The Good:
1. I like the lack of articles in the title. It isn’t A History of Wolves or The History of Wolves. There’s something solid about a title that doesn’t need the emphasis on articles. I don’t know — it stands on its own two feet or something.
2. I’ve never been to Minnesota. History of Wolves isn’t chock-a-block overflowing with description. But everything, every place mentioned, the high school, the lake, the cabin, the summer house, the court house, the motel in Duluth, the apartment, every single place our narrator goes, I could see it. Perfectly. Crisp as a fresh cold apple. Fantasy or sci-fi world-building authors, take note: Fridlund’s judicious descriptions are what you should study. No one likes being drowned in adjectives. No one needs it.
The Bad:
1. Take a suitcase. Stuff it full. Zip it up. Now unzip and put twice as much in again. Zip it up. But still, unzip and add more. And more. And more and more and more and more.
History of Wolves is this overstuffed suitcase. There’s too much in this book, for plot and background and just general stuff. Then, for a book that overflows with possibilities, it reads so slowly, so very close to tediously. And then the background may be more interesting than the story up front. The commune. The relationship with her mother. Lily and the pedophile. In filling out the background world of the story, too much wants to bubble up to the surface. The zipper strains. The suitcase explodes going round and round on the luggage carousel. The story needs a trim back on all the wonderfulness of the background. Then maybe give the background its own story.
The Ugly: There’s nothing ugly here. But to not have The Ugly would unbalance my review. So The Ugly. Empty. Null set.
So I liked History of Wolves and I didn’t like it. But I wish for Fridlund the best. I think she deserves it. But I also think she’ll be improving as she writes more. I think her potential is somewhere in the stars.
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund went on sale January 3, 2017.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.