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A review by carolpk
Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets
Exceptional. Read on so I can tell you why.
The Hook I couldn’t resist Berkley’s pre-publishing description or my GR friend Patty's review of this title.
The Line While other girls turned sweet sixteen, she learned how to field-dress a deer.”
The Sinker –
Epigram
We can never break free from the dark and degrading past.
Let us see life again, nevertheless, in the words of Isaac Babel
as a meadow over which women and horses wander.
--MAXINE KUMIN, “Women and Horses”
I rarely read a book that I can’t put down but I knew in this case, I had to in order to savor the experience. So put it down I did, reading it over several days, allowing time to contemplate, stretching out the suspense and sheer beauty of this survival story.
Breaking Wild reads like a memoir, purposely so as described by author Diane Les Becquets. In an interview on NPR she explains that there could be a memoir in her, but at this time she prefers to write autobiographical fiction which
”frees me up because I care so deeply for the people in my life not to have to inflict any hurt or shame on anyone else.”
I’d read her memoir in a minute yet I respect her wishes to keep her experiences of pain and sorrow hers and hers alone until if and when she wants to share them.
March is celebrated as Women’s History Month and many books will be recommended that feature strong women. Breaking Wild features not one strong woman, but two and deserves to be added to that list.
Amy Raye is on a hunting trip for elk with two male companions. Raye, a bow hunter, has yet to get her tag and sets off alone to remedy this. She wounds a male elk and must track him to make the kill. Somehow she becomes horribly lost in the Colorado wilderness, in snow pack conditions and freezing cold.
Prue Hathaway and her rescue dog Kona set out to find the missing Raye. This is no easy task and after several days of horrific weather, Raye is feared dead. What is initially a rescue mission soon becomes one of search and recovery.
Over several weeks we are privy to Amy Raye’s and Prue Hathaway’s thoughts and feelings as the story unfolds in alternating chapters and we learn the back-story of their lives. There is a profound feeling of unity as one woman hopes for rescue and the other tries not to give up that hope.
Diane Les Becquets portrays two determined, brave, courageous women in this, her debut, into adult fiction. Amy and Prue are so real my emotions were raw throughout.
This might not be the book for those of you who are against hunting of animals for any reason. For the rest of you let me assure you that Les Becquets shows a deep respect for the elk her character hunts and the gift this flesh provides. She details the hunt, perhaps more than some may tolerate. In addition her lush descriptions of nature and the wilderness made Breaking Wild an adventuresome read for me.
I have purchased a copy of [b:Breaking Wild|25716626|Breaking Wild|Diane Les Becquets|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440684889s/25716626.jpg|45550561] and will be donating it to my public library. I predict it will be a word of mouth hit with readers.
The Hook I couldn’t resist Berkley’s pre-publishing description or my GR friend Patty's review of this title.
The Line While other girls turned sweet sixteen, she learned how to field-dress a deer.”
The Sinker –
Epigram
We can never break free from the dark and degrading past.
Let us see life again, nevertheless, in the words of Isaac Babel
as a meadow over which women and horses wander.
--MAXINE KUMIN, “Women and Horses”
I rarely read a book that I can’t put down but I knew in this case, I had to in order to savor the experience. So put it down I did, reading it over several days, allowing time to contemplate, stretching out the suspense and sheer beauty of this survival story.
Breaking Wild reads like a memoir, purposely so as described by author Diane Les Becquets. In an interview on NPR she explains that there could be a memoir in her, but at this time she prefers to write autobiographical fiction which
”frees me up because I care so deeply for the people in my life not to have to inflict any hurt or shame on anyone else.”
I’d read her memoir in a minute yet I respect her wishes to keep her experiences of pain and sorrow hers and hers alone until if and when she wants to share them.
March is celebrated as Women’s History Month and many books will be recommended that feature strong women. Breaking Wild features not one strong woman, but two and deserves to be added to that list.
Amy Raye is on a hunting trip for elk with two male companions. Raye, a bow hunter, has yet to get her tag and sets off alone to remedy this. She wounds a male elk and must track him to make the kill. Somehow she becomes horribly lost in the Colorado wilderness, in snow pack conditions and freezing cold.
Prue Hathaway and her rescue dog Kona set out to find the missing Raye. This is no easy task and after several days of horrific weather, Raye is feared dead. What is initially a rescue mission soon becomes one of search and recovery.
Over several weeks we are privy to Amy Raye’s and Prue Hathaway’s thoughts and feelings as the story unfolds in alternating chapters and we learn the back-story of their lives. There is a profound feeling of unity as one woman hopes for rescue and the other tries not to give up that hope.
Diane Les Becquets portrays two determined, brave, courageous women in this, her debut, into adult fiction. Amy and Prue are so real my emotions were raw throughout.
This might not be the book for those of you who are against hunting of animals for any reason. For the rest of you let me assure you that Les Becquets shows a deep respect for the elk her character hunts and the gift this flesh provides. She details the hunt, perhaps more than some may tolerate. In addition her lush descriptions of nature and the wilderness made Breaking Wild an adventuresome read for me.
I have purchased a copy of [b:Breaking Wild|25716626|Breaking Wild|Diane Les Becquets|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440684889s/25716626.jpg|45550561] and will be donating it to my public library. I predict it will be a word of mouth hit with readers.