Emily Fridlund

Madeline, who refers to herself as Linda, is a fourteen year old girl living in Minnesota with her family. She's drawn to one of her classmates, Lily, and the new history teacher Mr. Grierson, who gets charged with child pornography. When a new family moves in, Linda babysits for their little boy, Paul.

Early on we learn that Paul has "gone from living to dead" and the story alternates between finding out what happened to Paul and Mr. Grierson/Lily. I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't do it for me. The story is slow and not much happened even though the premise seems otherwise. I found the main character to be unlikeable. The writing is beautiful but not enough to save the book.… (meer)

Set in a remote town in Minnesota, History of Wolves initially paints a picture of loner Linda developing a crush on her male teacher, leading the reader to leap to some ready assumptions about where this book is headed. However, the story soon diverges when the Gardiner family mores into a nearby home. Leo, Patra and son Paul all seem a little strange, and Linda gravitates towards them, eventually getting work as Paul's baby-sitter.

Linda makes Patra into an object of affection and is very uncomfortable when her academic husband Leo shows up. Caring for Paul is something of a challenge for her; he is both backward and infuriating at times, but Linda manages to get him interested in games mimicking her woodcraft skills.

Eventually this scenario goes sour, as Leo starts to assert his authority and tries to get rid of Linda. She resists, but it does not end well.

I mostly enjoyed this book and would probably rate it more highly except that I found the ending very dissatisfying, and Fridlund's attempt to reconcile the Gardiner and teacher threads of her story felt very unconvincing to me.… (meer)

Never, and I do mean never, have I read an author with the mastery of writing the perfect “telling detail” as Fridlund. Sentence after sentence gives the reader the full sensory experience: I could see every scene, feel every feeling, taste every taste as if I were physically present in the book. She’s the next Donna Tartt in that regard. The prose alone makes this book deserving of its long list status. In addition, there’s real suspense here, and it propels you to keep reading; who doesn’t love that? Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t quite hold up to the lofty standard set by the writing. The ending should pack a bigger wallop then it actually does, and is going to leave at least some readers puzzled. I had to revisit some parts of the book to assure myself that I was comfortable with my own understanding. There are two main plot lines, and I felt one was much better developed (and also somewhat more interesting) than the other. The author made some plot choices that rely on readers having strong inference skills, and I do like books that make the reader work a bit, but I felt like to really be all that it could be, this book needed to make some plot points a bit more explicit. All in all, I completely enjoyed this one; I love dark books, and I love great writing – – give me both in one package, and I’m a happy reader!

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5
Character Development: 4/4
Plot Development: 2/4
Overall Enjoyment: 2/2… (meer)