The Work of Wolves (Alex Awards (Awards)) (ISBN 0151010579)

Wonderful writer, Wonderful Professor:
As those of you who have read this novel may have noticed, Kent Meyers is a professor at Black Hills State University in South Dakota. I have had the privilege of taking a couple of his classes at this particular university and could not recommend him more highly as an excellent professor, an inspiring speaker, a very intelligent and well-versed scholar of all things literature, and a truly insightful researcher into those things connected to the rural life in the midwest and beyond. I grew up on a ranch in the Great Plains of South Dakota, one currently celebrating it's 100th year. My parents are both ranch children and are the children and grandchildren of the homesteaders who settled this country when the government opened it up to the prairie pioneers. Having been so deeply involved in this life, I can say with absolute certainty that Meyers gives a truly accurate and heartbreaking view of the history and future of ranching in this part of America. It is a disappearing life. Cattle prices, droughts, machinery and veteranary expenses, land prices, the encroachment of big-time ranchers to winnow the family operations out, etc. He breaks to the heart of it, exposing the souls of the prairie people and all that rides on their hopes, dreams, sweat and tears. I originally read this book in the summer of 2004 shortly after it came out. I was particularly excited given that our Introduction to Literature class had witnessed the progress of this book in class, seen early drafts and heard the origins of this powerful, gripping, diverse, insightful novel. Now, right there I was just violating the rules of writing a good story. This past fall I took Advanced Creative Writing with Prof. Meyers and learned vague adjectives and words of that order are the worst way to go about describing when you are writing. His knowledge on this subject is evident throughout. The first time I read this book, I was so enthralled by the storyline I read 100 pages a day until I finished. Still, I took the time to take notes and make copies of particular passages and pages and talked to prof. Meyers about them and how well he was able to delve into every single details and make the visual images and voices explode off the page better than a movie! I recently reread this book and, after the writing class, was again amazed at how patient and intricate Meyers' language is. He takes great care to waste no word and is able to look at his novel from a distant perspective in order to weave the story as professionally and multi-dimensional as Earl's Grandmother's dancing moccasins are. It's amazing! He has told our classes that he will write four of five drafts before he's satisfied. He wakes before sunup every morning to write an average of 20 pages, whatever it may be, in order to keep in form and come up with ideas. He believes writer's block does not exist. Writer's block stems from a person's unwillingness push themselves to continue writing. Rewriting and being willing to start over or start in a new place in the story fixes writer's block. The key is to write, no matter how bad. Meyers always completely rewrites his stories four or five times, starting from a new place each time! He is truly amazingly creative and tenatious. I don't know if I could ever reach his level of creativity. And let me tell you, I would think he was a horsetrainer himself if I didn't know better. My favorite part of ranching is the horses. Training, riding, cattlework. I love to make a connection with a horse, love to see their understanding when they comprehend what I ask them to do, love the feeling of a horse following a cow of their own volution when they instinctively understand what to do. They are almost mind-readers if you go about it the right way. Kent Meyers brings this out and makes it real to the readers. Also, he is able to bring in the old respect the Native Americans (still commonly known as and called by themselves Indians in SD) have for horses and their intrinsic spirituality. And not only is there the connection between Carson and the horses Orlando, Surety and Jesse, there are the human connections. Brought from their own individual lives and explicated in the most deep and unique way are Earl Walks Alone, a child of the reservation in Southwest South Dakota working his way off the "rez" with math. Also, Willi Schubert, a German exchange student fascinated by the Lakota culture who's grandparents have a dark Nazi past. Ted Kills Many, the child of alcoholic parents who drinks himself, is very crass but surprisingly deeply caring. Then, there is Carson Fielding, the man who ties all their lives together. Carson is a horsetrainer, and a favorite of his grandfather Ves who instills in Carson a love for the land which is his inheritence and a patient, understanding relationship with horses. Immediately, there is a disconnect between Carson and his father. Charles wished to be a pilot. Instead, Ves kept him on the ranch as "there was always something needed done". Charles was trapped into a life he didn't care for with animals and machinery that didn't hold an interest for him. But, the real story begins when rich, parasitic rancher Magnus Yarborough grudgingly sells a horse to a fourteen year old Carson after Carson displays an uncanny gift for dealing. Magnus remembers this deal, and 12 years later brings Carson to his ranch to train 3 horses and teach his wife, Rebecca, to ride. Cleverly, Meyers fixes the results of this horsetraining and Carson's connection to Rebecca in the past, the storyline truly picking up in present tense with Earl's discovery of three horses locked in a gateless pen out of sight behind a lake. The results tie Carson and the three high school boys together in ways none could have imagined with commonalities and circumstances none could have predicted. The three horses and the results of these many animal and human connections are far-reaching and vast. Compelling, heartbreaking, intricate, multi-layered and dimensional and reaching to the deepest core of what the ranch-life means to those of us who have lived it all our lives. This is not simply a novel about horses, ranching and relationships. It is self-discovery, connection to the land and the life of South Dakota and the Midwest, a history story which I know Prof. Meyers went on sabbatical to research. He went to Germany and spent time on the reservation to capture the people and cultures to their utmost depths, bringing his own knowledge and new knowledge to light for anyone from LA to NY and right back to the Great Plains. I can say from personal experience that Meyers captures the language, images and lifestyle of all these South Dakota residents. He has an insight into our way of life I never enjoyed so much or realized so fully until I read it in this book. Everything is true to life, good and bad. In recent years I have been witness to big-time ranchers buying up old family farms the children no longer wish to run, or are unable to maintain. It's sad, devastating. I fear the urban development of the rolling hills and vast expanses of ridges and skies that go on for thousands of miles and the blotting out of stars you can almost touch by the glow of city lights. This vast, natural land is not something to be feared. It may be lacking in people but it is not empty. The smallest prairie flower contains more beauty than a whole greenhouse full of cultivated flowers. Our flowers, trees, grasses, bushes and all the birds, coyotes, badgers, raccoons, foxes and all other flora and fauna are survivors. They hold to the land and show their colors with tenacity. And our people are like those flowers, as is the land. Tough, but beautiful and untainted by a false existence. Our job does not begin at 9 or end at 5. We don't get snowdays or fanciful weekends, rarely do we get sick-leave or even maternity leave. My earliest memories are playing with toys in the cab of a pickup in a hayfield while my parents cut, raked and baled hay! The land and animals are our lives and need us as much as we need them. Kent Meyers understands this all and illustrates it with the insight and authorship of one who can transport his readers to a new dimension with careful words. I recommend this book to anyone, regardless of upbringing, background, culture or perspective! Furthermore, Meyers is in the process of writing a novel called "Grammar of a Killing". It is currently in it's final stages and I have viewed and reviewed it along with Meyers' students and collegues through this past schoolyear in his classes and in conversation. Please do read this too. As always, Kent Meyers has poured his soul into the writing and done his research down to the very fibers of his subjects. What I have witnessed so far promises to be as powerful as The Work of Wolves. It will stick with you as long as this novel will and have you pondering and thinking in a new way for months and even years to come. Meyers is a rare author of a high caliber and class of his own. He is a modest genius, not fully realizing the scope of his gift. As a writer, teacher and person, Meyers is very special. Read The Work of Wolves and the ones yet to come!

