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seraphjewel 's review for:
The Wilderness of Girls
by Madeline Claire Franklin
It was a surprise to me when I found out this was a debut. It was written so well, the characters felt fleshed out enough that they were memorable, it delivered on emotions, and it handled its subject matter with a lot of wisdom and care. I found myself relating a lot to Rhi's character in particular, but I felt all of them were compelling and I really enjoyed following them along on their journeys—both the ones they took together and their individual arcs. I would actually go out and buy this book so I could read it over and over, pulling out specific quotes to share with friends and family.
The only negative that comes to mind is that there aren't enough decent male characters. There are a total of two throughout the narrative (Uncle Jimmy and Dallas) while all the other featured male characters are terrible. I don't count Mother in this since he's an off-page presence, and what we know about him we're only told through the eyes of the four girls. I'm saying this as an abuse survivor: I'm getting sick of reading about so many disgusting men without nearly enough good men to balance them out.
The element I thought didn't add anything to the story was the LGBTQ+ representation. Uncle Jimmy has a non-binary significant other, but they never appear on page. He talks about them a few times and I think they're briefly mentioned in a scene, but they don't speak a single word of dialogue or meaningfully interact with any of the characters. There's also a female character with a girlfriend. Again, they're mentioned and appear in one scene. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with representation, I'm just saying that the story wouldn't change at all if they were taken out.
Putting that aside, I have nothing but good things to say about this book. There was so much social commentary crammed into this book. Sometimes it felt like it just scratched the surface, but I think it did just enough to spark conversation. One of my favorites was showing all the online discussions about the girls and how they were being perceived and labeled by the outside world. I felt that all the sensationalism, judgment, and fame-seeing that went on was very realistic. The reason why this book is so good, in part, is because I can see all of this happening in real life. I have no doubt that the author was drawing from real world events when crafting this story.
There are many times in books where abuse is put into the story, but that if it was taken out it would change nothing about the story or the characters. In this book, the abuse is a necessary part of the story. I can't imagine it being the same if those elements were taken out. The author not only did an excellent job of describing the girls' trauma and abuse, but of handling the aftermath with the proper care and attention such topics deserve.
I'll address the important trigger warnings: there is cannibalism and there is a suicide in the book, along with physical domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and rape. These are listed at the beginning and I chose to take a chance on the book anyway. I'm really glad I did. The cannibalism is written in an almost mystical sort of way. You understand why the characters did it. The book doesn't shy away from the horrific side of suicide, abuse, or rape. But it also approaches each one of them with tenderness. It's handled in a way that says, “I am acknowledging this terrible thing is happening. We are going to talk about it, understand it, and learn to heal.”
So in short, I loved this book and intend to recommend it to others or at least share with them specific passages. If this is the author's debut book, I can't wait to see what she does next.
The only negative that comes to mind is that there aren't enough decent male characters. There are a total of two throughout the narrative (Uncle Jimmy and Dallas) while all the other featured male characters are terrible. I don't count Mother in this since he's an off-page presence, and what we know about him we're only told through the eyes of the four girls. I'm saying this as an abuse survivor: I'm getting sick of reading about so many disgusting men without nearly enough good men to balance them out.
The element I thought didn't add anything to the story was the LGBTQ+ representation. Uncle Jimmy has a non-binary significant other, but they never appear on page. He talks about them a few times and I think they're briefly mentioned in a scene, but they don't speak a single word of dialogue or meaningfully interact with any of the characters. There's also a female character with a girlfriend. Again, they're mentioned and appear in one scene. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with representation, I'm just saying that the story wouldn't change at all if they were taken out.
Putting that aside, I have nothing but good things to say about this book. There was so much social commentary crammed into this book. Sometimes it felt like it just scratched the surface, but I think it did just enough to spark conversation. One of my favorites was showing all the online discussions about the girls and how they were being perceived and labeled by the outside world. I felt that all the sensationalism, judgment, and fame-seeing that went on was very realistic. The reason why this book is so good, in part, is because I can see all of this happening in real life. I have no doubt that the author was drawing from real world events when crafting this story.
There are many times in books where abuse is put into the story, but that if it was taken out it would change nothing about the story or the characters. In this book, the abuse is a necessary part of the story. I can't imagine it being the same if those elements were taken out. The author not only did an excellent job of describing the girls' trauma and abuse, but of handling the aftermath with the proper care and attention such topics deserve.
I'll address the important trigger warnings: there is cannibalism and there is a suicide in the book, along with physical domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and rape. These are listed at the beginning and I chose to take a chance on the book anyway. I'm really glad I did. The cannibalism is written in an almost mystical sort of way. You understand why the characters did it. The book doesn't shy away from the horrific side of suicide, abuse, or rape. But it also approaches each one of them with tenderness. It's handled in a way that says, “I am acknowledging this terrible thing is happening. We are going to talk about it, understand it, and learn to heal.”
So in short, I loved this book and intend to recommend it to others or at least share with them specific passages. If this is the author's debut book, I can't wait to see what she does next.