Read If: you have pre-teen/teen sons, you're looking for something light and survivalist.
Gary Paulsen passed away about a month ago, and it seems kind of fateful that I picked up Hatchet on a whim this year. After all, I'm definitely not a YA male, which this book has been heavily marketed to in the past.
I read Hatchet through the gaze of a teenager specifically for that reason, knowing that it would lack in some areas that an adult would get snagged on. I grew up wandering around the woods and know at least the survival basics, so I was excited for this story.
Honestly, there was nothing incredibly striking about it, although I guess as a young boy who has never been in the woods before the set up would be terrifying. The parts that had me on the edge of my seat were when the bear and, later, moose showed up - both aggressive creatures in certain circumstances. But those moments went by so quickly and seemed to lack consequences.
Pros: Definitely a book to get my kids into reading in the future. Not a tough read, and you can ignore the fact that surviving alone in the wild takes a bit more than just hunkering down next to a rock and waiting.
Cons: The lack of a sense of time threw me off, personally; we know the main character loses weight (this is a physical aspect of how he is "changed"), and that he's been there so long he becomes wiser/more serious. We know that he "conquers" his surroundings in a way, but while the story is happening, it's hard to grasp how long Brian is actually in the woods. Sometimes it felt like days, but as a reader I got the sense that it was supposed to be months.
