Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

This book is the third of five in the Hatchet series, the original of which was Gary Paulsen’s breakout work. I listened to Hatchet when I was a teen, then read it to my kids. Later, we also discovered that Paulsen is a delightful humor writer as well.

Previous reviews of books in the Hatchet series:

Hatchet

The River

Reviews of other Paulsen books:

Flat Broke

Masters of Disaster

Mudshark

Vote

When Paulsen wrote Hatchet, he wrote a self contained story. It has a beginning, and resolves at the end. But readers apparently wanted to hear more. So Paulsen wrote The River, which continues the story, with Brian returning to the scene of the plane crash with someone studying survival techniques. 

But readers apparently wanted something different. Or at least more. They wanted to know how the story would have gone had Brian not been rescued, but had spent the winter stranded in the wilderness. In the introduction to Brian’s Winter, Paulsen notes that he received hundreds of letters to this effect. So he went back and wrote an alternative scenario. 

Brian’s Winter is very much in the vein of Hatchet, naturally. Brian must overcome new obstacles and face new challenges. But the basic facts are the same. He must survive. In order to survive, he must continually find food. He must protect himself from the elements and from dangers posed by animals that would love to eat him.

Paulsen writes from experience. While he never had a catastrophe like Brian, he did spend a lot of time in the wilderness, and tested the techniques he writes about. Because of this, the books have a very realistic feel to them. To the degree that I am familiar with the topics, I can confirm that Paulsen is scrupulously devoted to accuracy. He does not exaggerate. He does not get the details wrong.

But the real charm of these books is the storytelling. Paulsen always tells a good story, whether it is realistic or humorous. His characters are memorable, human, and match their ages well. Paulsen doesn’t shy away from discomfort either, whether it is Brian’s nausea after he kills an animal for food, or the social discomfort the hapless Kevin (in Vote and Flat Broke) experiences when his plans go awry. But Paulsen is always hopeful. Brian will survive - and learn from his difficulties. Kevin will grow up a bit. And Reed will unfailingly find the zombie poop.

I found Brian’s Winter to be every bit as enjoyable as the original. There are two more in the series, which I am sure we will eventually get to during our travels.

The River by Gary Paulsen

Source of book: We own this, but listened to it on audiobook during a trip.

“You panic, you die!” ~ K_____, divemaster

A couple of decades ago, during the class I was taking, along with my father, brother, and sister, to get our SCUBA certification, this guy was our divemaster, assisting the instructor. He probably repeated this about a dozen times in a row, with different inflections each time. And you know what? He was right. Underwater, strapped to a limited air supply, panic will kill you faster than anything else. Even doing stupid stuff is more survivable than panic.

While I have yet to put into practice K_____’s other bit of advice (“Fresh caught lobster is best cooked with Heineken and celery salt.”), I have never forgotten to breathe first whenever I feel the urge to panic - in every area of life. 

I was reminded of this advice again while listening to The River. This book is a sequel to Paulsen’s breakout hit, Hatchet, a tale of wilderness survival. The River takes place a few months after Brian is rescued from his ordeal following an unexpected airplane crash in the Canadian wilderness. I mention that it is “a” sequel, because Paulsen wrote The River as the first book after Hatchet, and it follows the original chronology of that book. Later, Paulsen would respond to criticism of the way Hatchet ended (with a rescue, a deux ex machina), and write Brian’s Winter, which imagines what would have happened had Brian not been rescued, and had instead had to spend the harsh winter marooned.

Since we also own the other Hatchet novels, I imagine I will be reading (or listening) to them in the future.

The River begins when Brian is contacted by Derek Holtzer, a government psychologist. The government wishes to revamp its survival training, and hopes Brian can assist them by accompanying Derek on another wilderness trip. Derek hopes to take notes, and perhaps find insights in how to prepare military personnel to respond to survival scenarios.

Part of the problem, as Brian notes, is that the current training is too safe. With the knowledge of that safety, people make different decisions than they would if they were truly in a life-or-death situation.

