'Wild Animus' Review - Sex~Kitten.net

Wild Animus, by Rich Shapero, is a difficult book to review, mostly because it’s one of those books that ‘had potential,’ but just didn’t live up to it.

As the resident shamanistic-tantric-gypsy here at SK, I just thought the concept was intriguing: A man (Sam) becomes enchanted with his animal totem, a ram. Supported by the devotion of Lindy, his lover, he goes on a quest to the Alaskan wilderness to not only follow the path of the ram, but to write about it as well.

So obsessed is Sam, with the help of some acid, that he believes he actually transforms into the ram. As a person with faith in Shamanic traditions, I can accept this possibility, even without the acid.

So obsessed is Sam, with the help of more acid, and near self-imposed starvation combined with the arduous activity of mountain climbing, that Sam believes he will, if he is loving & pure enough, become one with the real God, Animus. Again, I can accept this possibility, even without acid.

Complicating matters, or perhaps fueling Sam forward, is his belief that Lindy’s sprit is the wolf pack that hunts him in these remote mountains. Lindy is not just one wolf - she is the entire pack, with each member representing a fractured part of herself. While it would be easy to joke that this is an excellent job of a commitment phobic male to legitimize & avoid a relationship with his girlfriend, that would be a disservice.

For it is clear from the writing that Sam faces his fears of Lindy devouring him. Vividly clear in the descriptions of their lovemaking that he in truth gives himself to her. This is actually one of the most beautiful notions in this book. At least for a woman who has seen more than her share of males who are afraid to share & commit. But the story becomes not one of Sam’s love for Lindy, but of Sam’s obsession with himself.

Supported both emotionally & financially by Lindy, Sam’s trip into what can only be described as madness could still have been a poignant tale of misguided love, but the telling itself is so misguided, the tale is lost.

Page after page of what I can only describe as ‘mountain climbing talk,’ where the language only alienates those of us who do not know that names of every form of rock, rock formation, tool & implements for climbing said rock matter. I doubt if any mountain climber or geologist was rapt with these long sections themselves, as they went on & on yet the story didn’t take to any higher ground...

Perhaps the author himself grew to dislike Sam, for the passages that are to be the written expression of Sam’s transcendance are full of what can only be enjoyable reading to a person on an actual acid trip - or read to one who is. Then again, maybe not. These ‘rapture passages’ are full of Sam’s self-indulgence & self-absorption. I think they would only mean something to Sam, or some egomaniac named Sam on enough acid to think he himself wrote them. If that’s confusing, try reading something like that, only in poetic prose, after pages of rock descriptions.

But in any case, all the author’s words were spent in the wrong direction.

The root of the story, and what would have taken it to great heights as well, lay in the affections & attentions of Lindy herself.

Fundamentally it is a story of a woman who gives & gives of herself, even in the face of her lover’s narcissistic lunacy.

It is amazing that a person who crafted these characters didn’t see that. Especially since he began the book with the ending: Sam’s death.

If Sam’s death, a suicide really, isn’t the point, if we are supposed to read on to discover his path, then isn’t the story at least partially about the woman who made it possible? Which is not to say Lindy was in any way responsible for his death. It is apparent through the novel that Sam is as unhinged as an old appliance at the curb, waiting for the proper disposal service. And ultimately Sam finds the way to self-disposal.

As a woman, perhaps I read too much into her role of nurturing caregiver. But I saw no disclaimers that this was a 'men only' text.

At what point does a loving, supporting person become so immune to the mania & fixation (and I say immune as she was not blind to it, as you will see) that they stand by, watching it all? Was there anything different about her & her enabling? Sam sure was a 'unique' drug user. There were many characters in the book that ‘saw past’ Sam’s insanity and admired his dedication. They believed he really had tapped into something out there... Even as Lindy was disgusted with Sam, disgusted with the other’s admiration of the Sam, she stayed. Stayed to be used.

I dislike giving poor reviews, especially when there was a glimmer of something grand in the work. So I’d like to end my review with a message here for the author:

Mr. Shapero, what chills me is that you could use Lindy as well. You created her, gave her a voice, then focused on the user, and then ultimately left her. You had an intriguing idea with the couple & their seemingly conflicted totems. You had an interesting setting for it to play out in. But what you did was tell a story of a crazed or drug addicted human, and you left out at least one valuable side to that story.

It’s not just that the story was ’a sad one.’ But it was depressing to finish it wondering what it could have been... If I were your editor, I’d ask for a re-write addressing the issues mentioned, hoping you could make something of all that potential.