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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
v beautiful v bleak…had me riveted…so much reverence for nature i loved it
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Lauren Groff is always a good read. In this case, a servant girl is escaping her master in early colonial Jamestown America - and the gloves are off. In honest representation of what old times were like (ie, full of shit, disease and death), Groff represents the servant girl's journey with accuracy: starvation, disease, piss and shit, rape and all around disgustingness. Groff says “by the way, everything was gross as hell and sucked ass back in the day.” Uhhhh, yeah. Life SUCKED in this book. Graphically described imagery that you will not soon forget and may even engage your gag reflex. You can smell and feel this book - extremely visceral. The protagonist is sheer strength, determination and resilience. She takes her chances in the wilderness with the Powhatan Indians after her young charge dies of starvation and she decides the people she works for are garbage human beings. Needless to say, this one ends messy. This was a book club read and I am pleasantly surprised (even though I should have known better given the writer).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book manages to subvert your expectations for an adventure story both in themes and plot while maintaining the core of exploration that is key to these types of stories. There is an interaction that I was expecting to happen for the entire book based on the advertised themes, but it never occurs. Rather than feeling isolated and unsatisfying, that choices adds an element of tension to the book while allowing it to avoid some moments that could have soured the theming overall. The voice of our protagonist feels sufficiently contemporary to the period the book takes place in, but her careful consideration of the world around her allows for the story to feel fresh and modern. There are some truly gorgeous moments of writing that gripped me towards the end of the book, especially in the final sequence. While I had some issues with the pacing in the latter half, I still found this to be a vibrant, hopeful story. It is man vs nature where the nature wins without feeling as desolate as many similar stories do.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Well written but insufficiently concrete -- didn't care enough about the author and no confidence as to where the plot is going. Love a unique historical drama though -- interesting period / concept.
A book of incredible deprivation and physical pain as the girl wrests with spiritual pain. This is not a book of wilderness adventure and rarely even of wild beauty. The wilds are an onslaught and every moment feels threatened close to the edge of death. But the book is certainly a feat and I am glad to have read it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No