At first it seemed like a touching story about the separation of a boy and a fox, but then the theme of war became dominant. The price of war is too high--and not just for the one who was attacked, and not just for the one who lost. The price is unjustifiable. For everyone. This book, while seemingly an ordinary novella for 9-year-olds, makes you think about a lot of things.
The book is beautiful. It is very touching. The characters are heartwarming and unique. I guess we could have gotten more information about Peter's family and why he needs a therapist, and there could have been fewer Buddhist overtones, but none of that spoils the story in any way.
"I loved books and I loved art - books and art didn't care that I was really tall or really shy. So I drew and painted and did mosaics and carved things (for a couple of years, I spent my whole allowance on bars of Ivory soap - great for carving!) and I read and made up stories." - Sara Pennypacker
The story is slow, soulful. The themes raised, simple at first glance, become more complex with each successive glance. The characters are amazing. The finale will make a nervous person walk across the room and drink coffee.
Shortly after his mother died, 7-year-old Peter found a small orphaned fox. The boy picked up the fox and brought it home. The cold, stern father allowed him to keep the animal, but "for a while." Five years later, Pax has become a pet, feeling Peter's emotions and patiently tolerating his father's outbursts of anger.
As war approaches, Peter's father enlists as a volunteer in the army. Peter must now live with his grandfather, equally cold and stern, hundreds of miles away from home. Pax has no place in his grandfather's house. The animal must be released into the wild. The only hope is that even as an adult, Pax will learn to survive there.
On his first night at his grandfather's house, Peter realizes he has made a mistake. So he sets out to find him. Meanwhile, Pax waits patiently for the boy, lost in the fact that he has disappeared somewhere.
On the second day, Peter has a broken ankle and is cared for in the wilderness by a war veteran on a prosthetic.
A few weeks later, Peter, limping, searches again for Pax. And Pax is already under the patronage of a leader fox. The young fox, who lives with them, smells the human scent coming from Pax and refuses to accept the hen as his equal.
And the war keeps coming...
Some of Pax's anthropomorphism can be confusing, and conveying meaning through text formatting can be repellent, but it's all barely noticeable.
"Pax" is a war story of loss, grief, trauma and betrayal, of healing, caring, acceptance and redemption. It is a war story unlike any other--an uncertain war in a place without a name. The uncertainty only increases the sense of horror, the sense of loss, of destruction, of death. Pennypacker softens all these horrors greatly, there is no graphic description or relish for detail, but the uneasiness remains. It is even heightened by the fact that all the elements of "normal" life are around: there is television, there are cell phones, there are children who go to school and play baseball.
Written elegantly, the story is beautiful and poignant. This is one of those books that you recommend without a doubt.
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