First, I'll share what Amazon has to say because they will be more flattering The parts from Amazon are in quotes.

"This award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are compared—and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present.

At first consumed by despair and self-pity, Brian slowly learns survival skills—how to make a shelter for himself, how to hunt and fish and forage for food, how to make a fire—and even finds the courage to start over from scratch when a tornado ravages his campsite. When Brian is finally rescued after fifty-four days in the wild, he emerges from his ordeal with new patience and maturity, and a greater understanding of himself and his parents."

The above is true... and it sounded like it'd be a great book and it was sometimes. But mostly it was too wordy, repetitive and obvious... at least that's how it felt to me. I can't really relate to Brian, not because he's a boy but because I grew up surrounded by nature, hiking, camping etc. and even as a thirteen year old, I just don't think I'd have had the same experience.

I'm not sure why this book won so many awards but it did impart some good lessons for people not familiar with nature or survival skills. And had a few nice reminders of general life lessons (your brain is your best asset, pity parties don't get you anywhere etc.).

Essentially, I think I would have enjoyed this story a lot more as a magazine article, short story, or, at most, a novella. It just didn't have enough to make it book worthy, in my opinion.

People interested in a story about a city boy learning to survive in the wilderness for 54 days, or wanting to learn a little about what it'd be like to spend a summer in the Canadian wilderness with just a hatchet and the clothes on your back to start out with.

I liked that Brian didn't attack the bear with his hatchet. I liked that he remembered some of the most useful/applicable lessons from school and nature programs and was a pretty smart kid doing his best (especially given his lack of nature experience). I liked that he didn't give in to negativity or depression and did his best to carry on.

The tornado turned out to be his salvation because without it, he probably never would have reached the survival kit and therefore wouldn't likely have been found before winter and he was woefully unprepared for winter even where I grew up, never mind Canada.

The beauty of the area he was stranded in. Properly supplied, I'd love to vacation there.

I mentioned some in the summary. I can't really put myself in Brian's shoes. Some of the things that seem like common sense to me, probably because of how I grew up, he had no idea about. So his summer in Canada was a lot harder than it might have been or needed to be.

I can't imagine choosing to fight a skunk over some turtle eggs. Just so many things he did that didn't make sense to me ... one early thing ... as soon as he knew the plane was going down, why didn't he grab the survival kit and put on a parachute and jump? It's a miracle he survived the landing. It's a miracle he survived at all.

Also the whole "secret" thing just really took away from the story. The only time it was relevant was when he was blaming his mother for his predicament (if he hadn't cheated on his father, they wouldn't be divorced and he wouldn't have been going to visit his dad for the summer).

The whole first 49 pages could probably have been done in a couple paragraphs.

Go to sleep. So I did. Before that, I did mentally do the reader questions at the back and made a text note of what I would guess Brian would take as his top 10 survival items (not including the hatchet, which is a given).

Incredulous at times, bored at times, happy when he figured things out, glad when he got rescued before winter.

"Gary Paulsen is one of the most honored writers of contemporary literature for young readers, author of three Newbery Honor titles, Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. He has written over 100 books for adults and young readers. He divides his time among Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific." from Amazon.

It has won a lot of awards and might inspire some people.

Mentioned already in previous sections.

I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Hatchet   from Amazon.Com!

Created Sep 24, 2021 at 9:14pm • Submit your own review...