The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge

A rollercoaster of events and gore blend together to create an experience only The Revenant by Michael Punke, can display.The story of captain Henry and his crew demonstrate betrayal, suffering, and the need of revenge as Glass goes through many arduous battles not only against beasts and Indian tribes, but also against his own body to survive.The Revenant by Michael Punke was published on June 10th, 2002. The story displays a very intense narrative around Glass and his relationship with his crewmates, Bridger and Fitzgerald. It displays how trusting the wrong people can have a strong impact on you and revenge isn’t always the right answer. The events of the story lead to Glass having a very strong feeling of animosity towards Bridger and Fitzgerald. This feeling of animosity may or may not have kept Glass alive through the whole story.Hugh Glass was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, trader, hunter, and explorer. Constantly travelling through forests and mountains Hugh Glass and his crew had to worry about the Arikara tribe who kept themselves aloof to white men. As the crew was out in the forest Glass decides to go hunt for food by himself. This ended up being the biggest mistake of his life. As he was out hunting, he was mauled by a grizzly bear. He was injured so terribly he had a broken leg, a ripped scalp, a punctured throat, and many gashes. Once his body was found captain Henry left John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger to watch over Glass until he died so they could give him a proper burial. As days passed John Fitzgerald was starting to become impatient. He didn’t feel the need to stay with Glass for much longer and wanted him to die quicker. He starts to belittle Glass because he believes Glass is already going to die soon. So, even though he was given the duty to watch over Glass until he died, he did not feel the need to do that anymore. Fitzgerald states “Of course I want him to die! Look at him. He wants to die!” (Punke 48). After another couple of days Fitzgerald decides that he should just leave Glass to die. But to make decision he would also have to convince Bridger to leave too. As Fitzgerald spoke to Bridger about leaving, Bridger thought the complete opposite. He wanted to make sure they were there with Glass until he was fully dead. But every time Bridger and Fitzgerald talked about leaving Glass, Bridger was always very hesitant about it. For example, Michael Punke states “Bridger struggled, desperately wanting to challenge Fitzgerald, but wholly incapable of articulating a rebuttal” (50). This was because Bridger was a very altruistic person. As the days kept passing by, they had no other choice but to leave Glass as they saw some Indians within a mile in the distance. “There were 5 Indians at the distance of about two hundred yards on the opposite bank of the grand.” (58) But as they were leaving, they also decided to steal all of Glass’s equipment too. Once Glass finds out about this, he seeks revenge for the rest of the story.The Revenant contains many gory and violent scenes that some people may like, and others may dislike. The story line and plot has surprised me in many ways as many unexpected and shocking events have happened. I have personally enjoyed it because the story also keeps an entertaining, action-packed storyline throughout the entire novel.One thing the author, Michael Punke, did well with The Revenant is the way he keeps the readers attention throughout the whole story. He wrote the book in a way where there is no point in the story where your mind starts to wander off or you start to get bored. He keeps the story very consistent with its shocking and action-packed scenes. I also really enjoyed how detailed some of the segments of the story were described. Michael Punke did a great job on adding lots of detail into many of the events. He got it to a point where you could very clearly visualize and imagine what is happening in the story in that moment. One example of Michael Punke using detail to help the reader imagine what was happening in the story was when he stated “The Grizzley dropped to all fours and was on him. Glass rolled into a ball desperate to protect his face and chest. She bit into the back of his neck, shaking him so hard that Glass wondered if his spine might snap.” (24) The detail the author uses in this sentence helps the reader clearly imagine the terror that Glass is going through in the story. It is used so well it makes the reader feel like they are in the story watching the event as its happening.​One thing Michael Punke could have done better was the organization of the story. Every chapter or two he would change from one part of the story to a different part. For example, he would go from Glass’s point of view traveling to find his crew to Fitzgerald’s point of view in the middle of nowhere. It worked well in some parts of the story but not as well in others. Sometimes the transition would not be as smooth going into a new chapter and this could confuse the reader. If the reader does get confused by these changes of view, they could very easily mix up the events in the story.​Overall, The Revenant was a great book and I recommend it to anyone who likes action-packed stories. The book really thrived in some areas like detail which made the story way more entertaining. I would not recommend this book to anyone who dislikes violent, gory, or survival kind of books. But if you enjoy any of these topics then this is a must read for you.

