Pax

Sara Pennypacker
276 Pages, Reading time: 3 days

Back cover reads:  Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit.  But one day the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.
  At his grandfather's house three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be--with Pax.  He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.
  Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own...
  From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the essential truths that define us and the devastating costs of war.  Pax is destined to become a beloved classic.
(I am already annoyed about the line "the essential truths that define us."  Ugh.)








Initial Reaction-  The book is an easy read that keeps the audience engaged.  It's a mash-up of The Incredible Journey meets How I Live Now.  Boy has to give up pet due to demanding father and goes to live with grandfather because of war.  Boy runs away from grandfathers house in search of pet fox that is about 200 miles away.

I guess my first question is this: why are there ALWAYS dad issues?  Why are we programming kids to expect fathers to be incompetent, overbearing assholes?

Aside from that, the book is a step up from some of the other crap I've been reading lately.  The plot, characters, and vocabulary are all substantial.  I do like the way that Pennypacker shifts back and forth between Peter's story and Pax's story.  It was a breath of fresh air, and I hope that the next few books I read are just as captivating.

Promote Virtue?  Not really.  Peter is a selfish boy who is disobedient to his father, and he runs away from the safety of his grandfather's house.  Peter eventually meets up with Vola, a grumpy, hermit who was a war hero.  Her simplicity of living and love of hard, honest work, are a very good thing (even if her philosophies are a trifle...weird).

Transcendentals?  Pennypacker's writing/descriptions are beautiful.  The characters aren't very concerned about the greater good, only themselves.

Overcome human condition? Meh

Attitude toward Catholicism?  NA

Paganry?  Buddhism.  Peter tells Vola that he has a special connection with Pax.  He can feel what the fox feels, and he'd know if the fox died.  Vola introduces the Buddhist concept of Two but not two.  "It's a Buddhist concept.  Nonduality.  It's about oneness, about how things that seem to be separate are really connected to one another.  There are no separations. [...]  This is not just a piece of wood.  This is also the clouds that brought the rain that watered the tree, and the birds that nested in it and the squirrels that fed on its nuts.  It is also the food my grandparents fed me that made me strong enough to cut the tree, and it's the steel axe I used.  And i'ts how you know your fox, which allowed you to carve him yesterday.  And it's the story you will tell your children when you give this to them.  All these things are separate but also one, inseparable.  Do you see?" (186-187).  Ugh.  Vola's character speaks with such weighted conviction that the reader really has no other option than to believe her.  Not a fan.  Also, Vola just REEKS of moral relativism.  She's all about truth, but it's the kind of truth that personifies "what's true for you is true for you, and what's true for me is true for me."  What really annoyed me was this quote:
"Well, you're twelve.  That's old enough to know your own self, I expect.  I'm not about to go messing with that" (89).  UM NO.

Swearing?  No

Violence?No

Appropriate age?  5th grade plus- anyone who likes wilderness survival and animals. The writing style is a little challenging, but in a good way that will cause the reader to grow.  The vocabulary isn't difficult.  Just challenging.

Writing Style:  I enjoy how Pennypacker allows us to climb inside the heads and lives of her characters.  We learn a ton through flashbacks and clear allusions to other life instances, namely, Peter's relationships with his father and with Pax.  We also get a foggy glimpse inside of Vola's head as well.  Pennypacker does a great job of drawing us in to each character in a slow manner, as if the characters have to trust us before inviting us in to their lives.

Notable Quoteables:

Some excellent description here:
"Pax charged ahead.  His body was light, the fat burned off from days of scarce food.  He ran as foxes are meant to run- compact body arrowing through the air at a swiftness that ripped his fur.  The new joy of speed, the urgency of coming night, the hope of reunion with his boy--these things transformed him into something that shot like liquid fire between the trees.  Something gravity couldn't touch.  Pax could have run forever" (139).

Final Summation:  While Pax is a great book that kept me engaged with the plot and characters, I'm really just not turning backflips over it.  Christ is the only Truth that defines us.