Not since “Watership Down” have a read a book that filled me with so much creativity and happiness. I am serious. I want to ramble about “The Hunt for Elsewhere” , but I won’t. I’ll keep this review in sections, gosh! I’m like a little kid coming home from an epic movie!
This first-time author, Beatrice Vine has such a great way with words. Her descriptions, of the woods and cities found within his story-beautiful, her characters wonderful and poetic. It really reminded me of a book written by someone like Richard Adams, it truly was that excellent. The plot?
A fox named Saxton loses his family to hunters, and he does not see them on his own for a while. He meets clever crow who decides to help the young Saxton and together they have a journey-but this book is not about the journey to find his family, in fact that happens rather soon in the narrative.
Soon, we find the fox meets a lone and scarred wolf named Dante-and that is where the story kicks off for me. What journey are they on if the fox has already found his family? Well, I won’t ruin it-but it’s quite spiritual and quite memorable. That is all I will say of the story-but it’s one of the only books that really gets better and better. I was never bored.
In fact, tonight I read from about page 130-275 (The end.) Rarely do I do that. I read this in about a week and a half, staying up until 3 in the morning. I was gripped.
The way the fox and wolf learn more and more of their struggles and their past lives, the more I loved the two of them. It really was unique, and so were the characters they met. From another wolf pack (ruled by a tyrant), to a ally of cats with way to many kittens and no homes. Really, every animal they met left some big impression on Dante and Saxton-and I feel like it all mattered in the end. No one was a ‘throw away.’
Now, I want to talk about the deeper meaning of this book and what it meant to me. The dialogue was great-but in some spots, it truly made me think about the way we lead our lives, the choices we make, the people we meet and those we help. I won’t lie-I did tear up at some of the conversations these characters had because of the beauty and how much I related to a lot of content.
About finding yourself and dealing with struggles. I highlighted a good portion of this book, then put it down to REALLY think of what a certain passage meant…which I’ve never done with a book.
This book was also much darker than I thought it would be-a lot of sadness and grief. Which, might make you think it’s a cry-fest of a book. No. Truly, this book to me is a tale of hope, of love, forgiveness, finding your path in life, about being optimistic and trying new things. With those themes, I feel has to come loss and violence. Not a book for kids by the way-I’d say teens and older.
This is a true contender for my favorite book (which as it stands is “Black Beauty”…) Perhaps I will not put one above the other-but say that they’re both amazing books in their own right. I have no negative things to say, this was a touching book that is one of those rare stories that made me feel so filled with life-a lot of books I ‘enjoy’, but this book will be one I won’t ever forget reading. After reading a few chapters, I’d rush to my computer to write.
If you’re at all into anthropomorphic animal stories or inspirational stories about friendship, please read this. If you like older Disney movies like “Bambi” or “The Fox and The Hound”, do yourself a favor and read this!
She deserves more readers; she will be an author I will look out for in the future. I thank the author for writing a book that I feel could really inspire others like it did me, we need more writing like this.
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