| Title | : | The Loop |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0552144959 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780552144957 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 511 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1998 |
The Loop Reviews
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Excellent read! very creative,interesting and an enjoyable storyline that was well research in animal up-bringing..a nice book for animal lovers also (paperback!)
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The Loop, Nicholas Evans
Helen Ross is a 29-year-old biologist, sent into a hostile place to protect the wolves from those who seek to destroy them. She struggles for survival and for self-esteem, embarking on a love affair with the 18-year-old son of her most powerful oponent, brutal and charismatic rancher, Buck Calder.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیستم ماه دسامبر سال 1999میلادی
عنوان: حلقه؛ اثر: نیکولاس ایوانز؛ برگردان: مهدی قراچه داغی؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، نشر البرز، 1378، در 444ص، شابک 9644422384؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آمریکایی، سده 20م
داستان گرگها، و مبارزه ی انسان با اين حيوان؛ هماره و همچنان، ادامه دارد؛ نویسنده روابط انسانها با «طبیعت»، و «حیوانات» را، به رشته واژه ها درآورده؛ كتاب «حلقه»، از یک «گرگ» آغاز، اما به «گرگ» پایان نمییابد! در داستان، خانواده ی گرگ‌هایی كه تازه در منطقه، به زندگی آغاز كرده اند، محور است، اما نویسنده، بیشتر به روابط بین انسان‌هاى گوناگون مى‌پردازند؛ به «دام‌داران خودپسند»، و «ماموران حفظ محیط زیست»، «شوهران هوس‌ران» و «زن‌هاى بى‌هوس»، «پسران بى‌زبان»، و «داماد‌هاى دروغگو»، «ماموران عاشق كار»، و «ماموران عاشق ديگران»! «تله گذاران قانونى»، و «تله گذاران غيرقانونى»، «گزارش‌گران جذاب»، و «گزارش‌نویسان واقعى!»؛ «پدران خشن»، و «پسران مهربان»، «ضد قهرمانان» و «قهرمانان» و ...؛
این داستان در یکی از ایالت‌های «امریکا» رخ می‌دهد؛ مردمانی که به کار گله داری، دلمشغول هستند، آنها با گرگها مبارزه می‌کنند، به گونه ای که نسل گرگها، با نابودی روبرو می‌گردد؛ این امر هنگامی اوج می‌گیرد، که گرگی به یک پسربچه حمله ور میشود، و او را زخمی میکند؛ پدربزرگ آن پسرک، دشمن سرسخت گرگ‌هاست؛ و از اینرو، آرزو دارد هیچ گرگی، زنده باقی نماند؛ اما پسر او، حامی حیوانات وحشی است، و در این راه با پدر خویش، به نزاع برمی‌خیزد؛ از سویی (سازمان حمایت از زندگی گرگها) نیز، دست به کار میشود، و جریمه های سنگین، برای کشتن گرگها تعیین میکند؛ و سرانجام یک روز ...؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 05/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی -
This has been recommended to me by several friends here on GR, and while I trust their judgment...I still didn't expect to fall in love with this story as quickly as I did. Before the plot gets going, Evans introduces you to a cast of rich and varied characters that are alone worth reading the book for. I was so caught up in their lives that before I knew it I was surrounded by a plot of wolves and intrigue!
The story was so realistic, there was quite a bit of detail of how the wolves live, how the various Wildlife crew members and biologists studied them, and also weaved through the story were stories about how they had been hunted and trapped for over 100 years in Hope, the city in which the story takes place.
I recommend this very highly...it was at times gut-wrenching, beautiful, terrible and heroic. This was my first Evans, but it won't be my last! -
The loop is a well written novel and at parts I enjoyed it. Bit this went by without creating much emotions for the plot or characters. Might pick someone else by him but I had big hopes for this as it has wolves on the cover.
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How do you write the review of such a nice book? Perhaps, by not saying too much about it and just letting all its sacred moments regurgitate in your mind.. This one is what I would call a perfect book to follow up on, if the only one of Evans you've read is the Horse Whisperer.
