out of the snow.

Doug Thayer’s novel Will Wonders Never Cease is very ‘stream of consciousness’ novel from a 15 year-old boy who gets stuck in an avalanche for 9 days. Kyle is able to survive by using what skills his grandfather had taught him (reaching into a Latter-Day Saint theme of family) and by eating the food he had been driving up the canyon with at the time of the avalanche. The majority of the book is simply inside of Kyle’s head, his thoughts and feelings as he is fighting off hunger, hypothermia and frostbite, and despair. Because of this style, Thayer is writing in a stream of consciousness, the ideas flowing out of each other and never seeming to end. This type of style has its pros and cons, mostly depending on the reader. It sometimes can get confusing to follow the plot and there are many times where Kyle’s thoughts leave the reader with way too many questions and not nearly enough details. But because of the continual returns to the same ideas and topics, most questions the reader might have about Kyle and his life are, more or less, answered.

It is rather heartwarming to read as Kyle changes, somewhat, in his attitude and perspective, especially on his family and his religion. Even though he may not have matured as much as maybe he could have, he comes out of the snow a different young man than the boy who cruised up the canyon.