The Yearling

Whew, where do I start?  Well, I suppose I could start out with saying that 'The Yearling' is one chunk of a book!  I think the only reason that I finished it in less than a week is because I was able to read 100 pages of that book in one day.

Even though 'The Yearling' is really long (between 450 and 500 pages, depending on your publisher) a lot happens in it.  The story is about a young boy (Jody) and his mother and father (Ory and Penny Baxter) living in the scrub of Florida.  There is no exact date, but certain hints let the reader know that it takes place sometime shortly after the Civil War.  The book is about the Baxter's fight to survive, along with how Jody matures in response to their many adventures and disasters.

The titular yearling is a baby fawn that Jody adopts.  Despite being the source of the title for the book, the fawn and Jody's relationship with it are not really what constitute the main plot of the book.  The main plot is (as I mentioned above) Jody's experiences as he crosses the line between being a boy and being a man.  In fact, Jody doesn't find the fawn until almost halfway through the book, and the fawn is mentioned in passing most of the time after that.  The fawn does have an effect on the Baxter's struggle though, and the tragic ending is the result of a collision between the fawn and the need to survive. 

I really like Rawlings' way of writing.  It's very descriptive, however, unlike most books, I think Rawlings was able to walk the fine line when it came to descriptions and actual stuff happening.  The book is written from Jody's point of view, but it's still in the third person, which I think works well with Jody's character, because Jody sometimes has trouble putting what he feels into words.

As for characters, I have to say I really like most of the characters in the book.  Even with the characters that Jody actually meets with once or twice you can get a really good feel for who and what they are.  My favorite character is probably Jody's father, Penny.  Penny isn't his real name, it's just a nickname that he got from his neighbors because he is so short and thin.  His real name is Ezra.  Penny is a good man, a fair man, and a just man.  He lets Jody play as often as he can because when he was a boy he didn't get much time to be a boy.  He is also very kind towards animals, only killing when he needs to and when there's a fair chance for the animal, meaning he won't shoot a doe and her fawn, or an animal that is mating, etc.  Penny is one of those characters that I wish I could meet in real life. I'm not going to go through all the characters here, just the ones I really liked.  Jody is a good boy, sometimes a slacker, but he still wants to please his parents (especially his father).  Jody also has a longing for something "with dependence to it" as he says.  This is part of the reason why he eventually adopts the fawn, which he names Flag.  Jody also has a strong dislike for girls, which ends up being funny.  Jody really does change at the end of the book.  All of his experiences help to change him into more than a boy. 

I just though of something.  Maybe the fawn isn't the reason for the book's title.  Jody is somewhat like a yearling himself.  A yearling is technically a wild animal that is a year old, and generally the animal can take care of itself and leaves its parents around that age.  In a sense, the animal is 'all grown up'.  By the end of the book, Jody definitely fits that description, taking on most of the work while his father is laid up with an injury.  His disposition is also more mature.

Verdict: B+
I would give this an A, I don't want to seem like I give A's to everything?  Honestly I haven't really read a lot of books that I didn't like.  There are a few, but not a lot.  Anyways, this is not the book for you if you don't like stories about living off of the land and hunting and camping, etc.  I like those things, so I liked this book.  Even if you don't like those things you might like the way that Rawlings wrote the book, which I really like.  I would recommend this book to people who are used to a book that's an inch and half thick and who enjoy reading a good story.