Customer Reviews

The Work of Wolves

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
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In a powerful opening scene, fourteen-year-old Carson Fielding, of Twisted Tree, South Dakota, approaches Magnus Yarborough, the slickest and wealthiest man in town, negotiates to buy a horse, and succeeds--surprisingly, for his named price. Twelve years later, Carson, broke, takes a job training some of Yarborough's horses and teaching Yarborough's wife to ride. Once again, he succeeds in his mission, but this time he makes a permanent enemy of Yarborough.

Carson's view of the world is limited to horses, the ranch, what he has learned from his late grandfather, and his recent discovery of love, but his knowledge grows when he is contacted by Earl Walks Alone, a Lakota teenager, and Willi Schubert, a German foreign exchange student, asking for help. Earl, a senior in high school, has discovered a small pen containing three starving and thirsty horses, exposed to the elements in a remote area, hidden from all roads. When Carson investigates with the boys, he is stunned, recognizing these as Yarborough's horses, and he suddenly understands why they are being tortured. Along with Ted Kills Many, an alcoholic Lakota in his late twenties, the four decide to rescue the horses and to do it in the spirit of Iktomi, the trickster of Indian lore.

Though the idea of rescuing the horses controls the action, the rescue is more important symbolically than in real-time. Each of the four young men has special reasons, clearly developed, for identifying with the plight of these animals--reasons connected to their pasts, their understanding of how man and nature are related, and their understanding of the uses and abuses of power. Meyers creates much more than a simple coming-of-age story here, delving into the very essence of life itself, while keeping his style unpretentious and his plot lines simple.

Stories the characters learn from their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles connect the various themes, unite the characters, and show the thematic overlaps of cultures. As the young characters recall these often dramatic stories and hear new ones, they also understand that underlying all stories are dreams, some living and some destroyed, some emanating from culture and some coming from within. Featuring characters with whom the reader identifies, and filled with realistic details about farming, ranching, and everyday life, past and present, this rich novel stretches the imagination, challenges the thinking, and keeps us totally entertained every step of the way. Mary Whipple

It is difficult to do justice to a novel of this scope and emotional depth. The Work of Wolves is an experience that evokes South Dakota's great wilderness and the spirit of those who make their living from the land. What begins as an uneven exchange between an arrogant, powerful ranch owner and a teenaged boy who purchases a horse from him, flowers into a battle of wills, when wealthy Magnus Yarborough entices a now twenty-five-year old Carson Fielding to his land to train three horses and teach his wife to ride. Fielding is bound by a contract his father made, a fact that goes against Carson's spirit and the way he works with animals. Yarborough senses a stoic invulnerability in Carson, but imagines he can break any man with his money and his will.

As the drama unfolds, circumstance unexpectedly connects four lives, Carson Fielding, Earl Walks Alone, Ted Kills Many and Willi Schubert, a German exchange student with a love of all things Lakota. Fielding bears the immediate consequences and has the most to lose in facing the wrath of Magnus Yarborough, but the four young men are ultimately bound by their actions, their friendship deepening with the desperation of their endeavor, a younger generation coming to understand the motivations of their forebears, the way a relationship with the land can either enrich a man or strip away his connections to others, depending on the kind of man he is. This massive country is a great leveler, keeper of the truth, its lessons irrevocable.

In this novel, separate worlds overlap, rich and poor, ranches and reservation, although the Lakota Indians remain puzzled by the habits of the whites: "They find a forest and cut it down to settle there...they find a prairie, they plant trees...find a swamp, they drain it...find a desert, they make a lake to irrigate." The cowboy, the immigrant and the Indians unite to rectify a wrong, to deny the cruelty sparked by a loss of control. If Yarborough shows the bland mien of power's indifference, Carson, Willi, Earl and Ted are the faces of humanity, each carefully navigating his own terrain until bound by a common cause, a rejection of Yarborough's "suffering as message".

The author's genius lies in the telling of stories, Nazi Germany with all its grand delusions, robber barons pushing a reservation to pen the unwanted into defined spaces, a young man's vision of his grandfather's spiritual endowment until forced to find his own identity. As disparate elements fold into a vast and chilling landscape, this novel transports the reader to another, finer consciousness, where human flaws are forgivable, but heartlessness is not: "Maybe bad ideas rotted from the inside out, swelling and bloating from their own incoherence, and time was a sieve in which they caught and through which they could not flow."

Meyer draws the reader into this drama as if gentling a horse, the story is as primitive as the land and as grounded as generations of families who make their mark in such country, carving out ranches, homes and barns, fences of rusting barbed wire, women with deep souls paired with men of few words. Astonishing, courageous and generous, the four young men come together in this time and place, crossing the line into a brotherhood that will change their lives. "The turtle rolls over. The earth slides off its back." Luan Gaines/2005.

