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logophile's review
2.0
The book that made me quit BookCrossing. I still haven't figured out what about it made BookCrossers so vicious and uncivilized. A seriously flawed book, but an interesting failure, and if the furor at BookCrossing is any indication, a surprisingly powerful one.
abomine's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
This book gets exactly half a star for the story's potential as a thriller/psychological horror about a conceited protagonist who slowly loses his sanity to drugs, quasi-spiritualism, and hubris, abandoning his friends, responsibilities, and loved ones for the sake of his furry fantasy "enlightenment". The guy literally does LSD, dresses up as a wild sheep in the mountains, pursued by wolves that are ham-fistedly meant to represent his long-suffering "clingy" wife, and jumps into a volcano which he refers to as "Animus". And that last part is not even a spoiler. That's chapter 1.
Unfortunately, Wild Animus is not written that way. Instead, this book is intended to be a powerful, emotional, and psychological adventure about a modern shaman who discovers that the secret of Life, the Universe, and Everything was in his heart all along.
Gag me.
Unfortunately, Wild Animus is not written that way. Instead, this book is intended to be a powerful, emotional, and psychological adventure about a modern shaman who discovers that the secret of Life, the Universe, and Everything was in his heart all along.
Gag me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
writesdave's review
2.0
It didn't suck as bad as some have said but, damn, that was weird. The book follows a disillusioned hippie as he drops a lot of acid and becomes a ram to discover himself. During this constant, LSD-induced fog of "discovery" he writes a manuscript and rejects everything and everyone close to him, including his long-suffering wife, Lindy — and, ultimately, the manuscript itself. He goes to one of the roughest patches of Alaskan wilderness (the Wrangell Mountains) to live among the sheep with which he communes and the wolves that hunt them.
I'm always interested in reading tales of self-discovery — Travels With Charley, Blue Highways, Into the Wild, Catcher in the Rye come immediately to mind. Nonetheless, this was over the top and off the charts strange, though Rich Shapero did his homework by doing the necessary travel. His descriptions are very vivid but at times overwrought, like he's trying to impress us with how colorful he is — or, more likely, with how many drugs he did to induce these images.
I'm always interested in reading tales of self-discovery — Travels With Charley, Blue Highways, Into the Wild, Catcher in the Rye come immediately to mind. Nonetheless, this was over the top and off the charts strange, though Rich Shapero did his homework by doing the necessary travel. His descriptions are very vivid but at times overwrought, like he's trying to impress us with how colorful he is — or, more likely, with how many drugs he did to induce these images.
ederwin's review
1.0
Not nearly as bad as I hoped. I hoped this would be monumentally bad -- so bad it's funny -- but it is just ordinarily mediocre.
It starts with this guy living in Berkeley who gets tired of city life and wants to escape to a more natural setting where he can commune with nature, take acid every day, dress in a goat costume, climb a volcano, join a goat family, and get chased by wolves. How could I not read that? Apart from some minor details -- wool makes me itchy -- that perfectly describes me! I got hooked on that idea and before I knew it I was halfway through. I actually read the whole thing, ... and I regret it.
After you learn the basic idea, there is nothing more to it. The prologue already tells you that he will die in a volcanic eruption while simultaneously being eaten by wolves, so there is really no suspense.
I got this book for free. That is typical. If you paid money for it, you are unusual. The author has given out 1000s and 1000s, perhaps hundreds of thousands of free copies of this book in nice hardback editions. The crazy story of him giving away so many copies is far more interesting than this book itself.
If you only read one book about a man turning himself into a goat, please don't make it this one. [b:GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human|26031368|GoatMan How I Took a Holiday from Being Human (one man's journey to leave humanity behind and become like a goat)|Thomas Thwaites|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447619312l/26031368._SX50_.jpg|45957739] is much better, has pictures of the goat suit, and isn't even fiction.
It starts with this guy living in Berkeley who gets tired of city life and wants to escape to a more natural setting where he can commune with nature, take acid every day, dress in a goat costume, climb a volcano, join a goat family, and get chased by wolves. How could I not read that? Apart from some minor details -- wool makes me itchy -- that perfectly describes me! I got hooked on that idea and before I knew it I was halfway through. I actually read the whole thing, ... and I regret it.
