I Am Not Wolf

by Roger Terry

Cobblestone streets smell cleaner than paved ones. The frequent rains wash all the unpleasantness through the cracks and into the sand. Wolf was like that able to soak all the meanness and corruption and envy of blistered souls into himself, where it vanished, swallowed up by something he liked to call destiny. Maybe that was what set him apart from every other soul I ever met there was only purity about him, none of the spoilage and decadence that stinks up the lives of mere mortals like me and you. Wolfgang Karsten is everything David Nelson is not compelling, unpredictable, enigmatic, and full of life. David, an American, is a tired mathematics student who simply wishes to break free of his university life for a few months by escaping to Germany for the summer of 1975. When a whim stops him at the little town of Rendsburg, he finds more than he d bargained the best friend he s ever had, a girl unlike any other he s loved, and a rivalry that will threaten to tear their friendships apart. As David finds himself falling deeper in love with Sabi, he comes to understand that she will never leave Wolf even when Wolf begins to encourage her relationship with David. Soon, David and Sabi realize that Wolf has a secret. Can what he is hiding salvage this world in which the three are living or will it destroy them all? From the award-winning author of God s Executioner comes I Am not Wolf, a tale of love and loss, friendship and betrayal, life and death. Roger Terry has woven a story within a story that will take the reader from the soft beauty of free Germany to the quiet desperation of those trapped behind the Berlin Wall as the characters come to know more about themselves and discover the importance of freedom.

Genres: Lds Fiction

261 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to get into this book but I just couldn't do it. It was too slow and uninteresting. I finally just gave up.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is rather different from what I tend to read. It reminded me of SOPHIE'S CHOICE (the movie, anyway) and THE GREAT GATSBY, in that it's told from the point of view of a young man who is invited into the lives of people quite different from him, and who, while touched by their way of looking at the world, does not seem to be able to completely join them and so is more of an observer of what happens.

The main character, as opposed to the point of view character, is a man named Wolf Karsten, whose outlook on life is quite impish. His philosophy is what the point of view character struggles to understand, and along with him, this reader.

And Wolf's philosophy is that we each have a destiny that we can choose to follow or not, but if we don't choose to follow it, we will be less than what we could have been, and therefore never truly happy.

Wolf lives his philosophy, and in spite of the challenges of his life, seems to be happy practically all of the time. It is not clear by the end of the book just how much the point of view character has managed to become that way himself, but then, as the title says, he is not Wolf.

The writing is very good, and the characters, as I came to care about them, were interesting and sympathetic. The story is rather slow getting started, but I found it worth reading.

[Angie Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very serious books with lots of deep meanings and thoughts. It deals alot with people philosophies of life and more exactly with peoples ideas of destiny. The story is told within another story and the main characters parrallel the characters in the story being translated by the main character. The story deals alot with the idea of destiny and whether or not we have a choice of what happens to us or if things just come out way and we don't really control our futures.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had owned this book as I read it, the pages would be full of pen marks: underlining inspiring and philosophical paragraphs and writing my responses to them. I rate this book a five because it encourages me to live life to its fullest. It encourages me to believe in destiny (which I originally thought as something cheesy and nothing more than a fairy tale). It encourages me to think deeper about the symbolisms that surround our lives. Beautiful, awe-inspiring book.

[Tristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really fascinated me. It's written in a literary style which is just lovely, and which we don't see a lot of in the LDS market. I wish we saw more. But while this book was published by an LDS publisher, it's equally enjoyed by persons of every dominination -- it's not a religious book, but a story.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story really makes you think and wonder about life. The more I got into the book, the more I liked it. Wolf is certainly one-of-a-kind and I liked that he was able to read David's mind. The love triangle is not a typical one, for sure.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very deep and thought-provoking book - I really enjoyed the layers of meaning, and the topic of destiny that was woven through the story.