Book: Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner

Barbara Kingsolver calls this "An Astonishing Book" and I agree. It is one of the best books I've read this year.

It takes place in Alaska. Abe is the father of Jerry, Iris and Cutuk, and they all live in a sod and igloo home up the river 40 miles or so from the Inupiaq town of Takunak. Their mother left years ago; Cutuk cannot remember her and is jealous of his siblings who can, especially Jerry.

"Our low door was built from split spruce poles, insulated with thick fall-time bull caribou hides nailed skin-out on both sides. The hinges were ugruk [bearded seal] skin. 'Better chop the bottom loose,' Abe suggested. He reached in the wood box for the hatchet. Enuk pounded with his big fists until the condensation ice crumbled. He yanked inward. The wind and swirling snow roared, a hole into the howling world; the wind shuddered the lamp flame. A smooth waist-high white mirror of the door stood in his way. Chilled air rolled across the floor. Enuk leapt and vanished over the drift into the night gusts."

So this book begins. In beautiful and elegant prose, the book follows Cutuk until he becomes a young man. The story of his life weaves in and out of the story of what is happening to the Eskimo as they have more access to alcohol, drugs and the "shiny stuff" of the white man's world (TVs, snowmobiles, money, appliances). Cutuk wants to be Eskimo; he constantly tries to flatten his nose. He is teased for his white skin and blond hair on their infrequent trips to town.

The land is made vivid by the gift of Kantner's writing…the tundra, the snow, the ice, the foxes and wolves and caribou and lynx, the skies, the rivers and creeks and mountains, the geese and ptarmigan. The characters are memorable, not because they are noble or extraordinary but because they are caught in a world of change that is inexorable. Cutuk himself is caught too, in the intersection of white and Eskimo, in so many sad and beautiful places; at times the novel is heartbreaking.

"Outside the windows, trees and branches and dead fireweed gleamed in thick morning frost. In the distance came the sporadic roar of ice grinding down the current. This was the fourth morning of Freezeup…Fall, with its leaves and insects, robins and liquid water, was hibernating. The land was folding its tarps, emptying it buckets for winter."

Cutuk lives in Anchorage for awhile. Iris goes to college and returns to teach school in Takunak. Jerry leaves for good. Abe exists as he has always, wanting his kids to be happy, exhibiting a strong love that isn't predicated on their conforming to his philosophy or his lifestyle. He is an artist but often throws his paintings in the stove. Cutuk wonders about him; he wonders about his mother….

The author "was born and raised in the wilderness of northern Alaska…and lives with his wife and daughter in northwest Alaska."

Louise Erdrich says: "I've not read anything that so captures the contrast between the wild world and our ravaging consumer culture. Ordinary Wolves is painful and beautiful."