Wild Animus

Rich Shapero

This is a coming of age story with a twist. Set in the late sixties, grad student Sam Altman finds himself at protests, but distanced from them, surprised when police arrive with tear gas to break up the demonstration. The writing is interesting, conveying the sense that Sam feels his time at Berkeley is one dimensional – telling a friend '“I don't want fantasies. I want something real, not another fragment of truth to puzzle over, the morning after an acid trip. I want to live in a new world, a true one of my own devising”. Sam's features quickened, gaze turning inward, pondering the domain he imagined lay hidden there. “Inexhaustible desire, at the service of a unique perception. That's what life should be. A journey of the mind and heart that gives birth to something like Hopkins' inscape or Machen's hieroglyphics. Germinating an idea like that, tending it, urging it to grow until it roots itself in you and takes over, and your life becomes the proof of it.”' Sam meets Lindy, who understands his quest – or maybe falls under his spell, as Sam falls under hers. They leave California, first for Washington, then on to Alaska. Sam begins calling himself Ransom – and continues the search for that “unique perception”. The search reminds me of the descriptions of Native American mystical/spiritual rights of passage – of finding the inner animal that matches the nature of the person, providing insight and self awareness. Driven by his passion, Ransom climbs Mt. Rangel several times, in a suit dressed as a ram, dodging wolves, cutting himself attempting to understand himself, nature, and the mountain, better. I won't go into ending. At the same time bizarre and fascinating, a good first effort by Shapero.