The Wolf Gift Ann Rice
Gothic
novel? Philosophical novel? Neither, actually.
Originally,
we hoped this might be an adult for YA novel. Not so.
Cub
reporter and really wealthy aristocrat, Reuben Golding, is doing a story on the
Mendocino mansion of wealthy aristocrat Marchent Nideck, who must now sell the
estate. Reuben falls in love with the estate and, after a one-night
stand, falls in love with Marchent, who deeds him the entire estate (and pays
the first year’s taxes) after one hot night. However, later that
same night, Marchent’s two druggie brothers break in, killing her and nearly
killing Reuben. He is saved by what he thinks is a large dog, who
kills the brothers but merely bites him.
It
doesn’t take a deep thinker to figure out that Reuben was bitten by a
werewolf. In fact, there were of course, many allusions to wolves
already, and you did get the title, right? But it takes a loooong
time to get the reader to the point where Reuben understands.
This
purports to be a philosophical/spiritual novel, and his brother, the catholic
priest, does bring some religion into the mix, and whole chapters are devoted
to the writings of Dejardin. Whole chapters also become filler, (do
we need to know what is in the salad or how many times to toss it?) in fact,
with Reuben’s musings on being a wolf and being able to discern the scent of
evil. If you didn’t get his thoughts the first time, not to worry,
he will repeat them three or four times.
As a
philosophical novel, this fell flat. The mixture of Roman
Catholicism didn’t really mix with the werewolves’ penchant for playing God,
and the discussions of pure philosophy were restated too many times. The sexual
exploitations felt like titillation, not an important plot line. The
constant rain in San Francisco and Mendocino did not even ring true, although
the lush descriptions of the Mendocino coast were a treat.
Rice
puts most of the werewolf information in the last chapter, making it
anti-climatic and obviously setting this as a series.
Random
House published the audio book, aptly read by Ron McLarty. Feel free
to sleep through whole chapters on salad making or the third time you hear the
philosophical DeJardin discussions…