Very well written and great subject matter. While the movie is more entertaining and exciting, they're two different animals altogether -- Punke's novel is not only down-to-earth, it's rooted in actual history and breathes life into a bit of a lost era. Informative, yet also compelling. Punke creates a whole mess of interesting characters, and the time spent with each of them is much appreciated. He's drawing from real frontiersmen -- their adventures, yes, but also their flaws and virtues.The long and short of it is, I hard a very hard time putting this one down. Because comparisons are inevitable -- yes, at the end of the day, I probably liked the movie better. Look, Iñárritu is a great mind, I'm sure he could make a movie to outshine Romeo and Juliet if he set his mind to it. So, if you saw the movie and you're thinking "Wow, I bet they cut out a lot of action from the book -- I bet it's way grittier and bloodier!" You're not strictly speaking WRONG, but you might be disappointed, and that's not fair to Punke's excellent novel. If you thought "Wow, that was an interesting story, I'd love to hear it again -- maybe more like what actually happened, you know, the real story," then this is for you, and it's GRAND.

The word REVENANT is defined as "a person who returns, especially supposedly from the dead." There could be no better title for Michael Punke's high spirited western novel. In these pages, we discover historical fiction at its best. Though the book was published some years ago, it seems to be garnering more attention with a re-release, as well as anticipation of the movie THE REVENANT starring Leonardo DiCaprio, due out in January 2016. At any rate, the story centers around legendary "mountain man" Hugh Glass. The time period is the early 1820's, when traders and fur companies were searching out domains in the Rocky Mountains, and in the present day states of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, and the Dakotas. It is also a time only 18 years removed from the return of Lewis and Clark from the Pacific and the triumphs of the Corps of Discovery. Word had spread throughout our young nation of the vast areas of lands where a fortune might be made through the hunting and trapping of animals. The lust for furs, hides, and pelts to propitiate European buyers played a major role in this westward expansion. Thus, endeavors like The Rocky Mountain Fur Company sprang into existence and vied with one another to gain strong footholds in prime furbearer sections of the enormous Missouri Territory. Often, financial backing was based out of St. Louis, where teams of men were organized to venture up the Missouri River, as well as its tributaries. The book centers around one such team led by a Captain Henry and included such members as John Fitzgerald, Jim Bridger, and Hugh Glass. Along with surviving the harsh elements of the Wild, these men also had to defend themselves against hostile Indian tribes like the Arikara and the Blackfeet. In addition, there was great competition from the Spanish and French that added to the urgency of securing tracts of land rich for trapping. Much of what we know of these early "mountain men" is centered around both facts and legends. Hugh Glass, Jedediah Smith, and Jim Bridger were three of the first actual white men who ventured into the Rocky Mountains and beyond. In THE REVENANT, we are given an exciting glimpse into a very early and virgin American West. It is no secret that Hugh Glass was a central figure at the time, and he was indeed attacked by a grizzly bear and left for dead by his party. Punke does such a marvelous job of weaving fact and fiction together, and he elaborates on this merger at the novel's end. What I found most fascinating about this moving saga were the rich backgrounds we are given involving the histories of the major characters. We are treated to accounts not only of Glass, but also of Bridger, Fitzgerald, Henry, and the French voyageurs. The descriptions of the bear ordeal, of Glass's stoic determination, of the Indian attacks, and of survival in the brutal wilderness itself were absolutely compelling. Punke's knowledge and visceral prose make for story telling at its finest. If you enjoy films like JEREMIAH JOHNSON and books like UNDAUNTED COURAGE or CROW KILLER, I believe you will find THE REVENANT to be a splendid read that is well worth your time....

A true story of a world long forgotten. A story of simple courage and determination,of treachery, the enormous hopelessness of a lives squandered.

Poor ending

Compre sem medo.

This is a gripping read. I did not know what to expect as I never saw the movie. When I started in, I didn't know that this was not fiction. The story is so intense that I found myself staying up into the wee hours to find out what would happen next. I have gifted this book because I found it so compelling. Familiarity with the terrain over which this took place, in relative proximity to my home province, added to the overall impact. Even now, years later, I can still get myself worked up about aspects of the tale.

This novella sucked me in from the opening paragraph and dragged me along for most of the remainder. It ran out of steam about 85% of the way through (hence the not-quite-perfect score) but was a hell of a ride up to that point. Beautiful writing that avoids unnecessary detail but paints a complete picture added to the overall enjoyment. It was a bit hard to credit a man surviving what Hugh Glass went through - he makes Bear Grylls look like a boy scout - but it made for a gripping story. Great historical context, too, told through well-developed characters. Definitely worth reading.