The typical strong start that has been inherent in Nicholas Evans writings since Horse Whisperer (and we all hope he doesn't change that, I love the way he begins) is present in The Loop too. The book never loses its focus and has been kept on a pretty tight leash, never wavering from the intensity that Evans generates initially. In fact, take my word for it, it only gets more complicated and intense; the human relationships and man's animal instincts becoming intertwined and keeping you moving from page to page. Do NOT miss any chance to read it. -
This was the second novel by this author that I've read and I've already added another of his to my TBR pile. If anyone tried to explain to me what this was about, I probably would have thought, "Ah. Not my thing." Then I would have moved on to the next one. But I ended up liking this one a lot. It was well written and had a nice flow.
I liked the characters. They seemed rooted to reality and they were true to themselves. I always like when the things we have been asked to believe about the characters are supported by the details of the story. This was a solid 4 stars for me. -
This book walks the line in an unusual way: the stretches of formulaic drama almost ruined my interest, but the tense action scenes and hints of moral introspection were just enough to keep me turning the pages.
The story unfolds in the town of Hope, Montana. In the nearby wilderness, a pack of reintroduced wolves - part of a government effort to restore wolf populations after they had been hunted to near extinction - are on the hunt. The trouble is, Hope is a community of cattle ranchers, and any threat to their livestock and livelihood is taken dead seriously. Into this fiercely self-sufficient little town comes Helen Ross: a wildlife biologist on a mission to track and protect the wolves, and to keep the locals' growing anger at bay.
A few facts about Helen:
1) She is enchantingly attractive and exerts a magnetic pull on every man she meets.
2) She is wholly unaware of point #1.
3) Her sense of self-worth hinges on her romantic relationships.
Sigh.
Among the locals that Helen meets (and inevitably charms) are the powerful, charismatic, ruthless rancher Buck Calder, and his sensitive son Luke, who suffers from a speech impediment. To the chagrin of his father, Luke cares deeply about nature, including wolves. He sees in wild animals a reflection of himself: creatures struggling to cope with the way that humans run the world, and unable to speak up for themselves. Luke is probably the character that I found most interesting.
Most of the characters, are introduced with several pages of backstory that tend to consist of difficult disappointments and/or sticky romantic entanglements. I found myself having to take in large tracts of information about characters that I didn't particular care about yet - I would rather have had my interest sparked, and then discover more about these people bit by bit. And perhaps some blanks are just better left unfilled. A bigger problem is that the use of so many big, external disasters in their histories - death, disease, betrayal - made it seem that these were the only things the characters were shaped by. Certainly, those big events can sculpt people's lives, but so can less obvious things, and I was left feeling that most people in the book were a little underdeveloped - despite all the time spent showing the hardships they'd been through.
The overarching feeling was of channel-surfing through soap operas, occasionally interspersed with nature documentaries.
However, I can say that when the author wanted to create tension and excitement, he did it very well. There were a bunch of scenes during which the pages flew by. There were also parts of the book (dealing with hunting and trapping) that I personally found too distressing to read carefully, which I ended up having to skim through. Not really a negative or a positive, just a matter of my own sensitivity.
The book did stimulate my interest in the history of human interactions with wolves. While reading the descriptions of the early boom in wolf hunting, the word that came to mind was, simply, genocide. The fact that some people (over the course of generations, or sometimes over the course of a single life) have come to realize that killing off an entire species is a bad idea - and that it's worthwhile trying to do something to remedy it - made me feel a little bit more optimistic about how humans might interact with other species in the future.
Indian folklore had it that the spirits of all America's slaughtered wolves lived on... Awaiting a time when they might safely walk again upon the earth. -
PLEASE NOTE: ‘The loop’ term is disturbing and cruel.
