to in order to survive. But by the end, I was happily eating raw liver and packing my sled with caribou “chips” (aka, poop) for fuel right along with her. I rejoiced at the thought of Miyax turning her back on “civilized” life and surviving on her own.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Genesis – White Mountain
From the 1970 album, an epic song about harsh reality and adventure through the eyes of a wolf on the white mountain. Couldn’t be more perfect!