Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Lone Wolf Written by: Jodi Picoult


Afternoon my fellow book adventurers. Family is so important, without the old and the young there would be no family no advancement. To Luke Warren the wolf is greatly misunderstood and so is the man that lives amongst wolves, and though a man may join a family of wolves a man is still a man, and a wolf will always be a wolf. Family, loyalty, trust, I feel like Jodi Picoult mixed in Animal Planet, The Days of our lives, and Jerry Springer all in one dramatic, educational, and emotional concoction. This was a book I didn’t read with my eyes, but with my ears, I had the pleasure of listening to Narrators Natalia Payne, Louis Changchien, Celeste Ciulla, Nick Cordero, Angela Goethals, Mark Zeisler, and Andy Paris. This cast of narrators did an exceptional job and really brought this book to life for me and helped me feel how each character was with their own voice and how they perceived the other characters with their voices. This book begins with an icy winter night and a terrible accident that leaves Cara Warren daughter of Luke Warren with a terrible secret that is tormenting her as she tries to protect her father Luke Warren from permanent death. For six years the Warren family has been divided as Edward Warren, Luke’s son and Cara’s older brother has been living abroad in Thailand having his own secret that no one knows, but now being the eldest son he is battling his sister and both his past and present. Edward is trying to do what his father would want him to do. Georgia, Cara and Luke’s mother was never able to compete with her ex-husband’s obsessions and way of life. This book readers was quite fascinating as it dealt with the horrors of comas, brain damage, vegetative states, and these people’s wishes, or what should be done if their wishes weren’t known. Then we have the tale of wolves and how they are perceived and how Luke Warren manages to live amongst them and has made his whole life about giving these creatures a true reputation and not the big bad wolf one they’ve had for so many years. There is so much drama in this book readers and so much lack of communication. Clearly this family needed to just talk to one another, but since by my previous statements it’s clear they didn’t. Each Warren has their own secrets, their own insecurities, and yet they never came together and just had it out, and now that Luke is in a coma it seems now is the time they’ve chosen to do this, when one of them can’t be part of this conversation… the Warren Children were at times quite frustrating Cara is clearly a 17 year old girl who though has her heart in the right place is so one track minded she doesn’t see all the destruction and damage she is causing all around her. Edward is young too at 23 and though it seems like he’s a good guy he too has quite a bit of his own demons to deal with and an impulsive nature similar to his sister. Georgia is torn between a son who has been gone so long and a daughter who she does not want to lose, but a decision has to be made, and will they all be able to live with that decision? I admit readers if my husband was in a non responsive state I would want to do anything and everything to bring him back, but I also know if he wasn’t able to hold me, to love me, to go on adventures with me, to no longer be a partnership as we’ve been our whole lives he would not consider that living. I myself have caught myself in the middle of the night waking up just so I could have a few more precious moments with him, could I just watch him waste away in a bed waiting for him to wake up? I know I wouldn’t want to put him through that, and if I had to be in a wheelchair unable to feed, bathe, use a restroom by myself that to me isn’t the life I would want to live, so how could I put my husband through that? How could I put anyone I love through that? The answer, because it gives us hope we are simply programmed to want what is best for us and our loved ones. It needs to be remembered, though we may love someone so dearly sometimes what they want is more important especially when it comes to their wishes about their life or death. Jodi Picoult did a wonderful job creating a realistic world where Wolves and Humans meet, but at times I was really curious about how much of this was fact and what was fiction I mean no offense to spoil or question the authors tale, but is it really possible for a wolf mother before even conceiving her pups to know how many she will have and what their sexes will be? Just seems a tad farfetched, but perhaps I should read a book on wolves and their biology and social behavior. There was a lot in this book readers I mean A LOT! I wanted to scream at the main characters and sub characters because of their bullheaded ways but had to take a step back and think well what would I do? So a very detailed and emotional tale that though a bit farfetched at times still manages to be realistic and give us very tough questions to deal with. I don’t know readers, I really can’t say, but that is one thing this book does it makes you wonder what would I do?

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