This was entirely new to me: the experience of Canadian Cree Indians who fought in the trenches in World War I. The two main characters are best friends who enlist together and, due to their hunting prowess, are quickly made snipers. Used to waiting hours on end in extreme conditions for deer or elk to approach their blind, the boys are naturals over in No Man's Land, now waiting hours for an enemy soldier to light a cigarette.

I loved this book, especially the first-person narration of "X", who comes home from the war alone. What happened to his best friend Elijah? How did X become addicted to morphine? Is his will to live stronger than his will to die? With a first-person narrator you expect to be privy to the answers, but Boyden skillfully has X conceal just as much as he reveals -- until the final pages.

Pick your favorite scene & tell me about it. Mine was the forest fire, a scene which absolutely blew me away it was so visual and visceral and surreal. The whole time I was thinking, What boys would do this? But of course, these two boys would....

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'll leave the book on a bench at the train station -- enjoy!