You know how movies can have you sitting on the edge of your seat? Well, that's what Diane Les Becquets' Breaking Wild did to me. This book is, in part, an homage to the wonderful Colorado wilderness. In talking about grief and love and wild spaces, it is downright poetic. But much more than that, it is a survival story and a character study of two amazing women.
On the surface, the women seem to be opposites. Pru Hathaway has only had two relationships in her whole life, and now the BLM archaeological law enforcement ranger's son Joseph is about to finish high school. Hers has been a very self-contained yet rewarding life. Amy Raye Latour is a wife and the mother of two...and when it comes to men, she's made one disastrous choice after another. So many disastrous choices that her marriage is in very real danger. Pru looks within herself for what she needs; Amy Raye looks outside herself. The only two ways these women are similar is in their love of wild spaces and the fact that neither one of them knows how to give up.
In alternating chapters, we hear from both Pru and Amy Raye. When a cougar begins a cat-and-mouse game with Amy Raye, Les Becquets really tightens the thumbscrews on this tale of survival. I was so caught up in the story of Breaking Wild, that I cried at the end-- and that very seldom happens to me. This is an exceptional tale well told. If you're in the mood for a rollercoaster ride of a character study featuring beautiful wilderness and two fantastic women, don't wait to get your hands on a copy of Breaking Wild. Wow.
On the surface, the women seem to be opposites. Pru Hathaway has only had two relationships in her whole life, and now the BLM archaeological law enforcement ranger's son Joseph is about to finish high school. Hers has been a very self-contained yet rewarding life. Amy Raye Latour is a wife and the mother of two...and when it comes to men, she's made one disastrous choice after another. So many disastrous choices that her marriage is in very real danger. Pru looks within herself for what she needs; Amy Raye looks outside herself. The only two ways these women are similar is in their love of wild spaces and the fact that neither one of them knows how to give up.
In alternating chapters, we hear from both Pru and Amy Raye. When a cougar begins a cat-and-mouse game with Amy Raye, Les Becquets really tightens the thumbscrews on this tale of survival. I was so caught up in the story of Breaking Wild, that I cried at the end-- and that very seldom happens to me. This is an exceptional tale well told. If you're in the mood for a rollercoaster ride of a character study featuring beautiful wilderness and two fantastic women, don't wait to get your hands on a copy of Breaking Wild. Wow.