This book has it all:
I believe this may be one of the best books I've ever read. Three very diverse young men, each with unique personal problems, are brought together to try to deal with the plight of horses abused by a frightening and vindictive man. The events and the character's reactions to them is the most startling and unexpected I've ever encountered. I actually caught myself gasping in surprise. If you enjoy a strong style of writing, with good use of similes and metaphors and imagery, Kent Meyers is one of the best I've ever seen. Unusual setting. Great plot. "The Work of Wolves" has it all. If I had to describe this book with one word, it would be "powerful." Mr. Meyers, I am eagerly awaiting your next book!

The Work of Wolves:
This novel is a great read, full of inner thoughts of the major characters (a wonderful mix of characters they are),complete with flashbacks to moments of significant relevancy to the present. This is the story of a strong-willed teenager clashing with a bull-headed and ruthless rancher who never gives up exacting revenge on the kid for beating him at his own game of taking advantage of people. Carson Fielding's love for his grandfather; Earl Walks Alone's rather silent but all-wise grandmother; Willi, the German exchange student's fascination with his unreconstructed Nazi grandmother, all illustrate the power of the grandparent in the lives of children. Without giving away the plot ( which many reviewers have already done), The title, "The Work of Wolves," comes from several instances where the antagonist, Magnus Yarborough, isolates his intended victim and then strikes. "The Work of Wolves" is a psychologica novel, a story of redemption, and a must read.

No mush, no pre-digested message -- and that's good!:
I think it took about the first fourth of the book before I was completely hooked, so I could possibly fault THE WORK OF WOLVES for a slow start. But after that, I found the story compelling, truly a page turner. As the novel progresses, the separate lives of four very different young men intertwine in completely unexpected ways. Opportunities abound, in a novel set in South Dakota, for mushy sentiment about the vanishing West, the sad history of anglo and American Indian relationships, and, of course, horses. Refreshingly, this book lacks mush. Instead, the reader is offered interesting and varied vantage points on history, change, good and evil, and the choices of individuals. The portrayals of ranch/rural/reservation life in South Dakota and the people who live there are quite rich,full of life and humor, and the descriptions of terrain, weather and wildlife are spot on. Highly recommended. A must read for those interested in the present-day American West.

Beautiful:
A wonderful novel. As good as Faulkner and much easier to read. Get this book.