THE WILD RUNNERS

by Mel Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 1970

Mr. Ellis is an agreeably sensible and skilled animal writer, and if this coyote--dog and Indian youth story inches into social commentary and utilizes some expedient implausibilities--it's still a lean hard run. A huge man-shy hound joins with a female coyote, fathers a litter of which one pup survives. He is raised by eighteen-year-old North Main (a generic name for an illegitimate half-breed) who is living with the Old Man in a decimated, demoralized reservation community in Wisconsin. Yellow Hawk, the coy-dog in his unhappy domestication, reflects the boy's own restless suspension between white and Indian worlds--hatred of one, aborted pride in the other--for oppressive humiliation rings the reservation like barbed wire. And Indian-hating warden Joel Manning obviously has more killing on his mind than that of the hound, coyote and Yellow Hawk. In the showdown Manning, who turns out to be the boy's father (don't think too much about this), is killed by the Old Man who also dies, and the boy and Yellow Hawk are released to an uncertain future. Wild coursing and cabined bitterness--all urgent and readable.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION