Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Hatchet is a moderately short novel which I greatly enjoyed, the marvellous style of the author, with some flashbacks and a great idea for the book.
Brian is flying towards his father in a desolated part of Canada, besides the pilot he is the only passenger whatsoever. All is going well until disaster strikes; the pilot has a heart attack and dies instantly, so Brian has to fly the plain himself the problem is he has no knowledge of flying planes, only the shows he has seen on TV. However, he must try to save himself and fly to safety.
After hours of travelling without a destination, the plane starts to descend to the ground, Brian tries desperately to land in a lake, but the chances are not high. When the plain finally crashes, luck is on Brians side so the plane splashes into a lake. When Brian finally emerges he is alone in the Canadian wilderness, with no food, no shelter and no heat. Brian must try to survive using his skills, intelligence and cunning to stay alive, and who knows maybe he will…
At first, I thought it was going to be a normal, basic book for kids, so my expectations were quite low. However, while reading it I realized that it was well written and had a good storyline, with one protagonist; Brian. Gary Paulsen used this to sew together a wonderful story from it. My favourite character is without doubt Brian because he is one of the only characters in the story, but also because of his wit and courage in surviving in the wild.
Gary Paulsen has written a couple of sequels to Hatchet, one of those Brians Winter which is also said to be a good book. Hatchet is a great novel to read for fans of adventure novels and short novels.
Reviewed by Lahiri Paolella (Aged 12)