Earnest Yet Superficial: Winter of the Wolf by Martha Hunt Handler

Series: Standalone

Release Date: July 7, 2020

Format: eARC

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics that can be triggering for some. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details.

Note: I received Winter of the Wolf through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to FSB Association for the opportunity.

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Winter of the Wolf is a young adult novel that explores the journey of a family’s grief after the main character, Bean’s brother, Sam, is found dead in his room. The police rule Sam’s death as a suicide; however, Bean is convinced there is more to her brother’s death, that there might be another explanation.

Importantly, Martha comments on how suicide can make (former) friends, acquaintances, and strangers feel as if they can comment on the death, blaming the family and/or the victim for the suicide.

Nancy Drew Mystery

The part that I enjoyed about Winter of the Wolf was the Nancy Drew Esque mystery: Bean is a just turned 15 girl who believes her brother didn’t commit suicide and decides to play detective to put together the events leading up to Sam’s death. Was there something the police missed? Was Sam keeping secrets from Bean? Did Bean really know Sam at all?

A significant aspect of the mystery was that Bean’s belief that her brother didn’t commit suicide was contradicted by the facts Bean saw with her own eyes (she found her brother). Bean was stout in her conviction that Sam would never take his own life, but as she attempted to piece together Sam’s last night, she realizes that despite how close they were–soulmates, she says–there was still much Sam kept from Bean. I appreciated that part of Bean’s character development is her recognizing that these secrets don’t detract from how much they meant to each other; they don’t negate the importance of their bond.

While Bean’s detective ambitions felt a bit unrealistic, the mystery did make me want to keep reading and kept me quite engaged with the novel. I also appreciated that while Bean started her sleuthing to get answers, it became apparent that Bean’s journey throughout the book was really about Bean coming to terms with Sam’s death. I also liked how Martha talks about how a person’s faith in the afterlife can be challenged after a loved one’s death. Bean and her mother, and even secondary characters discuss how reaffirming their belief in the afterlife–that their loved one is still with them in death–provides comfort.

Inuit Representation or Appropriation?

I have to admit that I vacillated between a 3-star rating and a 2-star rating. There were quite a few discrepancies in the story and narration that interrupted the flow and didn’t meaningfully contribute to the plot. While I did enjoy the sleuthing and the character development of dealing with loss, there were just too many discrepancies in the narrative and story for a 3-star rating.

The first issue I had was Sam’s “obsession” with Inuit spirituality. Sam devoutly believed in the Inuit religion, which expresses itself in the book as:

• the respect for all living creatures,
• the belief in the afterlife and souls being comprised of energy,
• reincarnation and
• a tradition of mixing blood when an animal dies by your hand (ex. Sam hits a deer with his car, the deer is dying, he cuts himself and combines his blood with the deer to pay respect to the deer as it dies).

However, there are no Inuit characters in the Winter of the Wolf! If someone wants to explore the Inuit traditions and culture, why not have a character who can directly speak from their family history and experience living in the US with those beliefs?

Bean and, most importantly, Sam’s lack of awareness about the impact of colonialism on the Inuit makes no sense for someone described as ‘obsessive’ about their culture and history.

I will admit that Sam’s belief in reincarnation allowed for moving moments when Bean and Sam’s best friend, Skip, imagine that Sam has been reincarnated as his favourite animals: a wolf and red-tailed hawk. But, Bean and her mother are also spiritual. They believe in the afterlife, in souls, reincarnation, sixth senses, intuition and more. Yet, they didn’t subscribe to a particular religion. Sam’s belief in nature and reincarnation could’ve easily been characterized as a deep respect for Inuit beliefs without claiming them as his own. Sam was never subjected to the systematic racism that Inuit people still face, so it felt, to me, Sam’s relationship with Inuit beliefs in the book were tilting towards appropriation.

Unconvincing Characterizations

There were also a few unrealistic behaviours that completely threw me out of the story. For one, Bean finds out her mother hasn’t been taken any of the medication her psychologist has prescribed her. Bean makes the point that it’s alarming all of these drugs have just been sitting there. Her mother agrees and asks her 15-year-old daughter to dispose of them (since it’s not good for the environment to flush them down the toilet). But, what mother would allow their 15-year-old to handle all those drugs, especially after having a child commit suicide?

Finally, the introduction of Bean’s two romantic interests should’ve been cut out of the novel. The characters themselves contributed to the plot; however, the emphasis on them as romantic interests just seemed like a non-starter since the book completely jumps over Bean’s relationship with a fourteen-month time jump.

In Conclusion

At the end of the book, an important Author’s Note talks about the real-life event from the author’s life that Sam’s death is based on. The circumstances of Sam’s death demonstrate how important it is that kids, teenagers and parents are made aware of the causes for Sam’s death. Also, I liked how the author cited the Indigenous sources she used in the novel. However, both these contextualizations to the story didn’t make up for the jarring characterizations nor the lack of authentic Inuit representation.

Overall, despite the setbacks to the narrative, I still enjoyed Bean piecing together the last events of her brother’s life. Her coming to terms with Sam’s death and how her family dealt with his death felt honest and real.

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