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I bought this book by the author of My Side of the Mountain because it promised another nature-centric survival adventure, which is something I love, and I finally got around to reading it because it's set in the Okefenokee Swamp, which is a setting I'll be loosely adapting for an upcoming book.
Exactly half of the book is indeed a nature-centric survival adventure set in the Okefenokee Swamp. The other half takes a sudden swerve into a completely batshit other plot, in which multiple batshit plotlines proliferate. This is especially unexpected as the first half of the book had pretty much no plot at all.
Jack, a 14-year-old boy, has been taught an incredible amount of survival and swamp knowledge by Uncle Hamp, who he stays with when his parents are abroad. Hamp leaves him alone for weeks on end and nobody has any problem with this. Like a whole lot of things in this story, this would make at least slightly more sense if the entire story was set about 100 years earlier than it actually is. In fact, the book was published in 2002 and is apparently set around then, or at least in a time when people have cell phones.
Jack paddles off into the swamp to explore. His canoe is attacked by an alligator and he's shipwrecked. He proceeds to deploy a wealth of survival skills that would put Robinson Crusoe to shame. This, which occupies the first half of the book, has plenty of nice nature writing but is just a tad dull as Jack has no notable personality and never seems seriously worried about anything.
AND THEN. I spoil the entire book below the cut but honestly, you probably want to read the spoilers because the best part of the book is the nature descriptions, and the spoiler parts are hilarious.
( Read more... )
What.
Tree Castle Island
Exactly half of the book is indeed a nature-centric survival adventure set in the Okefenokee Swamp. The other half takes a sudden swerve into a completely batshit other plot, in which multiple batshit plotlines proliferate. This is especially unexpected as the first half of the book had pretty much no plot at all.
Jack, a 14-year-old boy, has been taught an incredible amount of survival and swamp knowledge by Uncle Hamp, who he stays with when his parents are abroad. Hamp leaves him alone for weeks on end and nobody has any problem with this. Like a whole lot of things in this story, this would make at least slightly more sense if the entire story was set about 100 years earlier than it actually is. In fact, the book was published in 2002 and is apparently set around then, or at least in a time when people have cell phones.
Jack paddles off into the swamp to explore. His canoe is attacked by an alligator and he's shipwrecked. He proceeds to deploy a wealth of survival skills that would put Robinson Crusoe to shame. This, which occupies the first half of the book, has plenty of nice nature writing but is just a tad dull as Jack has no notable personality and never seems seriously worried about anything.
AND THEN. I spoil the entire book below the cut but honestly, you probably want to read the spoilers because the best part of the book is the nature descriptions, and the spoiler parts are hilarious.
( Read more... )
What.
Tree Castle Island