To that end, Brian insists that they leave the gear, and venture into the wilderness armed merely with knives and their wits.

For the most part, this goes well. However, Brian is still unhappy, because they haven’t really experienced a crisis. One does occur eventually, and Brian must navigate a river over 100 miles to find help.

As a novel, I didn’t find this one as good as Hatchet. I’m not sure if it was just the curse of the sequel, sophomore slump, or whatever; or if it was that the plot seemed to drive the book a little too much. In some ways, I think it would have been more satisfying if Derek had not been incapacitated, but that the crisis would have come from a different direction. For the first half of the book, part of the fun was the interaction between Brian and Derek, and this book had the possibility of becoming a character driven drama. Instead, Brian is again left alone to do his usual magic.

There are some good bits. As usual, Paulsen’s first-hand knowledge of the outdoors makes for accurate detail. As in Hatchet, all of the specifics check out. Those of us who have spent time hiking in the woods or around rivers will appreciate that Paulsen gets things right. No false notes appear in the flora, fauna, or physics. If Brian is the recipient of some good luck at times, he at least knows it. The bad luck, likewise, isn’t a stretch, but plausible.

Paulsen also gets at the heart of survival in all situations. Bad luck can get you killed, and that just sucks. Not much you can do about it. But, in borderline situations, it isn’t so much the physical circumstances that make the difference between survival and failure, but the mental ones.

I’m always interested in real life survival stories. Just this year, there was one involving a 16 year old girl who was stranded after a small plane crash.  Even though she wasn’t particularly experienced (even at her age, I had far more hiking under my belt), she had presence of mind. The story doesn’t bring all of it out, but a more detailed account (which I can’t find now), noted that she reasoned that a downhill route should bring her to some sort of road eventually. She also kept her wits enough to avoid panic even after a few days of hiking. In contrast, it is easy to find accounts of those in far better physical shape, with better gear for keeping warm and fed, who ended up going in circles, or falling off cliffs, and other stuff that was directly attributable to losing rationality.

You panic, you die.

This is what Brian is trying to show Derek. All the cerebral training in the world won’t help you, if you do not learn to slow down the natural instincts, and operate out of calmness rather than fear. This holds true outside of crisis situations as well. Most of our worst decisions, personally, as parents, and in relation to just about every area of life are made from a place of fear, rather than a sound mind.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

36 years old and still great advice...

Reading With My Kids: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Source of book: We own this. My in-laws gave us a lovely hardback edition of this book and the four sequels.

My introduction to Hatchet came as a very young adult. At the time, I was involved with some volunteer work on the Navajo Reservation that had me taking a couple of annual trips out there. On one of them, one of the guys I was working with brought an audio book along for the long drive. (Roughly 12 hours.) It did make the miles pass quickly. 

Hatchet is a kid book, but not a particularly light one. It is a survival book, a bit in the vein of what is perhaps an American tradition. Another similar book is My Side of the Mountain, by Jean George, which predates it by 30 years.

The grittier Hatchet doesn’t shy away from darker themes, including death and divorce. Brian, the 13 year old protagonist, doesn’t have it easy. He makes mistakes that nearly kill him. A series of unfortunate incidents threaten his survival. The book is as much about his failures as his successes, but that is what makes the character development particularly central. Brian has to change his very outlook and his way of thinking. In many survival stories from Robinson Crusoe on down, the protagonist already has a great deal of mental fortitude, a wealth of knowledge, and merely lacks the material resources. Brian likewise has to make do with the clothes on his back and a hatchet, but in contrast, he is unused to self control and lacks most skills that he will need. The need to survive forces him to discipline his brain.

In re-reading this book with the kids, I was struck by the process that Brian goes through to focus his thoughts, to separate out the panic and the pain and the fear so that he can figure out which tasks he must focus on. Food. Ever and always food. And shelter. And fire. But these are not second nature to him. Even problem solving itself is a new language that he must learn.

