02/19/2016
"Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
Copyright: 1987 (192 pages)
Realistic Fiction

Picture of book cover by Amazon

First and foremost, I think I've found my new favorite author. This book is older than I am, but I have only heard of it recently. Now I know what I've been missing out on. I love Paulsen's intense, short-and-sweet way of describing the story. I always said that I connect less with books that are in third-person point of view. Not with this one. By the end of the book I spent time browsing through the fine prints to make sure it's actually fiction. It felt a little too real.

I don't know if Hatchet was originally advertised for young readers. I feel like this is one of those books that anyone can read and enjoy no matter which age group they're currently in. It's a blend of self-discovery, coming of age, adventure, thrill, and a hefty dose of nature appreciation. I really like the scene about the bear when Brian first got stranded, and a similar one with the wolf pack later on. I love how it explains how wild animals, even the ones with fangs and claws, are not the blood-thirsty man-eating monsters that we always depict them to be. They only attack if they feel threatened, not just because they're inherently vicious. I love how, later in his time in the woods, Brian smiles and nods to the wolf pack as they calmly walk past him. I also like how, of all things on Earth, the two wild animals that truly have hurt Brian is a porcupine, a skunk, and of course that one crazy moose. I've seen some similar survival stories where the hero picks up weapons and then randomly go off fighting lions or tigers just to highlight their bravado. In contrary to that, Brian is a very modest character. He doesn't carry the "miracle child" image, much less the "I'm a survival expert, everyone learn from my awesomeness" one. I find it refreshingly honest how the first thing Brian did after he survived the plane crash was not scouring the woods for edible seemingly-inedible items, or defeating a dangerous predator. Instead, he sat down and slept. For two days.


Painfully realistic, blatantly honest details is a constant theme throughout this novel. Starting from how the pilot got a heart attack (cartoons and movies like to depict heart attack as a person dancing funny before they comically scream and faint), to Brian's low point where he attempted suicide, and finally to how Brian's view changed even long after he went back to his life. The typical happy ending that most people expect for this kind of story is Brian's parents reuniting. That did not happen in Hatchet. Another typical ending would be for Brian to become rich and/or famous instantly for the rest of his life. That did not happen either. Brian is still Brian, a young teenager whose parents just divorced - except that he survived a plane crash and lived on his own in Canadian wilderness for a couple months. The changes that happened to him was very personal (how he admired food variety and availability in the supermarket), which - for me anyway - made him easier to admire.

Another topic that this novel touched is divorce. We never seem to figure out how to talk about divorce to our children. What do we say, what do we do, how will they feel... All these questions are probably a century old and nobody can really answer them. There are probably tons of print out there that aims to "water down" the divorce talk to children. It's often something like "mommy and daddy may not live together anymore, but they will still love you the same!", followed by attempts of silver-lining it ("you will now have TWO Christmas presents! Yay!"). I'm not saying it's bad or wrong, but it's getting old. Paulsen did something else. Instead of taking on the 'grown-up' image to tell the kids what divorce is, how it works and how to feel, Paulsen chose to simply describe - in detail - how was thirteen-year old Brian Robeson's experience with his parents' divorce. There was never a sense of "this is how you ought to feel, say or do in the event of your parents' divorce" in the book. There was just a description of how Brian felt; what made him sad, what made him angry, what made him feel everything else. I have never been in Brian's shoes, but I suppose sometimes that's all they need; a story to relate to. Just so they know whether or not feeling sad or angry means they're a bad person.

I could go on and on about this short novel. There was so much to love, and so much to talk about.