This one has been on my to-read list for a while. So let's give it a look, spoilers ahead.
This is a historical fiction, however heavily inspired by true events the author experienced. We meet Chen Zhen, a young Han Chinese student who is sent to live among the nomadic people in the grasslands of Mongolia. Here, Chen learns about their ways and culture, and in particular the complicated relationship the Mongols have with the local wolf population. Chen is determined to raise a wolf pup of his own as an experiment, however this is met with my criticism from the nomads. To make things worse, the Chinese government is interfering with the Mongols and trying to claim their grasslands, which includes destroying the wolves and with that the ecosystems as well as the nomads' culture.
Mixed thoughts on this one. On the one hand: it has some really interesting commentary and taught me about this historical era and the Mongol people around this time, which I have never really read about before. I was very engaged in the conflict here, plus the deep delves into the nomads' philosophies were very interesting as well.
But I'd be lying if I said I was truly enjoying reading this book. Not just because the subject matter is depressing and Chen isn't a very likable character, mind you, but I think it mostly boils down to the prose itself. Maybe this is just the English translation, but the prose just lacked a certain draw for me, especially with the book being really long and everything starting to feel repetitive after a while.
There's so many conversations between the characters about the wolves and the Mongols' culture and beliefs and ecosystems and herding, and while that's fine at first it becomes old quickly with the dry prose and especially how often certain things are repeated. I don't need to witness roughly the same conversation multiple times. This in turn makes the book feel dry and dull to read at times, which by all accounts it shouldn't be because this is based on true events and actually addresses very real issues (which have a sad ending, by the way).
I've also read and heard from multiple sources that apparently the English translation left out very important sections of the book: The afterword by the author is over where he discusses the real context and his own experiences that spurred him on to write this story, as well as some important philosophical and political quotes before each chapter. I can kind of see why these quotes would be left out, but the entire section Rong dedicates to his own experiences and the context of the novel, and gives us a call to action. This part is allegedly sixty pages long. Which just sounds way too important to leave out of a translation.
Okay, translations and prose aside, how is the rest of the book? Like said before, interesting. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed following Chen as a protagonist, but he does feel realistic, which I think is key here. Not all of these people I really liked per se (though some like Bilgee are definitely likable, but all of them feel like real, flawed people. So I will give props for that.
The stuff with Little Wolf, meanwhile, like pretty much the rest of the book, was just depressing to read. He's held as a prisoner by Chen Zhen from day one, and then his life is just misery from the start. He cannot bond with anyone or anything other than Chen (and even that he does very loosely) because even the dogs don't want him, he cannot properly communicate with his own kind, Chen eventually ends up mutilating the pup by chipping off parts of his fangs, this in turn leads to Little Wolf developing an infection in his right upper fang which comes loose. Even more misery follows with the wolf developing sores on his paws, repeatedly almost strangling himself because he doesn't like being tied up all the time, and eventually he develops an injury in his throat that leads to him swallowing way too much blood and being unable to eat. In the end, Chen Zhen realizes as the wolf is nearly a year old and literally suffering each day that there's no hope and he smashes in Little Wolf's skull with a shovel. Holy heck, is this depressing. Little Wolf's life has been nothing but misery and that misery only got worse as he grew.
The rest of the book is equally if not more depressing, though. The last wolves are killed, the grasslands of Mongolia become a desert because of this destruction of the ecosystem and many of the nomads' old ways die this way as well as their land is no longer fertile. I feel especially bad for Bilgee, not because he's one of the only likable characters in this, but also because he literally grew old with these ways and willingly taught Chen Zhen and the other students everything, and then in the end he gets to live just long enough to see everything he dedicated his life to destroyed. We end with a final epilogue twenty years into the future of Chen visiting the graves of the dead wolf pups (including Little Wolf) and Bilgee, on a landscape that has now become a desert. So yeah, this is an important book to read if you ask me, but it's also a very, very depressing one.
So yeah, definitely an important and very sad read, I just wish the English translation didn't feel so dull and repetitive and that huge closing word from the author hadn't been left out. Had those been fixed, this would've been an easy four stars for me. But as is I unfortunately cannot give more.
Rating: 3/5
Note: I have also seen the movie adaptation of this book, however I would like to note that it changed a couple of things, such as making Chen an even less likable character and giving Little Wolf's story a semi-happy ending as opposed to the absolute misery he went through in the book.
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