The Cleansing

John D. Harvey (Goodreads Author)

4.25 · Rating details · 4 ratings · 2 reviews

"The Cleansing" tells the story of a violent American Indian wolf god, Wanata, who comes to earth every 100 years to make humanity accountable for its abuses against nature. When a strange events begin to unfold in Alaska, Savannah Channing, a freelance journalist for a Denver newspaper is sent to investigate the story of a rampaging wolf pack systemically destroying entir ...more

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Hardcover, 319 pages

Published October 1st 2002 by Arkham House Publishers

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Jun 27, 2008 Shaun Duke rated it really liked it

(I'd actually give this 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn't do that. The reason is that despite the flaws in the narration, the book never ceased to keep me fascinated and entertained. I wasn't pulled out of the story loads of times or anything and the flaws didn't kill it. It's a darn good read!)

The Cleansing is a novel that moves outside of what I normally read. I admit that I have only read one other novel that had Native American themes that I remember (and that was also related to specfic). That (I'd actually give this 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn't do that. The reason is that despite the flaws in the narration, the book never ceased to keep me fascinated and entertained. I wasn't pulled out of the story loads of times or anything and the flaws didn't kill it. It's a darn good read!)

The Cleansing is a novel that moves outside of what I normally read. I admit that I have only read one other novel that had Native American themes that I remember (and that was also related to specfic). That was a novel by A. A. Attanasio, the title of which is eluding me at the moment. I've noticed that I don't generally pick up Native American themed novels, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's some narrow minded view of mine that there isn't a lot of interest for me in such novels because I, personally, don't buy mainstream or literary fiction books very often (I tend to stick to fantasy and SF and rarely go outside them except for non fiction work). I am familiar with Native Americans, particularly of the tribes in and around the Foothills of California (such as the Washo).

That being said, reading The Cleansing was a whole new experience for me, not only because it's about Native Americans and, in particular, about things I've not read much about before, but also because it's actually an entertaining read with a really interesting twist on the "werewolf" theme.

To sum it up, the story is about Wanata, a godlike being in Native American folklore believed to come to Earth in the form of a wolf to perform The Cleansing, a sort of nature-induced population control. The Cleansing has happened before, but there's a reason nobody knows about it: because it's something that is hidden, on purpose. But now, mankind isn't a fledgling little species anymore. We've conquered practically all of the globe, spreading ourselves out by the millions, building great cities, polluting everything, etc. Over six billion of us are on the planet now, and Nature isn't happy about it (hence The Cleansing). The problem is that millions of people will have to die to reestablish order. Laughing Wolf, a Native American shaman, knows what will happen and has a vision that tells him he must kill Wanata and create a new Cleansing, one that doesn't involve destroying millions of lives. Savannah, a reporter, just wants to get the next big scoop on the strange happenings in Alaska (a rogue pack of wolves attacking human settlements). The various other characters are inextricably sucked into the events, many of them receiving a shock to the senses as they begin to realize that some things aren't so easily explained and the things happening up north aren't the work of something as simple as a couple stray dogs.

One thing that really stood out to me about this novel is that it actually gives a whole new view of the "werewolf" mythology. While I don't know if Harvey intended this or not, it was there nonetheless and I thought it was really fascinating. In the novel you get the sense that the werewolf condition is like in most werewolf myths: an disease of sorts. Added to that, however, is that it is a human affliction upon nature, which presents itself in ways I thought were really interesting (imagine that instead of a human becoming a monster that can't control itself, it's a wolf becoming a man, and going back again, without all the rampaging and ability to infect other people). I got a bit of a kick out of it because I have grown a little tired of the cliche werewolf stuff (you know, like every Hollywood movie you've ever seen with werewolves, all of which try desperately to add to the myth, but only manage to keep the common mythology running without adding much to it at all).

The plot is really fast paced, so if you're not prepared to be sucked into it and pushed along at breakneck speed, well, that's your own fault. The best part about the novel is that it doesn't play any games and gets right to it: the world is bad and Wanata is going to take care of things (and humans aren't all that smart when it comes to deal with demigods, as it turns out). Savannah is just snappy enough to make me laugh, Chace is just evil enough to make me want to kill him myself, and Wanata, surprisingly, is sympathetic enough to actually make me care about what happens to him (considering he's supposed to be the bad guy). It's also interesting to point out that Harvey doesn't pull punches when it comes to showing human beings in all their forms: good and bad. There are folks who sit in the gray areas, and some who are black and white. This is something I think is very important to have within a novel like this. After all, we're talking about a restructuring of Nature and to make Wanata seem like only a bad guy would make it too easy. Humans are not perfect: some of us are evil, some of us aren't, and some of us sit in the middle. Nature, unfortunately, doesn't generally make distinctions about good and bad.

My only concerns with the novel is that for some it might have too many characters. While the pace is quick, there were a couple times where I was pulled out of the story when the author pulled me around to different characters, trying to give a wide range of views of the same thing or by trying to split the storylines. It's not a tremendous problem. I found myself getting used to it and not generally being bothered after a while, but I think perhaps reducing the amount of POVs could have helped develop the more important characters (particularly the ones that I liked: Savannah, Wanata, and Chace, though the last one I didn't like because he was good, but because he was a completely horrible human being and it would have really been more interesting to know where he came from and why he had turned out that way). There could definitely be more in the development of some of the characters, as I mentioned, but I think in the end it worked out okay anyway. I still want to know what the heck made Chace into the horrible person he is.

Overall, Harvey avoids stylistic annoyances and gives the story in a way that moves quickly and doesn't dawdle. The plot thickens and becomes more complicated as it goes along, which is both a good and bad thing. The bad thing is that the novel ends with only partial closure. Harvey has proposed a trilogy, and the way it ends is set up for that. While it does end, there are still a lot of things left to be addressed, particularly in Quiet Wolf's (Laughing Wolf's grandson) storyline and Wanata's. Hopefully Harvey intends to get the other books out soon, if they aren't out already. I'm looking forward to those sequels mostly because I would like to see more of Savannah and find out what happens, if anything, between her and Wanata. Basically, this is fast-paced reintroduction to the fantastic disaster story, filled with a wide array of interesting characters, magic, monsters, rogue wolves, and a touch of the werewolf. Not much else to say other than I really enjoyed this book and thought it was entertaining from start to finish. ...more

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Jul 17, 2013 Sherilyn added it

I'm prone to judging a book by it's cover, and based on the cover of this book I probably would not have read it. But knowing the author personally, I had a feeling I would enjoy it. I was right. It was a surprisingly good read. From the first page you are pulled into the story. Sure there is a lot of violence in this book but in equal parts there is a lot humour and some very amusing dialog. I thoroughly enjoyed it and Mr Harvey should pull finger and write the next instalment. ...more

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