Foxspell

I thought this book was amazing. It's one of those books best read in a room by yourself. The characters are unique, the plot strange and twisting, and the book is never boring. I know some people complained about the last scene, but I think that any more writing would have taken away from the power, the darkness, of the scene. Read it. It's well worth the time.

Red foxes were brought to Australia in the nineteenth century, dragged from their native land against their will. Tod, a young Australian boy, was also dragged from his native land against his will when his family moved across the country to live with his grandmother. The foxes survived in a hostile land; whether Tod can do the same is the focus of this book. Ms. Rubinstein paints Tod's family in vivid strokes, the Australian landscape no less vividly. She brings the supernatural elements into the story so subtly at first that by the time the *really* unusual things start happening, they blend right into the flow of the narrative. Against this backdrop, Tod wrestles with the frustrations of being displaced, of watching his family try to hold together, and of being forced into a mold he doesn't fit in school. The problems are familiar to any teenager, or anyone who's ever been one. Tod's struggles are mirrored by the local foxes. No attempt is made to glamourize their lives -- they are shot at and hunted by the local gangs, looked down upon as pests and invaders by almost everyone, and hated by the farmers. Yet they survive because they must. Their lives and Tod's intersect when he buries a dead fox he has found strung up on a fence. His respect earns him a visit from a fox spirit, who offers him the chance to become a wild fox. This escape from his troubles is very attractive, at first, but he finds that his human ties are not so easy to give up. His deliberations, and the resolution of the book, are very well done. The supernatural and the natural are strong forces in "Foxspell." The natural elements are well-researched and accurate (from Australian fauna to fox behavior), and the supernatural is well-integrated and not too pervasive. It leaves plenty of room for the human story. However, if you have a particular aversion to either of these two subject areas, this book is probably not for you. Any review of this book would be incomplete without some mention of the writing. Ms. Rubinstein's style is clear, evocative, and powerful. She not only tells a good story, but she tells it well. The subject matter may not appeal to everyone, but if you like what I've written about in this review, have no doubts that you will enjoy reading "Foxspell."