Lone Wolf

I am iffy with Jodi Picoult books, but this one was really good. I think there is a lot going on in the book..but its so well done that I read it in no time. Picoult really did her research on wolves and I learned so much about their behaviors (that I of course can barely remember because I read this over a month ago and am finally getting the chance to blog about).

The story itself is about a man who decided to join a wolf pack, but leaves his human family behind to be part of this wild lifestyle. He ends up getting into a horrific car accident (after living with the wolves) which leaves him in a vegetative state. The rest is the legal battle between his two young children, one who believes he should live, the other who feels he shouldn't be on life support.

Throughout the book, Picoult goes back into time into the wolfman's time with the pack to help the reader decide for themselves if he would want to be on life support or not. The controversial topic of life support doesn't overshadow the amazing things you learn about the lives of wolves. Some things I learned, that I remember include:

• Wolves are scared of people. Very scared. It took the wolfman (loosely based on the real wolfman on TV) months for the pack to accept him. 
• The most vicious wolf in a pack is NOT the leader. The leader is the quiet one who makes the decisions without getting involved in the hunt..and its almost always a female.
• Wolves eat specific portions of their kill. It depends on where they stand in the pack.
• Wolves can smell what you ate a week ago, so if you eat dairy or something sweet (which they don't like), they will avoid you. If you have meat in your stomach, they will trust you more.

I recommend this. You won't like all the characters but I think it would be hard not to like some aspect of the book itself. It wasn't corny or easy to figure out (like many of Picoult's other books).