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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Cannibalism, Colonisation
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
3.5-4, I'm stuck. I didn't really enjoy this enough for it to be a 4, but I did appreciate enough just how well done it is.
The description of "Vaster Wilds" on Goodreads' that drew me toward the book is actually spot-on. It is a "story of America in miniature" at "a hinge point in history" where Groff explores whether there is still space to live outside "the churn of colonialism." It is a beautiful but harrowing story of a young girl escaping the depravity and disease of Jamestown into the American wilds and attempting to survive on her own and reach a civilization that hopefully offers something better than what the English have made. The writing is stark, raw and powerful; the girl's immediate journey and her life's journey are laid out before us with care and infused with subtle meaning.
But I just couldn't quite connect to this story. I didn't feel like I was *in* it with the girl, I felt like I was watching it. I was reminded of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" when reading this, but unfortunately, this just didn't emotionally resonate with me in the same way.
The description of "Vaster Wilds" on Goodreads' that drew me toward the book is actually spot-on. It is a "story of America in miniature" at "a hinge point in history" where Groff explores whether there is still space to live outside "the churn of colonialism." It is a beautiful but harrowing story of a young girl escaping the depravity and disease of Jamestown into the American wilds and attempting to survive on her own and reach a civilization that hopefully offers something better than what the English have made. The writing is stark, raw and powerful; the girl's immediate journey and her life's journey are laid out before us with care and infused with subtle meaning.
But I just couldn't quite connect to this story. I didn't feel like I was *in* it with the girl, I felt like I was watching it. I was reminded of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" when reading this, but unfortunately, this just didn't emotionally resonate with me in the same way.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Lauren Groff is an incredible writer, but this book inflicts more pain and suffering on its main character than almost any other I’ve read (apart from maybe ‘A Little Life’.) The beauty of the writing carried me right through the darkest depths and I ultimately loved it, but I would be very careful who I recommended this to! Needs all the trigger warnings.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An enjoyable - but for me, fatally flawed - novel.
I had an affection for the main character, she of multiple names: Lamentations, Wench, Zed, and others. I appreciated the premise and the start-in-the-middle structure was well executed and mostly maintained tension throughout. The writing itself, while once or twice slightly overreaching, was often poetic and quite beautiful.
My issue with The Vaster Wilds, and I fully realize this may be a highly individual complaint, is that I was absolutely confounded by the way Groff wrote about wild places, geography and topography. My life has been one largely spent outside, and I found myself constantly disoriented by her descriptions. I was unable to suspend my disbelief in places where the events are simply not physically possible, like maintaining a fire inside a hollowed out tree that is also providing total shelter from torrential rain, somehow allowing enough oxygen for the fire the burn and having an exhaust for smoke to escape, yet remaining water tight and also managing not to catch the tree in fire from the inside out.
It bums me out to feel like I'm being pedantic, but so many passages just left me pulling out my hair. For me, Groff needed a great deal more personal experience alone in wild places in order to make this the gr at book it could have been.
I had an affection for the main character, she of multiple names: Lamentations, Wench, Zed, and others. I appreciated the premise and the start-in-the-middle structure was well executed and mostly maintained tension throughout. The writing itself, while once or twice slightly overreaching, was often poetic and quite beautiful.
My issue with The Vaster Wilds, and I fully realize this may be a highly individual complaint, is that I was absolutely confounded by the way Groff wrote about wild places, geography and topography. My life has been one largely spent outside, and I found myself constantly disoriented by her descriptions. I was unable to suspend my disbelief in places where the events are simply not physically possible, like maintaining a fire inside a hollowed out tree that is also providing total shelter from torrential rain, somehow allowing enough oxygen for the fire the burn and having an exhaust for smoke to escape, yet remaining water tight and also managing not to catch the tree in fire from the inside out.
It bums me out to feel like I'm being pedantic, but so many passages just left me pulling out my hair. For me, Groff needed a great deal more personal experience alone in wild places in order to make this the gr at book it could have been.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I stumbled over the language a bit at first, but this book is masterful.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I loved this! Early American settlers, Native Americans, plague, sadness, survival, bears! It had all my favourite things. Like the revenant but with a female lady woman.