Hunter in the Snow by Tobias Wolff

Last Friday, we went over Hunter in the Snow by Tobias Wolff, which is a story based on friendships. This is a unique story since we learn all about the characters through their talking to each other and their actions in the group or when they are alone. In fact, Tobias Wolff does not share the characters' personalities in paragraphs, so a reader learns them throughout the story. The three characters, Tub, Kenny, and Frank are married and have completely different personalities. Kenny is the loud one, one who is also rough and insensitive. However, just as Eckels was in A Sound of Thunder, who lost his strong, egotistical personality after he saw the dinosaur, Kenny lost his overbearing personality when Tub shot him. Frank was a subtle man who was in the middle, between Tub and Kenny. Frank also had a very calm mind, and seemed at peace with the two when they were arguing. Interestingly though, we learn later that he was in love with his children's babysitter who was only sixteen years old. And Tub was overweight and had a hard time keeping up with Kenny and Frank in the woods and had an eating disorder which he kept inside himself. Later, Tub opens himself to Frank, and Frank encourages him to be himself and eat an enormous plate of pancakes that were covered with syrup. While we were reading, we went over the list of all the stories on What We Have Read So Far... and connected the ones that were similar and different to Hunter in the Snow. This turned out to be a wonderful activity to do since we got to see how unique all the stories are. Lastly, we read In This Group, a poem written by Fae Burgener. Her poem describes our reading group and each person in it. Fae is a fantastic writer and how she describe each one of us is perfect. I highly suggest you take some time to read her poem. Next week's reading is The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and we will go over it on Wednesday. I have heard from a dear friend, who is an librarian, that this is an awesome story.