Summer Reading

So I am almost finished The Life of Edgar Sawtell, the hefty first novel from David Wroblewski, and truth be told, I am trying to savor it because it is just so incredibly magical. Much has been written about the Hamlet-like plot, but that seems to me to be, in some ways, icing on the cake. The language is melodious and somehow seems to capture that one to one sympatico that dog owners share with their dogs without it being overly sentimental or trite. A fine line and a fine read.

Which is why I read with interest about another book that explores the relationship between people and dogs based on an actual theory of evolution. Dorothy Hearst has also written a debut novel, Promise of the Wolves, a fantasy work that draws upon research that suggests humans and wolves (and then dogs) have a long, involved history. "The book is based quite a bit on the theory of co-evolution, which is the idea that wolves and later dogs are what made us the dominant species on the planet--that we evolved because of them and they evolved because of us," she said.

The theory, which is not without its detractors, suggests that humans grew stronger because of their interaction with and ultimate domestication of wolves and wolves became less "wolf-like" and more dog-like. "We made dogs and dogs made us," Hearst elaborated. "Some of the genetic evidence suggests that wolves and humans have been together for 150,000 years--and other evidence that suggests it could have happened before we were even fully human."

All of which sounds like a fascinating premise for a novel, even if fantasy is not usually my cup of tea. The story concerns a she-wolf, Kaala, whose desire to hunt with humans is not looked upon very highly by members of her pack. The animals in her book have the ability to communicate, a la Watership Down, and the debut novel is part of a trilogy being called "The Wolf Chronicles."

I am very intrigued by a woman who has this to say about the bond between humans and dogs: "There is no other animal we feel this way about. We love dogs more than anything else, and they're really the only animal we think of as not outside of ourselves. We think of them as family, as our children. I really think it is something that goes far back into our past--that the two species have been linked for a very long time."

I have to admit it makes perfect sense to me.