3.48k reviews for:

The Vaster Wilds

Lauren Groff

3.85 AVERAGE

adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No

My favorite quote about this book from another Goodreads reviewer:

"While there are glimmers of poignancy and truth, they're mired in agonizing prose and anachronistic, infuriating minutiae." -Adam Perschbacher

It wasn't even the countless mention of wet shits that got to me (although the endless cycles of run, hide, hunt, shit & sleep to allow for tedious flashbacks did). No, it was this sense that the author was, rather arrogantly, trying to shock us with how raw she thought she could be. There wasn't anything raw about the story, or grounded or graceful, insightful, etc.- it just wasn't there. The most memorable thing was, in fact, the wet shits. The prose (and attempts to shock) reminded me vaugely of the character Vi in Todd Solondz's film 'Storytelling' as a naive attempt to inhabit a space one can't really fill. As with Vi, this author had trouble delivering a beginning, middle and end.

While the prose was lyrical and poetic, I found the plot to be wanting, the pacing to be abysmal, and the wilderness survival aspects to be run-of-the-mill. What really hammered in the nail, though, was the fact that it’s a trail narrative, and hardly anything is actually happening save flashbacks and exposition.
adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional
Plot or Character Driven: Character

I really liked the book a lot, but it jarred me that someone who hadn't been near another human being for months came down with smallpox.  I'm pretty sure that's impossible, and it seems like something the author should have checked.
adventurous dark reflective medium-paced
challenging dark sad slow-paced

Hate the lack of quotation marks in the flashbacks 
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

She really took choosing the bear to a whole other level 

i had a hard time getting into this book and a harder time following it through.