This was a heartbreaking and powerful story. Fighting for the rights of an animal against the back drop of farmers trying to make a living. Helen the biologist whose expertise is researching the livelihood of local wolves vs Buck Calder (& co) trying to protect their livestock from the wolves. It gets nasty between people, and ugly between people and wolves. -
I'm late to the party on Nicholas Evans. He had the mega-hit "Horse Whisperer" in 1995, but I didn't read it at that time. I didn't read anything of his until my wife brought "The Divide" home from the library. It's a masterpiece, and now I'm trying to work my way through his other books. He's really good. He's not a cookie-cutter type author like Clive Cussler or James Patterson, who crank out a couple of books a year. He's carefully putting together epic, brilliant stories. Those take more time. Like "The Divide", this one is based in Montana. (Why is an English guy writing books about this area? I have no idea). Quality is similar. He carefully develops a half dozen characters, and then pushes them around on the chessboard. Very satisfying. My wife tells me his "The Brave" falls short of these two. I will move onto the Horse Whisperer next. I saw the movie, but it's been so long I don't even remember it. And with the amount they have to cut out of these books to squeeze them down into less than two hours, I'm sure there's all kinds of stuff that would have been left out anyway.
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What sweet joy Nicholas Evans is after putting myself through most of Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series. I couldn't help but draw comparisons with The Plains of Passage as I read, although, to be fair, Auel and Evans are writing completely different stories for a different era. Still, there's romance, nature, hunting, and sex here, and Evans handles all with such grace and restraint where Auel will go on for 100 pages telling you how Ayla makes soup, and then another 100 pages with everyone telling her how amazing she is that she can make soup.
Here, Evans has a few asides from the main plot to provide the compelling backstory that explains the book's title, and without doing it for you, he provides the basis for a metaphor that interlocks these characters, whether good or bad. And there are no REAL villains here. There is villainous behavior, but Evans cares, even about people who make decisions that you know he personally doesn't agree with. He doesn't judge his characters. He never does, not even Buck Calder. Even the simplest-seeming among them have a deep complexity that is informed by their circumstances and the dilemma of trying to raise cattle and ensure the safety of their children in a region inhabited by wild wolves.
The wolves themselves are occasionally characters here. Evans describes their breeding, the way they live, the way they hunt and provide for their young, but again, I'm reminded of Auel and the mammoth porn that began Plains of Passage, and I'm thinking, Evans wants us to fall in love with his story in a way that makes sense to how the intelligent human psyche actually works. Less is more. Whereas Auel shows her mammoths peeing and pooping all over each other before sex and describes what it probably smelled and tasted like, then gives you the length and girth of the male mammoth's member, Evans knows that it destroys any rapports he has with his reader to expound like this. I just respect him so much for that.
I wasn't sure I could be moved by The Loop as I had been by The Smoke Jumper. I had thought from the outset that Evans was trying to advocate for some environmentalist platform. I wouldn't hold it against him, but I can't be captivated by a political stance. Fortunately, he doesn't do that. Instead, actually, the ultra-conservative and ultra-liberal alike will be challenged to put politics on hold and just allow Evans to make you feel--for the wolves, for the ranchers (including Buck), for the wolfer, and for Helen Ross, the biologist and heroine of the novel. I was surprised to feel as moved as I did and thankful that I could so easily put my politics aside to be transported. Evans has a way--he just gets me.
SPOILER ALERT (Diana, this especially means you. I'm serious.)
I'm trying to be as vague as possible about the ending, but nevertheless, even hinting at the way the story turns out, however obliquely, requires a stern warning, so there you go. This book brought me to tears by its ending, and I've thought about it, about whether I was just manipulated by a superfluous happy ending or if it had a point beyond just making me insanely happy, and I think it did, which is why I feel confident in giving this five stars. Buck's grief is about hurting his son and tearing his family apart, but I also think there was something in him that grieved for the wolves he'd killed. He realized that he had damaged his own soul. It's not about the wolves but about the part of us that deliberately wants to kill, thinking that it's a noble gesture that will protect the ones we love, but we can become so obsessed that we will deliberately hurt the ones we love in order to do it. The wolves have an instinctual understanding of this delicate balance but we humans, being creatures of free-will, need to learn it, some more than others. I think Buck is grieved because he had to learn it the hard way, and he now finally realizes all that he has lost. He provided for his family, but he was never really present for them. He cheated on his wife, refused to acknowledge his son Luke, and, seeking to protect the cattle that had brought him so much fortune, broke federal laws to kill wolves whom he didn't even know for sure may have been killing his cattle. Evans doesn't spell that out for you, and I'm grateful. I'm glad to arrive at such a conclusion on my own. -
Ho adorato il modo in cui l’autore intreccia la vita naturale con quella amorosa di Helen. Amo il fatto che Evans si prenda tutto il tempo necessario per costruire la storia. Una storia dove il romance non è predominante e dove, invece, spicca la forza, la bellezza e la vastità di una natura selvaggia e l’incredibile crudeltà dell’uomo.
