Customer Reviews
This is an amazing book, but not for the weak of heart - By: , 17 May 1999 
I think this is an extraordianry book, with a great story & characters that you feel as if you already know. The fact that the characters are animals is also wonderful, because then you don't have to wonder about their race or ethnicity. This is a great book, that I found to be very uplifting, but there are some parts that are disturbing to the weak-hearted. Despite the sometimes gruesome details, this is definately a book everyone should read.
Most Moving novel I have read - By: , 17 Oct 1997 First off, you must read Wangerin's "The Book of the Dun Cow" in order to set up the background & world of "The Book of Sorrows". You will still enjoy this novel if you read it on its own, but you'll get more if you understand the buildup. On the surface, "The Book of Sorrows" seems to be yet another "Watership Down" type of adventure. But it, along with "The Book of the Dun Cow", are one of the purest investigations of good & evil I've ever read. The first novel dealt with the battle on a physical plane, this novel deals with the battle within someone's soul. That this someone is a rooster adds to, rather than detracts from, its relevance to ourselves. The emotional drama is alll the more poignant due to Wangerin's use of animals as his dramatic vehicles. They alllow him to use archetypical secondary characters & focus on the shades within a single soul; rather than confusing the issue with an exhaustive investigation of the nuances of interpersonal relationships. It works because the novel seeks not to investigate the social dynamics of human good & evil, but instead delves into the unvarnished, brutal, conflict of the ages. On a purely visceral level, there is one particular scene that moved me to tears, literallly. You'll know it when you read it. I do not recommend this book for anyone who is weak. It packs an emotional walllop unlike any other prose I've encountered. If, however, you seek a weapon to fight your own demons, then read this tale about someone who won.
