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After graduating from college, Sam Altman finds himself disillusioned with the world of the '60s and rejects normal life to follow an inner calling. Altman's unleashed-and increasingly unhinged-imagination takes him first to Seattle and then farther north, to the remote Alaskan wilderness. Sam has fallen deeply in love with the mysterious and powerful Lindy, a young woman who will do anything to help him realize his quest, no matter how dangerous. Alone with a driving need to uncover his innermost self, Sam gradually transforms himself into a ram, prey to a pack of strangely familiar wolves. The mad pursuit leads from the wilds to civilization and back again. And when Sam and Lindy return to the perilous mountain together, the truth behind his imagined transformation emerges.
Critiques (2)
Critique du Publishers Weekly
Shapero unwisely uses the prologue of his debut novel to divulge the ending, so the remaining 300 pages do little more than track one man's tedious journey toward acid-induced madness. Drug dealer Sam Altman, an unhappy and lonely student at the University of California-Berkeley in the late 1960s, meets and falls in love with equally unhappy and lonely Lindy at an antiwar protest. Attempting to evade arrest for drug dealing, the couple flee to Washington State, where Sam's chronic use of LSD leads him to cut himself off from his friends, change his name to Ransom and yearn to become "a fur-covered shaman, a wild ram-man, chanting the liturgy of surrender." The pair end up in Alaska, where she waitresses to support him while he writes a novel, masquerades as a mountain ram and imagines he's being chased by a rout of wolves. Though Ransom's hallucinations worsen by the day, Lindy and his few remaining friends are too intimidated by his behavior and unhappy themselves to intervene, leaving him to his tragic and inevitable end (which, of course, has already been divulged). Shapero does have a talent for vivid imagery, but this is still just a sad tale of a man whose drug addiction drives him and everyone around him crazy. 50,000 first printing. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Critique du Library Journal
Set in the Pacific Northwest in 1969, Wild Animus describes the experiences of a young man with a dream. Sam, who renames himself Ransom early in the novel, leaves conventional life behind to don the costume and the spirit of the ram in the Alaskan wilderness. In doing so, he impresses and influences those he meets during his quest, inspiring them to think about the boundaries in their own lives. Although he professes to love and need Lindy, the girl who supports him, Ransom lives only to follow his own dream, which he pursues to its ultimate destination. Whether he escapes from reÂality through self-destruction or pursues a higher goal of becoming one with the god, Animus, is left for the listener to decide. Peter Coyote delineates this allegorical tale by reading the âhumanâ parts in a normal voice and the animal dreams, preceded by drumbeats that are not really necessary, with a deeper, more raspy tone. When Animus finally speaks, Coyote's voice is guttural and sounds barely human. Simple words come out of a mouth so unused to uttering syllables that they are almost growls. This very personal, spiritual journey of a naïve youth enhanced by drugs and danger will not appeal to the general listener.--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.