A review by mjenae
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

5 reasons this is now one of my favorite books of all time:

  1. The wild setting. This was the first thing I noticed, the hook that drew me in. Three winters before the book starts, Ellie’s family moved from town to an uncivilized mountain, along with others who left for the same reason—The Great Depression. Up to this point and throughout the book, they have been rebuilding their lives to fit this new scenery. I was enraptured watching Ellie live out of the woods and with the woods, catching fish and taking honey from a tree and making herbal remedies and sleeping with the dogs. She's kind of me in another world—with a lot more spunk, I suppose.
  2. The relationships. Especially the one between her and Larkin (he's a boy her age, and their friendship is so charming and relatable and enjoyable to follow), but also Larkin and his grandmother, Esther and Ellie, all the animals, Larkin and his mother and Ellie and hers. All the mothers played a very prominent part in this story, which I loved. The whole book was so full of loyalty and hurt and staying through the hurt—and most of all, so much love.
  3. The medical aspect. I've always said I could never be a doctor, and I still strongly maintain that opinion, but it's interesting to read about this topic in a book. Cate the nurse and Ellie make the mountain their doctor's office, using plants and animals and strange but effective concoctions to heal. I came away with genuinely valuable tips. (Someone strand me in the wild, quick. I know how to make glue out of deer hide now.)
  4. Watching Ellie grow into herself. There's a faint underlying theme (touched on directly only a couple times) of becoming who you were meant to be—the Velveteen Rabbit story. Seeing this happen to Ellie (and her mother and Larkin) made me very happy and a tiny bit jealous. Her lifestyle, and who it leads her to be, is kind of my dream. Sometimes, I feel like she did in town. I want that same liberation. But for now, I'll have to be content with living it vicariously.
  5. The animals. Of course this was coming. If you're a dog person, you'll love all the dogs in this story. There are three main ones, and then a whole litter of puppies yet—plus a horse and a bear and a snake and bees and fish and a cow or two, all of whom Ellie makes connections with. (She has the animal sense, if you want to say it that way.) Books about animals can sometimes bore me, but turns out I love it as a subplot. It made me feel guilty about how little time I'd been spending with my cats lately. Don't worry—I've been giving my animals plenty of attention this last week. Thanks, Echo Mountain.

PS: I know the back cover of the book already says this, but I just have to repeat: absolutely brilliant.
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