Stickeen

By: John Muir / Narrated By: Andre Stojka

Length: 1 hr and 4 mins

Sweet li’l story that’s almost over before ya know it!

Full disclosure? I must admit that I dozed off during this book. But I SWEAR it’s not because it’s boring or anything—rather, I blame Fatigue from Covid-19 news obsessing. It takes its toll, I tell ya, right? But ANYway, I mention the snooze cuz, like, I’d juuuust started the story when WHAM! I was at the “Audible hopes you enjoyed…” part, and I assure you that I did NOT doze for that long!

So—very short li’l audiobook, very short. And purchased cheaply via a Kindle $0.00 price tag with the accompanying WhisperSync audiobook for 95 cents.

Was it worth 95 cents? Absolutely, but it would’ve been worth the usual “shorter audiobook price tag” of $4.87. It’s quite simply well-written with stellar narration by Andre Stojka. At the end of the audiobook, there’s a bit of background bio on John Muir, and some background info regarding Stickeen as a story. Turns out, Muir was asked time and time again to tell that story, and he so enjoyed it (Embellishing just a tad here and there as the years went on) that eventually he bowed to his audience’s desires and wrote it many, many years after it had occurred. Stojka tells the story as tho’ he’s an oldster, sitting around the fireplace with wide-eyed youngsters listening oh so closely to every word he’s saying. His narration is captivating, and it’ll make the Inner Kidlet in you delighted as the story is related.

This is based on Muir’s experience when he was doing some wilderness work in Alaska (And the glacier he speaks of wound up being named after him). At first, he doesn’t think much of this short and stocky little dog named Stickeen who’s been brought by another member of the traveling team. He thinks such a small dog will just get in the way, will never survive the rigors of this out of doors endeavor. Plus, Stickeen is well and truly stubborn, going so far as to go AWOL when the journeyers are ready to shove their watercraft off, then turning up and swimming after the boat until somebody scoops him out of the water, dangles him to get some of the drippiness from his coat, then plunks him down where he settles contentedly, shameless to the nth degree.

But Stickeen finds Muir fascinating and often joins Muir on his wanderings and ponderings out in nature. And that’s how the two of them wind up together for this little adventure. Muir has gone out, into weather which turns dreadful, and Stickeen canNOT be dissuaded: He WILL join Muir, no matter what! The little dog with the soulful eyes sticks to Muir as they traverse the land, rain pouring on them… until it turns into some pretty fierce snow… until they wander into a field of crevasses. Muir is forced to take shelter somewhere Stickeen can’t get to, and the story revolves around whether or not the intrepid dog will be able to join Muir, get out of the wicked elements. Muir tries coaching Stickeen, and he wishes mightily that he had a rope so that he might quickly noose the dog and pull him up. What I really liked was how Muir even goes so far as to consider making a rope out of his clothes, sadly discarding that idea only when he really considers the absolute probability of hypothermia.

So we have a little: Can he or Can’t he thing going on when it comes to the survival of little Stickeen, and again: Hats off to Stojka for building the tension up in the very short amount of time he’s given. I was holding my breath there for a little bit, and I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome or with the joy and energy put into it by both the writing and the narration.

After all this, the background info seems rather long, but I found it interesting as it gave a bit of insight into Muir (I have his My First Summer in the Sierra but haven’t felt moved to listen to it… until now…!), and it added a bittersweet ending. Would it be a spoiler to say Stickeen is dead? NO NO NO!!! He doesn’t die in the story; it’s just that it’s an old man looking back on a much-loved dog, and we all know about the brevity of a pet’s lifespan), plus: Stickeen is not his own dog, so there has to be a parting of ways.

Ultimately, a desperately sweet charmer of a book.

And for 95 cents? What better way to spend a dollar than on this story?!?