In this sense, Brian is a normal kid. He hasn’t ever had to rely on himself and his own courage. Fortunately for him, he is fairly bright, he realizes that he must think before acting, and he shows a great deal of persistence. Actually, these are the very things that make the difference between death and survival in many wilderness accidents. Those who stay calm, stay put, and avoid panic are more likely to survive.

Also good in this book are the descriptions of the plants and animals that Brian encounters. Many are unfamiliar to him, and he simply describes them. At the end of the book, he is able to discover the real names of things, but we already know what they are like. Those of us with a bit of background knowledge can figure out what Brian is experiencing even before then. The author has obviously spent plenty of time in the woods, and not just with an encyclopedia.

The kids enjoyed the book. Fortunately, they aren’t bothered much by the more intense stuff. Even my younger son, who doesn’t take danger in movies very well was okay with just a verbal description. Your kids’ mileage may vary. 

 My own crew out on the trail.

Reading With My Kids: The Cay, by Theodore Taylor

Source of book: A friend recommended and lent us this book   

After the kids and I read Island of the Blue Dolphins together last year, a friend suggested we read this one too.

The basic story is that of a young boy, who becomes stranded on a tiny island in the Caribbean after the ship he is on is sunk by a German U-boat during World War Two. He is blinded by a blow to the head, and becomes completely dependent on an elderly Caribbean black named Timothy.

 

Sandy Cay, near the Virgin Islands, an island similar to that described in the book.

This book was published in 1969, and shows its age a bit. The central tension of the story is that of the boy, Phillip, gradually losing the racism and sense of privilege he acquired from his parents as he becomes friends with Timothy. Phillips thoughts, as well as the words he hears from his parents - particularly his mother - sound very much like the attitudes common among people of those generations. Phillip’s parents, like my great-grandparents, would have been born in the early 1900s. Like my ancestors of that generation, they would say such things as “blacks aren’t like us. They’re different.) Phillip would have been the same age as my grandparents, who might say stuff like “those happy Mexicans.” Or maybe fill in Phil Lancaster and the “happy, singing” African Americans of the civil rights era. (Um, yeah. Ouch.)

It helps to note that this book was written at the tail end of the Civil Rights Era, when political changes had been achieved, but faced a strong social backlash.

It was a bit weird reading this to my kids for that reason. We read Tom Sawyer in 2012, so they were already reasonably familiar with prejudice, the N-word, and slavery. But that book seems so far away, in many ways. Even The Cay probably seems like a bygone era to them. This isn’t to say that racism doesn’t exist - because it definitely does - but that my children don’t hear the same things that I did, or that my parents did.

A good example of this lies in the fact that even a generation ago, my grandparents’ generation was scandalized by interracial marriage. My parents’ generation began the current trend of mixed race families, but they tended to worry that the kids would suffer. By the time things got to my kids’ generation, a high percentage of their friends are interracial. (At least here in California. Your mileage may vary.)

This was particularly awkward because we have a friend somewhat similar to Timothy. Some good friends of ours are a mixed race family, and the father is from Puerto Rico. (It’s been fun explaining how a place that isn’t a state can be part of the United States…) So they know from personal experience that “not like us” is a ludicrous lie. Our own extended families contain an ever-growing spectrum of skin colors. It’s different for them than for those born 100 years ago.

On the other hand, this book, like others, does help explain how racism persists even in good people. Those elderly relatives would, I have no doubt, act in an admirable manner toward any actual people of color they encountered. (In fact, my experience has been that they have embraced those who have married (or been adopted) into the family.) But we can’t help but wince once in a while at what is said around the dinner table.

As with all important issues, this is one that is an ongoing discussion in our house. There are many facets to the institutions and attitudes that continue the categorization of people based on race, gender, and so on. It feels hopeless to try to fix everything, and to protect my kids from the poison that permeates society. At least I can say that things have gotten better over the last few generations, and the trends are positive. Perhaps my children and grandchildren can work further to realize Martin Luther King’s dream.

