Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: The Wolf and the Pear
AUTHOR: Alex Jane
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 95 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 23, 2019
BLURB:
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Lev.
He didn’t have skin as white as snow or hair that fell in golden ropes. But he was quick witted and braver than he knew. And he would need to be.
When Lev goes to live with his uncle in the little village nestled against the deep dark forest at the foot of the mountains, the place seems pleasant enough. But Lev soon starts to wonder about things that don’t quite make sense—dark looks on people’s faces, cries in the night that go unanswered and secrets whispered. But it isn’t until the first full moon that he truly understands why his parents left their families and never wanted to return. Or why they never spoke of Grandmother who lives in the forest. Or the Big Bad Wolf who lives with her.
Until one day Lev is sent into the forest to Grandmother’s house.
Then all he wonders is whether he’ll ever make it out of the forest again.
“Lev. Be a good boy, dear. Don’t run. It’s so much worse if you run.”
This is a dark fairytale told in the traditional style, with talking animals, violence and sexual content.
Definitely not for children.
REVIEW:
So this is like the dark, f’ed up version of Little Red Riding Hood to me. Maybe you guys will see it differently, but I love it. Instead of the wolf being the bad guy trying to eat Red, he’s being forced to be the bad guy by the grandmother and Red is really Lev.
Lev had a happy life, until a sickness came and took his parents away. At 12, he had to make the long journey to go live with his uncle after that. It seemed ok until, one night a few years later, he was told to take a box up to the grandmother in the forest. And the way everyone was asking, they acted like he’d never come back. And he was pissed. He didn’t see anything wrong with the little old lady at first. When he arrived, it was actually the man that had him a tad fearful. Especially when that man decided to use Lev for his pleasure. Lev tried to be angry and upset, and part of him was, but the hormone side of him was with pleasure. After it was over and he woke alone in the forest he was confused at first, but realized, he’d been let go. And his anger returned. Especially when he went home and saw how his uncle and aunt behaved. He knew there was more to this story. But what was it going to take to fix what was wrong?
I’m having to laugh while writing this, because I love cartoons, especially Bugs Bunny and the Big Bad Wolf and the pigs are on with Bugs. Then it switches to Bugs being Red and it’s too funny. It kind of made me think of this story a bit and cracked me up.
Anyway, this is definitely a dark story. Not for younguns at all. 😉 It really does remind me of Little Red Riding Hood with a twist. And it’s so good. Lev had a lot to deal with in his short life. First the death of his parents, and then eventually being pimped out to the grandmother chick of the village and her wolf-man. It was a constant hard situation he was in as the book went on. Things kept coming up in his path and he had hard choices to make. It sucked. But he kept going and kept trying to make it all work, even when it seemed everyone was against him.
The only main problem I had with the book, is that at times the sex between the two was almost like rape. And it shamed the wolf. Lev kept telling him there was nothing to forgive. And the wolf would try to be gentle. But it was all that crap in his head from the woman and Lev knew it.
RATING: 
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