Personaggio preferito: Luke.
Questo ragazzo timido, balbuziente e disprezzato pure dal suo stesso padre si dimostrerà alla fine il più uomo di tutti.
Adorato da subito! XD -
This is a very emotional book. It gives you the ups and downs of wolves being reintroduced after almost becoming extinct.
Evans does such a great job of giving both sides of the issue that you can easily see why it is such a controversy. His descriptions put you right in the middle of the story, very well done. -
I loved this book so much I have read it twice. I related to Helen and even to young Luke. I sympathized with him and the abuse he suffers at his dad's hands. I also felt Helen's frustrations with the ranchers and the way they treated her or talked down to her. The look at the lives of wolves in Yellowstone and the tracking process was fascinating. I plan on reading this for a third time.
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I love all of Evans' novels (well the fiction ones), and this one in particular became a favorite that has lasted through my evolving tastes. I need to do another re-read again....it's been a while even though I must have read this 5 times if I've read it at all. :)
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Wolves !
But rather desultory follow up of the excellent Horse Whisperer.
It's the Sixth Sense and Donnie Darko effect here, something great by mistake I don't know, but Evans after his first novel spent rest of his career trying to measure up or outdo his debut novel. -
Een boek van de bovenste plank! Spannend en meeslepend van begin tot eind. De komst van een wolvenroedel in de bossen en bergen in de buurt van het stadje Hope in Montana, laat uiteindelijk de ware karakters van de inwoners zien, ten goede of ten kwade. En sommigen leren er wat uit en handelen ernaar, anderen niet. En uiteraard gaat onze sympathie uit naar diegenen die naar hun innerlijke stem luisteren.
Dit boek gaat dus eigenlijk meer over de mensen dan over de wolven, en rafelt hen psychologisch helemaal uit.
Ik het het boek met veel plezier gelezen. -
Mi sento di consigliarvi di leggere un romanzo datato ma sempre attuale e, a mio giudizio, bellissimo. Si tratta di “Insieme con i lupi”, di Nicholas Evans.
Io abito in una zona di montagna, e non passa giorno (o meglio notte) che non abbia a che fare con questi animali che stanno ripopolando le mie zone e portando scompiglio tra gli allevatori. Ma dopo averlo letto, mi sono fatta un’idea diversa su questo predatore.
In un tranquillo pomeriggio d’estate a Hope, selvaggia cittadina del Montana, un lupo scende a valle uccidendo un vitello e avvicinandosi a un bambino. La popolazione è in allarme, i lupi riaccendono negli animi una cieca paura, antichi odi e un irrefrenabile desiderio di vendetta, anche se ora sono una specie protetta. In questo clima di tensione, arriva da New York una biologa specialista in lupi, Helen Ross, una ragazza insicura e assillata dalla vita, che ha l’incarico di sorvegliare gli animali e proteggerli da coloro che vorrebbero abbatterli. Qui incontra Luke e inizia una difficile storia d’amore che vede nell’ipocrisia della provincia e soprattutto nel padre del ragazzo i maggiori nemici. Un’emozionante storia d’amore, passione e redenzione e una suggestiva esplorazione dei sentimenti, delle ragioni del cuore, sullo sfondo di uno straordinario paesaggio.
