Wild Animus: A Novel

by Rich Shapero

Book Overview

Newly graduated from college, Sam Altman is gripped by an inexplicable urge to lose himself in the wilderness and teams up with an enigmatic young woman who seems bent on helping him realize his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971880107
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Too Far Pub
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A taste of a life I'll never know

I thought this book was fantastic. I'm a big fan of Alaskan adventure diaries, and also psychedelic culture, and this melded these two worlds artfully. Granted, Shapero isn't the best writer, but that only adds to the rough, emotional storytelling - he paints a picture of a life I'll never know, and it's gripping to dip into his world.

EXCELLENT multi-use tool!

I, like many others, received this book for free. But unlike others, I found this book a delight to have around the house. It served quite well as a monitor riser for my LCD screen. My friend and I needed a book to add weight for a tofu press. Pages 200 to 225 made wonderful firestarters when covered in paraffin wax. One night, we took the cover and walked around the downtown Seattle area hiding our faces behind it and saying "Wooo, wolf eyes, scawwy wolf eyes", while three people behind us kept asking people "Have you seen the walruses?" in Scooby-Doo voices. One night we drank too much and began reading the worst prose we could find in voices like Darth Vader and Mickey Mouse over a microphone to loud techno music. People apparently loved this prose more than Lynne Cheney's book on lesbian sexual relationships. The cat ate pages 123 to 127 when we ran out of catgrass for him to chew. The door below sometimes slams shut when coming in and out of the apartment, so rather than going out to buy a doorstop, we use the book! Every so often you can pick a random phrase out of it that makes you howl with laughter. Handing it to someone who's taken more than six hits of acid in their lifetime and asking them whether it's accurate in the description is highly amusing - especially when you get their faces to screw up like you've just asked them to kill the baby Jesus with a rusty spork. It is an excellent candidate for book frisbee on a sunny afternoon in the park. I take it with me when camping in the case that I run out of toilet paper. Gosh, I'm sure I could find more excellent uses for this most entertaining book. If paper cuts were something desired, I'm sure you could add that as a bonus, since the cheap paper on the books provides HUNDREDS of those to the reader. However, you might not want to expose your cortex to the language. It puts me in mind of the Douglas Adams characters, the Vogons, whose poetry is only the third worst in the galaxy. That, in of itself, is a distinction. Like the movie Showgirls, this book is so jaw-droppingly bad that it's an entertaining read just to see how badly a book COULD be written. It's not just a gigantic cliche, it's a cliched parody of every 1960s novel or poem written by every poet or writer seeking truth within the American experience. So if nothing else, it's a marvelous book to be used for anything except reading.

Bestiality at its most romantic!

I first discovered this gem while perusing the streets of Chicago during the city's annual jazz festival. A group of Rick Shapero patrons were standing on a street corner handing out this epic FOR FREE to all who would take it. Unfortunatley, many of the ignorant music lovers walked right by, passing by what some have called "the greatest...book...ever written." Once I started reading Wild Animus, I couldn't put it down. Its wall-to-wall action/adventure/romance kept me excited page after page. You might be wondering, "Hey, that sounds great, but I've read plenty of novels which have all of those elements. What sets this one apart?" Well, I'll tell you: the bestiality. That's right, when the story's protagonist discovers that he is really a ram in spirit, he proceeds to fulfill his wildest ram-on-human sexual fantasies; and Shapero's vivid storytelling leaves nothing to the imiganiation! Yet, even amidst all of this "fauna"cation, the story never strays far from its original message. Its a classic coming-of-age tale that both children and adults can relate to, and therefore I highly recommend this book to everyone who knows how to read (plans for an all-braile version are in development). Here's hoping for a sequel!

Wild Animus--Alaskan Adventure and Challenge!!!

I think that this was a really interesting...definitely different read, and I enjoyed it. I was also given it for free at the Boulder Creek Festival and I thought it was a challenging read--Shapero is a very talented writer, I especially liked his detailed description of the love/interaction between the main character, Sam/Ransom and Lindy. You could really understand the depth of their connection, and while some of Ransom's expeditions in Alaska are kind of crazy, I enjoyed reading about the Alaskan wilderness and think there is a cool message from the book....Definitely try this book, you'll find that it pulls you in!

Climbers and thinkers will love this book...

I'm an avid mountain-climber and appreciate any read that challenges my assumptions and makes me think in directions I might not ordinarily go...so I found this book to be a gem. Since reading it, I've had countless discussions about its themes with my husband, friends and acquaintances. Actually, I can't stop thinking about it!Beware of the book sellers who are trying to sell this though. The book hasn't actually come out yet, so what they're selling is the "advance reading copy," which explicitly says on the back cover "NOT FOR RESALE." I got it for free at a run in Littleton, CO, and was told they're giving them away at similar events around the US.