Kent Meyers powerfully written novel is set in the South Dakota plains, home of the Black Hills, Badlands, several Lakota reservations, cowboys and ranches, sweeping winds, bitter cold winters and dust. Strong themes of family history, family duty, and personal freedom resonate throughout - "Look around you. Cages are everywhere." Also crucial to the plot is the importance of doing what is right. To do the right thing. To be true to oneself. To make good choices. But, as one character states clearly, "Being right is not enough. Even if this is the best thing to do. Even if it is the only thing. We must not think we are pure."

Three men, an improbable trio of strangers, come together to try to do what is right in an impossible situation.

Carson Fielding, a loner who has a talent for training horses, finds himself in an untenable position. His father, owner of a small ranch in Twisted Tree, South Dakota, is going through tough financial times and promises Carson's skilled services to Magnus Yarborough, the wealthiest man around. Yarborough is also a sadistic control freak who tried to get the best of Carson when he was just a fourteen year-old youth buying his first horse. Carson precociously held his own against Yarborough then, but he never forgot how the man tried to take advantage of him, an idealistic adolescent boy. Magnus never forgot either.

Fielding is to train three horses and teach Magnus' young wife how to ride. He makes it clear from the start, he does not "break" horses - he trains them. He makes the ground rules, not Magnus, and as long as he works with the horses they are his. "He is not a hired hand and he does things his own way at his own speed." Although they get off to a bad start, Carson and Rebecca Yarborough work well together as they ride out over the prairie. She loves the horses and the freedom of riding across the open plains. Reb, as Carson calls her, feels caged at the ranch, as Magnus won't allow her to perform any work and there is little else for her to do. Her husband totally controls her and she feels a prisoner in her own home. She fears the man she married.

As is expected, the two discover they love each other, but their desire remains unconsummated. They want to do the honorable thing and above all do not want to do anything which would sully their feelings - their relationship. After a week or two, Magnus works-up a good hatred, accompanied by the green-eyed monster, as he loses control of the situation and himself. But he hated Carson, his self-confidence and refusal to be intimidated, long before he suspected him of having an affair with Rebecca. Yarborough is a vindictive man. His rage is relentless and knows no bounds.

Earl Walks Alone is a Lakota teen who excels in mathematics and hopes to win a scholarship to MIT. He is another loner. He doesn't drink so he is not welcome to party with his peers and thus becomes the butt of their jokes. His defense mechanism against his pain and isolation is to pretend he is filming an interior documentary of himself - "the Careful Indian." He has a continuous sardonic monologue running through his mind, describing his comings and goings: "The Careful Indian would rather stop than go. He believes that two green lights are twice as safe as one." And, "At times the Careful Indian can change into the Mathematical Indian, and when this happens he can lose all caution. Driven to do math by forces deep inside himself, the Mathematical Indian will sometimes exceed the speed limit."

Willi Schubert is a German exchange student whose love for the Lakota culture brought him to South Dakota to study for a year. In Germany he began to learn the Native American language and lore and is continuing to do so in the US with an American family as his sponsor. Willi also has problems with "cages," and is wise beyond his years about the damage that can be done when a person is caught up in his own history. "It seemed to him that history was the biggest cage of all and that it lay all around him....in steel and glittering array, and everywhere they turned they bumped against its bars."

One dark night, Earl and Willi discover three abused, starved horses penned-in on isolated land belonging to Magnus Yarborough. They go to Carson Fielding for help, knowing his love for horses. Another Native American, Ted Kills Many, an alcoholic, also joins the mission to free the animals.

Kent Myers weaves these diverse characters together beautifully into his strong narrative. Each man must reach into his past and break out of their invisible cages, fight their personal demons, to find the strength, the courage and knowledge to do what is right, "the work of wolves," with honor.

"The Work of Wolves" is never predictable or mawkish. The tale is as strong as the Dakota plains are tough and the characters of the men and women who people the story are stalwart. As a matter of fact, this is one of the best novels I read in 2005 - Top 5 and 5 Stars all the way. Read & ENJOY!!
JANA

I loved this book. The author, who teaches at Black Hills State University, has written a story of people in the reservation and ranchland of central South Dakota that strikes far deeper than his previous, Minnesota-based short stories ("Light in the Crossing," which is terrific) and novel, "The River Warren." A slender plot-line for its 400+ pages, it glows with intensity at each turn, and while your desire to know what happens next presses you onward, you pause along with the author to reflect on the thoughts and feelings of the characters who are pulled into the flow of events that begins with the purchase of a horse and leads inevitably to the burning of a house.

There is humor, suspense, family drama, surprises, ironies of all kinds, a smoldering romance, conflicts, animosity, suspense, farce, triumphs and sorrows in Meyers' novel. And all is woven around a continuing meditation on moral complexity and finally the great difficulty of doing the right thing when there are deep emotions, conflicting points of view and only degrees of violence and loss to choose from.