We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing by James Whittaker

Source of book: I own this. A library discard that my wife ran across for next to nothing.

This short book is the real-life story of the crew and passengers of a B-17 lost at sea during World War Two. The book was published in 1943, less than a year after the events took place, and while the war was still ongoing.

Although the book was written by Whittaker, and tells of his journey toward faith during the ordeal, it probably captured the attention of the public because of another of the survivors: Eddie Rickenbacker.

Rickenbacker was one of those larger than life characters that seemed to live a charmed life. He probably had more near-death experiences than anyone else, at least in his time. And they weren’t limited to his crashes of airplanes and cars - he also survived a botched tonsillectomy He first came to fame before World War One as a race car driver, then became the first United States Ace as a pilot in the war. His record of 26 confirmed kills lasted until the next World War.

Between the wars, he founded an auto manufacturer, which later went bankrupt, managed Eastern Airlines, co-wrote a comic strip, and collaborated on the development of several Douglas passenger aircraft. He was nearly killed in an airplane crash (in which he was a passenger, not a pilot), leading to the first time he was reported as dead by the press.

In World War Two, he was technically a civilian, but served as an official consultant. He continued in a diplomatic capacity after the war, all while continuing to manage Eastern Airlines. After his retirement, he toured as a speaker up until his death in the 1970s.

(Guitar buffs will note that Rickenbacker’s distant cousin co-founded the eponymous guitar company.)

Even within the context of this book, which is not really his story, he remains a formidable force, an inspiration to his companions, and a fearless and strong leader.

The events of the book are fairly simple. The plane gets off course while flying from Hawaii to another island, probably due to a faulty instrument. It is unable to reach an alternate destination on its fuel, so the pilot is forced to ditch it in the ocean. The crew and passengers take to the open sea in three life rafts for twenty-four days, with only the food and water they can capture and collect, until they are finally rescued, with the exception of one who dies before the rescue.

Paralleling the actual events is Whittaker’s personal journey from agnosticism to faith as a result of the miracles he experiences during the ordeal. These include rain timed exactly as needed, fish that jump into the boat, and a sense of supernatural strength he receives near the end as he rows his raft to an island despite being so weak from starvation that he (and the others) are unable to stand upon arrival. One of the crewmen has his New Testament along in his pocket, and they read from it and hold a church service of sorts each day until the rescue, during which the author finally learns the Lord’s Prayer.

In addition to the faith of Johnny Bartek, the owner of the New Testament, the fortitude and leadership of Rickenbacker carried the survivors through. He kept morale up through a combination of encouragement and brow-beating, complete with strong language that the author hinted at, but omitted due to the publishing standards of the time.

I found a few additional details to be interesting. One was the choice of how to ditch the plane in the ocean. The pilot noted that going head on into the waves was the usual choice, due to the use of the wind to slow the relative ground speed. However, if the nose caught a wave, the plane could go straight down without a chance for escape. In this case, the pilot chose to land between swells, in a crosswind. While more difficult, it allowed him a gentle landing that preserved the aircraft intact and allowed the crew and passengers to evacuate in an orderly manner. This was a bit revolutionary at the time, and led to a re-thinking of procedure.

Second, I noted that this incident led to changes in aircraft navigation and the development of new technology in survival equipment. Oddly, no provision for food or water was made at the time, with rescue assumed to occur before it would be needed - which might be the case in a modern disaster, but certainly wasn’t the case at that time.

Third, I was intrigued that the older survivors weathered the hardships better from a physical point of view, which was not what I expected. The author was in his forties, and Rickenbacker was in his fifties, yet they were the ones in the best shape by the end, far better than the younger members, who perhaps had less body fat to consume.

In general, this was a quick read, simply and clearly written, from the point of view of a straightforward military man not given to excess words. If you are looking for soaring description, you won’t find it here. By comparison, Thor Heyerdahl’s account of his voyage is better literary reading. However, the facts themselves are compelling, and the author lays them out plainly for the reader. The story itself is well worth the read.