Review: Wolf by the Ears - Ann Rinaldi

Wolf by the Ears by Ann Rinaldi
Genre: YA, historical fiction
Published on January 1, 1993
Published by Scholastic
Pages: 272
Read From: 7.6.12 - 7.7.12

Review

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Cover Blurb: It looks dated, the girl in the front does not at all look how I imagine Harriet. She looks more Hispanic or Latino descent than African; her features aren’t right.

What I Liked: Like all of Rinaldi’s female characters, Harriet is a strong protagonist, doesn’t have an attitude, is intelligent, and feminine without being weak. I was able to appreciate her struggle, thus her indecision didn’t get as annoying as it could have.

What I Disliked: While I liked Harriet well enough, she was perhaps the least “connectable” out of all the protagonists in Rinaldi’s books that I have read. It wasn’t because of her situation or anything like that; there was just a slight something lacking in her personality. A slight something that I aggravatingly cannot entirely pinpoint, but it was there, making Harriet just slightly less than she could have been.

Believability: Rinaldi does her research, of course; it’s part of why I love her books so much. And Rinaldi presents very believable reasons for, if Thomas Jefferson had children by one of his slaves, why he couldn’t claim them.

Writing Style: Good, as always. I liked how it was told in a loose-journal style. There weren’t daily entries, but monthly ones, with just the month and the year. And never once did the story feel like it was slandering Thomas Jefferson - Rinaldi says in her Author’s Note that that is not the intention of the story, and I believe her. It felt like a work of fiction; an interesting “what if” that is possible, but there is not 100% historical backing for it, and the Author acknowledges this. The views and opinions expressed in the story also felt like the characters’ opinion, and not something the Author was forcing her characters to voice for her. The only negative thing I have to say about writing choice is the pace of the story. It was kind of slow, there was no real climax. Taking Liberty is somewhat similar, and I wish the pacing of Wolf by the Ears had been more like that; then it would have been better.

Content: Blunthead tries to rape Harriet, but he doesn't get very far at all before it is interrupted.

Conclusion: As said earlier, there is nothing terribly climatic about it. But it’s realistic. I do, however, wish the story was longer, and had more build-up.

Recommended Audience: Fans of Ann Rinaldi, naturally, and consequently historical fiction fans. This is a girl read, though guys who don’t mind dress descriptions and the like might like it as well.

Eureka!

At last!!! Oh my; such freedom! Such a sense of fresh air! Who ever knew that Writer's Block for 16 months could feel so stifling! Yes, my Readers, that's right - I have been stuck on my story for sixteen months - maybe fifteen. Since last September; you guys do the mathematics. In any case, that's a long time. My brain went into hiberation for the last few quarters of college in order to survive. Deep hiberation. I've been reading during that whole time, which is good; I need my reading time as well as my writing time. But after 4 months, I was feeling really lonely. And stagnant. And depressed. And just . . . sad.

Now? I don't really know what caused it this time. I was listening to the soundtrack for The Duchess and Oliver Twist (Rachel Portman is an amazing composer) while alternating between reading Flame-Colored Taffeta by Rosemary Sutcliff, The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Something about that combination, I guessed, joggled my brain out of its hiberation, and I decided to start working on a few minor changes to my story. In went the soundtrack for A Series of Unfortunate Events. Minor edits led to bigger edits, and then I hit my stuck place again. But rather than backing down and moping like I used to, I glared my story in the eye and told it, "Now look here, my dear fellow, this simply won't do any longer. You've had your holiday, and I've had mine. And now I want to work on you some more. And I can't if you keep stubbornly refusing to tell me what I need to know! I may write mysteries and I may be a Sherlockian and therefore an amateur detective in my own right, but not even Sherlock Holmes could solve a case without data. Give me data or I'll go work on some other story. And I do mean it this time."

For years, my philosophy has always been if a story says no, don't push it. And generally this is a very good idea. Listen to the story; it will tell you what you need to know when it's ready, and no sooner. But I've discovered something about stories that you are almost done writing: they get stubborn. They see the end nearing and they don't want to part company. Stories are loving to writers who listen to them, but stories are also jealous of other stories (at least, mine are). Even when I type THE END on this fourth draft of my story, I'll still have lots of editing to do, but in general, I will be done with it. I'll be able to turn my attention to other stories. I've spent a good six or seven years with this particular story; maybe longer. I'm close to it, and it's close to me. And it doesn't want me to be done with it. So it's not telling me what I need to know so I can finish it. It's times like these than a writer must be firm. My story continued to refuse to tell me anything, so I kept going at it at different angles, and I got one of my sounding board out, otherwise known as a friend, to test ideas out on (thanks, Hazel! You're a terrific sounding board! ;)

Now, I am not yet 100% certain if I have hit all of the bricks in The Wall to make it crumble so I can press on, but I am confident that I am oh so close. And now I've got the soundtrack to Sherlock Holmes going to keep my concentration level up (wish I had the soundtrack to A Game of Shadows as well; it has some lovely klemzer). In any case, I think I've solved it! The story has, I'll admit, taken some new turns that I wasn't expecting (that's part of the fun of writing a mystery!), but I am excessively pleased with it. Oh, and those of my Readers who have had the privilege of reading my manuscrips and think that Murtagh and Ivy are going to become romantically involved (I shudder at the thought, as do my characters) - well, with the new twists I've put in, that would be extremely awkward if they did. Let's just say while Victorians were okay with cousins marrying each other, I am not, nor are my characters.

Hopefully I'll have more to report soon!