The four young men at the center of this story, two Indians, a cowboy, and a German exchange student, each bears a legacy of history that pulls them together in the single effort to rescue three horses. Meyers makes them come to life vividly through action, thought, and dialogue. Around them is another dozen or so characters, just as carefully drawn and revealed through illuminating flashes of incident. And as in his other work, there is the continuing presence of the landscape and the seasons, as summer turns to autumn and snow-driven winter.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the West, richly detailed and engaging characters, and multi-layered narrative where ironic parallels multiply and fascinating ambiguities abound. Especially interesting is the characterization of the young cowboy, whose ancestry in American literature dates back to Owen Wister's Virginian. Here is that same set of values, courage, pure-heartedness, and self-containment, 100 years later, set in conflict with a cunning villain. It is moving to learn what has become of him.

After being tired of reading books that were merely the shell of a story, I was looking for something with much more depth and character to read. 'The Work of Wolves' proved to be that book. While at times I almost felt there was too much depth and I wanted to get back to the main storyline, by the end I realized all the flashbacks and history of the characters was well worth it. I turned the final page deeply satisfied.

The story brings together four young men who are given the chance to do something right, but in doing so, they will be breaking the law. The decision they need to make lies heavily on their conscience and will affect the rest of their lives. With a look at characters family we come to realize why they choose to do what it is they do.

This is not a love story, but there are tones of extremely strong love. For that of family, of land, ancestors, animals, and the human spirit.
A fantastic read while at peace, sitting by a window while the wind is blowing amongst the trees outside.

I'd suggest (to the reviewer that complained of excessive writing), that they slow down and think about how the writing would sound if it were read aloud. Like Moby Dick, it's easy to get caught up in a great story about whaling, -and ignore the metaphor it is prized for.

This story's simple, good and evil, the difference between robbers and thieves, honor and knavery. Compellingly told, with interesting characters.

The writing craftmanship is expert. In my opinion the real value lies in the timeless philosophy essayed.

No, no, no to the reviewer who wants this condensed down to 60 pages!! This book is beautifully written and gives the reader glimpses into three cultures: American, German, and Native American. To omit the backgrounds of the main characters would be similar to holding a skeleton in our hands.
The language is beautiful, the setting is raw and beautiful, the characters are bold and beautiful. I laughed, I wept, and I came away from the book remembering bits and pieces with gratitude. This was my first Kent Meyers book, but I will be reading more.
To those of you lucky people living near Sioux Falls, SD, I understand that Kent Meyers is one of the authors at this weekend's book festival.....how I wish I could attend.

Meyer's book is easily one of the most engaging works of fiction I have ever read. People who have read the book at my recommendation have returned with enthusiastic responses of their own. I can't quite name it, but this book has a quality of spirituality and humanity that emerges from Meyer's committment to his characters and the circumstances and human responses that make up their lives. He has a way of evoking their inner worlds, the unnamed movements of the human spirit, and in the process sheds light on our common humanity. It may take place in the landscape of South Dakota, but its scope is large enough to include the Third Reich, Native American culture and experience, and the committed but fading world of farmers and ranchers on the western plains. It is a work rooted in myth and symbol, where what you think you see may in fact be something quite different. This is a compassionate book by a writer of distinction and talent.

Kent Meyers is one of my favorite authors. I met him when he spoke at Northern Hills Writers, a group of budding scribblers in the Black Hills of Dakota. I bought this book because of the raves I heard about it. In addition, I had read his book of short stories *Light in the Crossing*, and I wanted to enjoy more of his work.

I'm a lazy reader, and it took some mental effort to get into this story. But once my mind was on this train, it trundled along all right. Kent's writing is at once subtle and ferocious. This style is evident even in his short stories, and it gets a broader canvas in *The Work of Wolves*. Kent shows us how perverse some people can be, and yet carry on outwardly respectable lives. The characters in this story keep themselves from exploding into acts of direct physical violence upon one another. In typical Midwestern fashion, people vent their rage in the main psychologically. Acting out is reserved for the animals (and for the rancher's wife). The cruelty to animals is eventually short-circuited by an act that is evil on its face, and yet, against the backdrop of reality, is less evil than any other option. Everyone faces this nightmare if they live long and hard enough.

*The Work of Wolves* kept me engaged for several evenings. The denouement is long, and brutal closure doesn't happen. It leaves room for imagination, and I think that's a hallmark of a great story. I read this book partly to get a better grasp of how a good novelist tells a story. I recommend *The Work of Wolves* for readers over 15.

This novel is a beautifully written and contemplative work that thrusts four unlikely cohorts into the difficult situation of defying law and convention for a moral cause. All with unrelated troubles, the four protaganists manage to subtly come to their own resolutions through the complex act of stealing horses from an abusive owner-a neighbor that they all know or know of. This novel is at the same time humorous, sad, and reflective. Meyers brings alive even the most minor character in an American culture that is rarely written about and even more rarely visited.

While I agree with the previous reviewer that the dialogue is compelling, I disagree with him that too much detail is given. In addition to being interesting in and of itself, the history of the bookish Native American and the German exchange student are vital to their characterization and to the understanding of their motivations. Having read other works by this author, I find him to be a unique voice of rural America.