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A review by bookwoods
The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
5.0
4.5/5
I feel like I should start this review by writing about my relationship with wolves, as it affected my reading of The Wolf Border. I live in Finland and have grown up in the countryside, a habitat of wolves, where I still spend most of my weekends. I have never seen one myself, but the packs inhabit large areas and are wary of people. Nonetheless, the hysteria around wolves is real. My mom is still worried when I go into the woods alone, and as children we were escorted to the bus stop, as wolves were sighted in the bus stop of our neighbours. In school kids talked about sighting wolves from the windows of their rooms and attacks on farm animals always raised fury. The question of wolves in Finnish nature is difficult and causes conflicts. I won't go any deeper into this, but I also want to mention that as a biology student I've gotten another pespective on the wolf issue, one regarding their ecology. Even though I may have been scared in the forests as a child, I'm not anymore. My voice goes for the wolves - they belong to Finnish nature.
Here we get to the actual book. It centers around Rachel Caine, a wolf expert who initially works in America, but starts overseeing a project in England. A project of reintroducing wolves to English countryside. The area is strictly limited, but it's still a huge step that not everyone takes kindly to. The land is in the Earl of Annerdale's private ownership and a central theme in the novel is the aristocracy, their immense and perhaps outdated wealth and power.
I must say that I was slightly disappointed realizing how the focus is actually on Rachel's personal life instead of the wolves. Although they are always part of the story, sometimes I felt like they were merely used as a metaphor. But then again, the character development of Rachel is so suberb I really shouldn't complain. Something else that's suberb is the prose. It flows so beautifully that it was hard to put the book down and I finished the last two hundred pages in one sitting. And the ending is very satisfying, leaving the reader with no loose ends. I was also impressed with how many different themes Hall manages to fit into this.
Still, the wolves are what I loved about this the most. I became shamefully aware of how limited to Finland my knowledge of wolves, and attitudes towards them, is. It seemed that Hall did a lot of research and everything felt very real. Like this could actually happen. The outcome is interesting, offering some social and political commentary as well as a vision for the wolves.
It's probably clear by now that I'm fascinated by wolves and if you are too, this is definitely worth a try. The Wolf Border doesn't go deeply into the biology side of things, but focuses on the social aspect and especially Rachel's personal life. So even if you don't mind wolves, this offers so much just in form of personal growth.
I feel like I should start this review by writing about my relationship with wolves, as it affected my reading of The Wolf Border. I live in Finland and have grown up in the countryside, a habitat of wolves, where I still spend most of my weekends. I have never seen one myself, but the packs inhabit large areas and are wary of people. Nonetheless, the hysteria around wolves is real. My mom is still worried when I go into the woods alone, and as children we were escorted to the bus stop, as wolves were sighted in the bus stop of our neighbours. In school kids talked about sighting wolves from the windows of their rooms and attacks on farm animals always raised fury. The question of wolves in Finnish nature is difficult and causes conflicts. I won't go any deeper into this, but I also want to mention that as a biology student I've gotten another pespective on the wolf issue, one regarding their ecology. Even though I may have been scared in the forests as a child, I'm not anymore. My voice goes for the wolves - they belong to Finnish nature.
Here we get to the actual book. It centers around Rachel Caine, a wolf expert who initially works in America, but starts overseeing a project in England. A project of reintroducing wolves to English countryside. The area is strictly limited, but it's still a huge step that not everyone takes kindly to. The land is in the Earl of Annerdale's private ownership and a central theme in the novel is the aristocracy, their immense and perhaps outdated wealth and power.
I must say that I was slightly disappointed realizing how the focus is actually on Rachel's personal life instead of the wolves. Although they are always part of the story, sometimes I felt like they were merely used as a metaphor. But then again, the character development of Rachel is so suberb I really shouldn't complain. Something else that's suberb is the prose. It flows so beautifully that it was hard to put the book down and I finished the last two hundred pages in one sitting. And the ending is very satisfying, leaving the reader with no loose ends. I was also impressed with how many different themes Hall manages to fit into this.
Still, the wolves are what I loved about this the most. I became shamefully aware of how limited to Finland my knowledge of wolves, and attitudes towards them, is. It seemed that Hall did a lot of research and everything felt very real. Like this could actually happen. The outcome is interesting, offering some social and political commentary as well as a vision for the wolves.
It's probably clear by now that I'm fascinated by wolves and if you are too, this is definitely worth a try. The Wolf Border doesn't go deeply into the biology side of things, but focuses on the social aspect and especially Rachel's personal life. So even if you don't mind wolves, this offers so much just in form of personal growth.