I read this with the intent of offering it to students for a reading assignment, but I am left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is accessible and engaging. On the other, it is upsetting and unsatisfying--especially structurally. I can absolutely picture a student getting to the part where the dogs greedily devour the author's vomit, and refusing to read any further.
Aside from this and similar thematic issues, I am offput by the way the theme is developed. It feels like two separate, though related, books. The first is a meditation on our place in nature, and the effect it can have on us--a solid and well-developed theme. The second is a sport narrative, hitting all the customary beats along the way. I could wish that the two ran in parallel, rather than in sequence, or at least that there was a return to the former at the end. Instead of supporting and reinforcing each other, however, the two ideas are competing for attention, and by the end one has forgotten what the author was saying in the first place.
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