Puffin Modern Classics Tarka the Otter

Most classics enjoy a broad audience, and maintain their popularity through the years because they are so fantastic. Other classics are no less fantastic, but for some reason never attained the iconic status that they deserve. This is that kind of classic, a quiet classic which is little-known, but still has that special ability to impact those who read it. This book tells the life story of Tarka the Otter, who is born in the Devon countryside and faces the struggles that all otters must endure as they grow up, mate, and grow old. Tarka is the main character of the book, but the author refuses to anthropomorphize him, instead bringing us into an utterly realistic world of life, death, joy and loss, without pretending that otters can actually speak in anything approximating a human language. I've read other books that purport to show us the life of an animal in this way, but none of them bear the richness of detail and the feeling of authenticity that come with this novel. The author has such an intimate understanding of the particulars of Tarka's life that we are drawn into his world with a stunning immediacy. Every feature of the land is known from the ground up; every bend in the creek is lovingly described. The way that the land and the various organisms that populate it interact creates a breathtaking tapestry of life that puts most other nature writers to shame. The language, particularly the language used to describe the natural settings, is rich and exotic, making us appreciate the wonders of an unremarkable countryside setting in a new way. No matter how well read you are, this book will throw new words at you, and enrich your vocabulary. Turning to a random page, I see references to "a sandy rabbit-bury," the "slot of deer," an "old dismated ketch," and "the frore air." What a wealth of words, and yet the unfamiliarity doesn't prevent us from enjoying every poetic sentence. If you like to read about animals or appreciate nature, this is a book that will speak to you more profoundly and more eloquently than Thoreau, and which will allow you to appreciate the wonders of nature even moreso than the books of Bernd Heinrich. If you devote a little time to reading this book, you'll be rewarded out of all proportion to your investment.

I really loved this book. It really did a wonderful job of showing how joyful Tarka's life was, and how, even when he was hunted, his life was still joyful. I highly recommend this book!

Tarka the Otter is written very descriptively, from an otter's point of view. It's similar to Watership Down, but Tarka's thought is much less anthropomorphized than that of the characters in Watership Down. You'll find this book quite sad in places, perhaps even upsettingly so, because of the realistic (and unfair) interactions Tarka and others have with English hunters and their dogs a few times (such is life). If you cried at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows, beware. If you are unfamiliar with the endearing antics of members of the weasel family, you are in for an educational and fun treat. Perhaps you'll run out and get a ferret after this.

This book is quite possibly the best novel about nature ever written. It's gorgeous and epic, not a kid's book by any means. This was T.E. Lawrence's favorite book, by the way, and there is more wonder, beauty, and realism in any one paragraph than in most books you'll ever see

This is a good book but it will make you cry. I cried all the way through it. I cry when I pick the damn book up. But it's probably the best book ever written about animals' lives and it has a lot of beauty in it. Very well written