The Incredible Journey

I picked this up to read as background research for a story I’m writing about a similar long journey involving animals. I wanted to see if it had any tips to offer. Any inspiration.

But I put all that aside by about page 5, because by then I was hooked on the story and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. Published in 1960, the language is a little dated, but not so much that it slows the story down for a second. And it’s definitely not as ‘cute’ as the 1963 Disney film, which turned the tale into a happy little romp.

As much as we the reader – and the animals themselves – may want to see them reunited with their human family, the book itself never denies or sidesteps the fact they are animals, and so respond to the world they’re travelling through, as animals. A world governed by smells and instinct, food and hunger, pain and fear, cold and warmth, sunshine and rain. The three hunt and fight. They kill and eat. Other animals.

I suppose if the book were written today it would be a little more savage, and the view of the world a little bleaker. It would definitely be longer and more drawn-out; no swiftly-paced 117 pages. I seriously doubt it would be any better.