A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter
My rating: 4/5 cats
yeah, i am floating a fox review. because it makes me happy.
best friends read books together!! <— this is a link to greg’s review! don’t miss it!
he finished it before i did, but i am reviewing it first – ka-ZAAAM!
this is a book i bought for greg for christmas. i wasn’t sure which cover was better, and i wanted to read it, too, so i bought TWO copies, and then we read it together because we are the best of friends, except our friendship will not end as sad as theirs. and i am not going to turn into this when i grow up:
knock wood.
so, this book is like a fox-version of Watership Down. it takes you through the trials and tribulations of a bunch of foxes, primarily the large black fox wulfgar, and some assorted other animals as they try to stay alive through the harsh winters and the cruelty of a man and his very mean dog.
this is the best part of the whole book:
Another creature had heard the badger and was fleeing down the slope as fast as his short legs would carry him. He was a hedgehog named Earthborn, who during the cold spell had dozed in a pile of dry leaves against a field wall. Now he scuttled across the woodland path and almost collided with Wulfgar. Immediately the muscles along his sides and back contracted and he curled into a ball. Wulfgar strode around him stiff-legged, brush twitching, and gingerly touched the spines with the pad of a forefoot. The ball of prickles tightened and the fox cocked his leg and doused the hedgehog. Snuffling and sneezing Earthborn uncurled and the life was crunched out of him.
OH MY GOD!!
seriously, fox?? that is your mode of attack??? you PEE ON IT?? AND THEN YOU EAT IT???
oh, fox, you are super-gross.
but that is basically what this book is about – something is always eating something else.
The night was prickled with faint squeaks and screams, many of which ended abruptly.
when phrased like that, it is so chilling. it is like a horror movie.
and that’s nature and all, but i still think that if you know someone’s name, you really shouldn’t be eating them. it’s just unmannerly.
but most of these animals have very bad manners—they will just address each other by name and then try to eat them. and foxes are always hungry. nothing fills their appetites.
but they are not the worst. the worst?? stoats.
stoats are assholes. i knew this already from having read Each Day a Small Victory, but this seriously reinforced it. do we have stoats in america?? i hope not, because they are some ill-tempered creatures, boy…
leave that dumb rabbit alone!
(this book taught me that rabbits are really dumb)
but it doesn’t matter how big of assholes they are because poor foxes get blamed for everything!
that mean dog i mentioned earlier (who is batshit crazy, and his POV chapters are the absolute best things in the whole book besides the pee-scene) gets into all kinds of mischief, and the foxes get blamed for it!! unfair!!
and the owner of the dog gets it into his head that wulfgar is a demon, because he is always crossing paths with him under unfortunate circumstances and he is easily recognizable because he is black (why’s it always gotta be a black fox, huh??*) and he embarks on a sort of crusade to kill wulfgar.
will he or won’t he???
i’m not saying. but i will say that this was a completely enjoyable book, if a little dry at times with its descriptions of nature. it is a little bit too much pastoral overload.
but all in all a great book, although not as good as Watership Down, and it goes without saying, not nearly as good as Tailchaser’s Song.
i will leave you with a bit of animal philosophy:
“…Men come, we run, otters run, rabbits run – every animal runs.”
There was no more to be said.
indeed.
*this will tie into something unfortunate in the book that i think greg is going to talk about.
oh, but also, there is a character in the book who is this little boy who is super-attuned to nature, kind of like sam in The Trumpet of the Swan and everyone just calls him “stray,” but at the end View Spoiler »
greg, your turn to review it!
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