Reviews

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

lillibooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

savaging's review against another edition

5.0

I never imagined that a novel that feels like it might have been inspired by the TV show Survivor could move me this deeply.

I love how this book explores questions of motherhood and sacrifice. I love how it looks open-eyed at our place in this world as a destructive but also sometimes admirable species. And more than anything I love this book for how it weaves tiny, uneasy, fleeting utopias into the big unbearable dystopia.

Whatever happens to you: maybe you'll find a hole in the gate. Maybe there will be frogs.

This book leaves me without any hope, but still with love and gratitude.

epruta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

pippling's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This novel felt like an epic adventure. A story set in a not-too-unrealistic future where the world is too full, too polluted, there are no more trees, and wildlife is gone for good - apart from in the last Wilderness. The story is told from two perspectives; a mother who has brought her daughter to The Wilderness in a last ditch attempt to save her life, and her daughter who, after growing up in the Wilderness has a complicated relationship with her mother and her companions, but to whom the Wilderness is home. 
The ending was quite bleak and it felt a bit rushed. I felt like there was room for a lot more story there, but I flew through the final chapters and found it exhilarating nonetheless!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

kinnimomo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jenhurst's review against another edition

2.0

I honestly just didn’t really get the point of this book.
The cover looks like a women’s fiction book, not a scifi to start with. But it’s barely a scifi? Basically, a mom and daughter leave the city because the pollution is making her daughter sick. They agree to live in the new wilderness and survive off the land as an experiment with 20 other people. They have nurses come and check on them regularly and the people learn survival skills. The concept was very far fetched, the city was spoken of vaguely and I felt like the world building was really lacking. We didn’t get enough explanations and I think it hurt the book a lot. A good scifi is supposed to have things well explained and grounded in science, but this was more vague like it wanted to be magical realism or something. I just don’t know what this book wanted to be.

mary2129's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

4.0

kdahlo's review against another edition

4.0

I read this rapidly and really enjoyed it. It's science fiction crossing over as prestige fiction, which is a sweet spot I generally enjoy. This book reminded me a bit of "Future Home of the Living God", which I read last year. Thematically there's a strong connection as both address the challenges of parenthood using an apocalyptic setting. This book has two perspective characters, and one of the things I most appreciated was how different their perceptions were, in really important but believable ways. I think it takes a keen observer of human nature to notice blindspots - it's easier in fiction to make them over-obvious or somehow impossibly subtle (like by having characters lie or omit important things constantly). Here was just right, the different perceptions of reality revealing themselves really nicely. Brutal, beautiful and engaging book.

alicebme's review against another edition

5.0

I have never read a book about being a mother and a daughter that felt this true before. So many moments in this book were a kick to the gut. Being a mother is a kick to the gut. Being a daughter too. Damn. I guess you could read this book as a metaphor or as a literal story, and both reading experiences would ring true.

rachellax's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5