Togwotee Passage

Eco-fiction novel about a naturalist approach to an increasingly urbanised world

Content warning: domestic violence

I received a copy of this e-book courtesy of the author.

“Togwotee Passage” by L. G. Cullens is an eco-fiction novel about a boy called Calan who grows up in an abusive household in Wyoming, USA. After his father’s violence comes to a head, Calan goes to live with his aunt, uncle and two cousins on a ranch. For the most part, Calan enjoys his new rural life. He befriends an older Shoshone boy called Derek, and together they trek through the wilderness putting their survival skills to the test. However, once Calan’s mercurial cousin Brent begins taking over the family farm, Calan finds himself again adrift.

This is an interesting bildungsroman about finding solace in nature and trying to reconcile the desire for a sustainable lifestyle in an increasingly modernised world. Calan’s challenging upbringing leaves room for deep philosophical thought about humanity’s role in the natural world and the ways in which we interact with our environment. Calan’s views are further honed by his experiences as an adult, including fighting in the Vietnam War and working for a big city corporation, and I liked how Cullens used Calan’s dialogue to show how he changes and grows more sophisticated. There are some heartbreaking points in this story where Calan’s resilience is truly put to the test, and he is forced to rely on his chosen family. I also felt that as a character, despite his troubled childhood, Calan was very aware of his privilege as a white man and the discrimination experienced by his Shoshone friends. I particularly enjoyed the later chapters with Calan’s two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. Cullens’s realist style is is complemented by his own digital illustrations which showcase the beautiful Wyoming flora and fauna and demonstrate a considerable artistic sensibility.

I understand from his biography and website that Cullens drew considerably on his own experience with Shoshone culture in writing this book, and he includes a lot of Shoshone language and spirituality in the text. I think I would have liked to have seen some more acknowledgement of his Shoshone friends who shared their culture with him, and Shoshone sources in the endnotes. Protecting indigenous intellectual property continues to be a contentious area, and I think these small changes would be a great starting point. There were also a couple of stylistic decisions that I wasn’t quite sure about. One was the occasionally overly-wordy dialogue that felt at odds with Cullens’ otherwise accessible and succinct prose, and the other was a handful of chapters later in the book that departed suddenly from third person to first person perspective.

A thought-provoking and poignant story about finding a path between two worlds.