After you learn the basic idea, there is nothing more to it. The prologue already tells you that he will die in a volcanic eruption while simultaneously being eaten by wolves, so there is really no suspense.
I got this book for free. That is typical. If you paid money for it, you are unusual. The author has given out 1000s and 1000s, perhaps hundreds of thousands of free copies of this book in nice hardback editions. The crazy story of him giving away so many copies is far more interesting than this book itself.
If you only read one book about a man turning himself into a goat, please don't make it this one. [b:GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human|26031368|GoatMan How I Took a Holiday from Being Human (one man's journey to leave humanity behind and become like a goat)|Thomas Thwaites|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447619312l/26031368._SX50_.jpg|45957739] is much better, has pictures of the goat suit, and isn't even fiction.
caterinaanna's review
1.0
The copy I read, being an advance reading copy, doesn't have this cover.
I sort of sought this book out, knowing a little of its Bookcrossing history, but not, at the time, just how bad many people thought it was. I'm sorry to say that I didn't think it was great either. I didn't think it was awful per se - I could see a certain fascination in the shamanistic blurring of identity - but it too coarse in its mysticism for my taste and with too little to counteract that.
I could not empathise at all with the complete submission to Animus/descent into self-destructive madness (take your choice of perspective) of Sam/Ransom, nor could I understand the role Lindy played in his revelation or her willingness to suppport him in so many ways for so long. And that is coming from someone with an uncanny ability to find and stick with partners who leave her broke (for those of you who know him, I feel duty bound to point out that Spike is one of the few who hasn't). Nonetheless Lindy did at least have enough of a backstory to make a little sense of her holding on when she had no hope of changing him, whereas we saw nothing of the 'raw' Sam to explain his developing monomania, unless one chooses to 'blame' the drugs - a far too facile (and inadequate) plot device. That so many of the community in which he found himself were, albeit eventually, impressed was also incredible: yes, a Messiah may be the most unexpected person, but Ransom's 'message' did not seem to be communicated to others, even Lindy, in any convincing or powerful way.
All in all, a shame - a compelling idea, with some wonderful descriptions of Alaska and real attempts to view things from the point of view of another creature (albeit with some slips), that is let down by characters that are totally subservient to the plot and style.
I sort of sought this book out, knowing a little of its Bookcrossing history, but not, at the time, just how bad many people thought it was. I'm sorry to say that I didn't think it was great either. I didn't think it was awful per se - I could see a certain fascination in the shamanistic blurring of identity - but it too coarse in its mysticism for my taste and with too little to counteract that.
I could not empathise at all with the complete submission to Animus/descent into self-destructive madness (take your choice of perspective) of Sam/Ransom, nor could I understand the role Lindy played in his revelation or her willingness to suppport him in so many ways for so long. And that is coming from someone with an uncanny ability to find and stick with partners who leave her broke (for those of you who know him, I feel duty bound to point out that Spike is one of the few who hasn't). Nonetheless Lindy did at least have enough of a backstory to make a little sense of her holding on when she had no hope of changing him, whereas we saw nothing of the 'raw' Sam to explain his developing monomania, unless one chooses to 'blame' the drugs - a far too facile (and inadequate) plot device. That so many of the community in which he found himself were, albeit eventually, impressed was also incredible: yes, a Messiah may be the most unexpected person, but Ransom's 'message' did not seem to be communicated to others, even Lindy, in any convincing or powerful way.
All in all, a shame - a compelling idea, with some wonderful descriptions of Alaska and real attempts to view things from the point of view of another creature (albeit with some slips), that is let down by characters that are totally subservient to the plot and style.
ifoundtheme's review
2.0
I think I liked this book more than other reviewers; though I was a bit disturbed by the message and the writing dragged on in places, reading this book exposed me to a perceptual view that I would not have found in my own head. I read the book at a stretch, on a several-hour car ride, which helped me to get into and stay in a headspace from which I could appreciate this semi-lucid book: though the prologue was so overstuffed with imagery that I couldn't visualize any of the setting, the odd, sudden scenes of the first chapters lulled out an almost Kerouac-like addicted flow of consciousness. I couldn't identify with the characters, but I acknowledge that people like them might exist (though I would despise them). In other words, the characters and the story felt imbalanced and unhealthy, but it made me uncomfortable enough that there must have been something convincing in the writing.
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