(Sadie Jane Baldwin). -
My mother suggested this book to me at a young age. She loved Evan's other book, The Horse Whisperer, and since she knew I love wolves, she had to get me this book. It was one of the best things my mother ever gave me. I still own a copy of it and anytime I don't have a good book to read, I'll always fall back on that one. The story is very solid, the grammar, mechanics, and plot all have sound bases, but that's not why you love a story, that's just what makes you able to love it. I connected with this story very strongly as a young country boy who had acres of woods as his playground. I always loved nature, and had a strong connection with animals. We bred dogs throughout my childhood, and the wolf was the creature that connected my love for dogs to my love for the wild and for nature. While reading The Loop, I was carried away into the setting, I understood the main character's tainted perspective and unwillingness to trust due to my own troubled past. I will want to read this story again because I've lost so many of the details over the years, but I still cling to it with more than fond memories and hold it as a dear piece of my past.
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من ترجمه این کتاب با نام ((حلقه)) که توسط اقای مهدی قراچه داغی توسط نشر البرز برگردان شده بود را خواندم ...یک رمان دوست داستنی ..کتاب با این جمله شروع میشود ((همه چیز در دنیا به شکل حلقه است)).داستانی زیبا وخواندنی .کلا قصه های امریکایی بسیار مورد پسند من هستند ..نوینده تم داستانش را براساس زندگی گله ای گرگ در جایی به نام ((هوپ))قرار داده ..داستان با روایت از پرسه زدن یک گرگ در یک دامداری اغاز میشود وبعد پیوند هایی با ادمها دارد .کم کم قصه قشنگ وجذاب میشود تا جایی که بعضی وقتها خواننده را غافلگیر میکند ..متاسفانه من تنها همین کتاب را از این نویسنده خواننده ام که بسیار در خاطرم نقش بسته است . برام یقین شده که نویسنده کارش را خوب بلد است ..امروز در جستجوی این کتاب در سایت دیدم که نویسنده کتابهای دیگری هم دارد .اگر از دوستان فرهیخته ام کسی نام ونشان کتابهای ترجمه شده دیگری از این نویسنده را میداند خوشحال میشوم که ان کتاب را به من هم معرفی کند .
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One of my fav love stories...I think at the time I was 17 when I read it and the boy was 17 and his lover was 29...I love love endings...In my life it will be this way...with careful planning and lots of love...
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I couldn't get into this book and I so wanted to because I am fascinated by wolves and spent two summers in Yellowstone. The writing was so vivid, but the plot was too slow moving for me. I quit reading it. I know. I'm odd ball reviewer on this one. Maybe I'll try again.
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After I finished Horse Whisperer, by Nicolas Evans, I read this one. Wolves are being reintroduced in areas next to cattle ranchers and the naturalists butt heads with the cattle barons. Great characters and setting.
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Es ist wirklich ein schönes Buch!
Sehr harmonisch und authentisch geschrieben. -
I enjoyed this book but was surprised that I didn't come away with a totally clear picture of what the author believed was the answer to wolf reintroduction. It was very clear at the beginning that the wolf "was thinking" about getting the baby vs. the cattle. And then throughout the book there was sympathy built for the wolves and the biologists because of the rash and selfish way that the ranchers approached everything. But I thought the secret release of the new alpha couple at the end was probably the author's true heart. I didn't agree with that. And I don't agree with not being able to shoot them when they are after the ranchers cattle. However, going after then with vengeance and hate isn't appropriate either..... Then there was the wolfer. His suicide after realizing that the wolves had that spark was interesting. But I'd be differing with that too. They are alive and should be treated with the respect that anything deserves as a creation of God. And that includes killing them humanely when necessary - not clandestinely.
Anyway - it was a good story and I learned a lot about the program and these beautiful animals. -
This is a book I read literally more than a decade ago. I read it again because I remembered that I had liked it and found that a second read didn't change that opinion. This is not my typical kind of book which made it that much more fun to read it and enjoy it. I won't say anything about the plot so I don't ruin anything but will say that it has romance but also a good story centered around ranchers and public and private environmental interests. It doesn't take long to read and is good for curling up on a rainy day (or soon....a snowy one...bummer!).
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I really liked it. It was a little hard to read in some parts due to violence, but worth it.
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Releer un libro quince años después es toda una experiencia.
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As a biologist I found this book very relatable and a little less predictable than the usual Nicholas Evans style. Great story!
