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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I was a little intimidated by this since I am not usually into books that take place entirely in the wilderness but I LOVED it! The musings of religion & God & femininity were just so insightful & Groff’s prose is absolutely beautiful. I have kind of a lot of passages I loved:
“For what is a girl but a vessel made to hold the desires of men.”
“But now she sensed the earth under her in its spin and knew herself to be a piece of it, necessary and large enough.”
“The beauties of the world were without limit and the grace given to encounter more of them would have been an astonishing gift.”
“And feel it now, so soft, so eternal, this wind against your good and living skin.”
“She felt she understood now the first man Adam, how with each name he felt himself growing more powerful, closer to the god who had created and named him. Name after name, Adam felt his dominion tipping into domination until he believed that he owned the world by naming the things in it and that all the things of the world were his to do with as he wished. For this was how the adults granted power to themselves over babies, and how babies without understanding surrendered themselves to adults until they were old enough to name others. How, in coming to this country, her fellow Englishmen believed they were naming this place and this people for the first time, and how it conferred upon them dominion here in this place, although, she was now surprised at her thought, surely the people of this place had their own names for things. But one name takes precedence over others, and so the wheel of power turned.”
“And she began to see now that when god created man and woman together and said to let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, perhaps by dominion god did not mean the right to kill or suppress the fish, the fowl, the cattle, and every creeping thing. Then she thought that perhaps in the language of the bears there was a kind of gospel, also. And perhaps this gospel said to the bears the same thing about god giving bears dominion over the world. And perhaps bears believed that this gave them license to slaughter the living world, including the men within it.
And this thought made her shake, for if the gospel was changeable between species, then god was not immoveable. Then god was changeable according to the body god spoke through. And that god could change according to the person in the moment the soul was encountering god. And this meant that when the godliest of the ministers in the city and in this awful place, back in the fort, spoke on god's behalf they were only speaking a mote of the far greater truth.”
“For what is a girl but a vessel made to hold the desires of men.”
“But now she sensed the earth under her in its spin and knew herself to be a piece of it, necessary and large enough.”
“The beauties of the world were without limit and the grace given to encounter more of them would have been an astonishing gift.”
“And feel it now, so soft, so eternal, this wind against your good and living skin.”
“She felt she understood now the first man Adam, how with each name he felt himself growing more powerful, closer to the god who had created and named him. Name after name, Adam felt his dominion tipping into domination until he believed that he owned the world by naming the things in it and that all the things of the world were his to do with as he wished. For this was how the adults granted power to themselves over babies, and how babies without understanding surrendered themselves to adults until they were old enough to name others. How, in coming to this country, her fellow Englishmen believed they were naming this place and this people for the first time, and how it conferred upon them dominion here in this place, although, she was now surprised at her thought, surely the people of this place had their own names for things. But one name takes precedence over others, and so the wheel of power turned.”
“And she began to see now that when god created man and woman together and said to let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, perhaps by dominion god did not mean the right to kill or suppress the fish, the fowl, the cattle, and every creeping thing. Then she thought that perhaps in the language of the bears there was a kind of gospel, also. And perhaps this gospel said to the bears the same thing about god giving bears dominion over the world. And perhaps bears believed that this gave them license to slaughter the living world, including the men within it.
And this thought made her shake, for if the gospel was changeable between species, then god was not immoveable. Then god was changeable according to the body god spoke through. And that god could change according to the person in the moment the soul was encountering god. And this meant that when the godliest of the ministers in the city and in this awful place, back in the fort, spoke on god's behalf they were only speaking a mote of the far greater truth.”
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
I enjoyed the writing style here but I wish more actually happened….
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4/5 - this was unlike anything I’ve ever read and was not what I expected at all - it is the story of a young girl in an early colonial settlement (~1600s) escaping the settlement and living in the wild - the entire story takes place outside of the settlement and the main character is also the only character as she is alone in the woods for the entire story. I would have liked to read a little bit more about her life prior to escaping but overall it was an interesting and thought provoking story - It should also be noted that I found it very depressing and bleak and would warn those who may have a weak stomach lol
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Heavy handed messages, in some cases spelled out literally, historical setting and events and commentary heavily ripped from the pages of Taylor’s excellent book American Colonies* (which I just read), often over-the-top and pretentious prose, a gobsmackingly pure Mary Sue protagonist with fantastic luck and amazing stamina (and oh so smart!), and yet I give four stars? ***
Well, by the last part of the book I was swept up enough to almost, almost glide by the prose and ham fistedness without making sour faces. And I absolutely loved the way it ended**. And the overall way it played out theme-wise in the end. And, perhaps most of all, I loved seeing parts of Taylor’s book as the basis for a novel. And, yeah, some of the writing was great.
But the ride was as rough as that Atlantic crossing. For much of the book I felt like it was The Revenant meets Clan Of The Cave Bear meets Pollyanna but I got used to it more so than getting over it.
Oh, by the way. Worms (mentioned in the last pages) didn’t come to North America until Columbus, and only spread around much later. But perhaps Lamentations didn’t know that.
*Not being well read on early colonization of North America, perhaps there are many books out there with the same information and thematic thrust of Taylor. But wow they were so alike it was eerie.
**Speaking of the ending, the Google AI gets it sooooo wrong.
***Well, too much still bothers me so pulling a star. Sigh.
Well, by the last part of the book I was swept up enough to almost, almost glide by the prose and ham fistedness without making sour faces. And I absolutely loved the way it ended**. And the overall way it played out theme-wise in the end. And, perhaps most of all, I loved seeing parts of Taylor’s book as the basis for a novel. And, yeah, some of the writing was great.
But the ride was as rough as that Atlantic crossing. For much of the book I felt like it was The Revenant meets Clan Of The Cave Bear meets Pollyanna but I got used to it more so than getting over it.
Oh, by the way. Worms (mentioned in the last pages) didn’t come to North America until Columbus, and only spread around much later. But perhaps Lamentations didn’t know that.
*Not being well read on early colonization of North America, perhaps there are many books out there with the same information and thematic thrust of Taylor. But wow they were so alike it was eerie.
**Speaking of the ending, the Google AI gets it sooooo wrong.
***Well, too much still bothers me so pulling a star. Sigh.
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