A review by robertrivasplata
The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Starts off with kind of a “NPR people in the Wilderness”, or maybe “New York novel in the Wilderness” vibe. Imagine all the novels where people are just so bored to be with one another at another glittering party, except here they're deep in the backcountry & someone's just died in a flash flood, or from eating a bad mushroom, or in a rockslide (well, they assumed he died, eventually). There's also a healthy dose of Lord of the Flies style tribal politics. The New Wilderness is a book where I'm always wondering if the characters' interactions are supposed to be odd because they're all mentally ill or a little brain-damaged, or if it's supposed to be a relatable representation of what anyone would be like given the circumstances, or maybe something else I'm not picking up on. Anyhow, The New Wilderness is in large part about the American idea of “Wilderness” as a place & a natural environment untouched & unaffected by humans. Implicit in The New Wilderness is the idea that wilderness without human impact has never been a reality. The wild landscapes of the Americas were greatly shaped by the Indigenous people who lived in them, & the empty wildernesses the 19th & 20th century conservationists were trying to preserve or re-create had been only recently depopulated. A thing I felt could have used more explanation was winter difficulties: how they stayed warm enough at night, how they moved through or over snow, etc. I like how we get to know the various characters better through Agnes's eyes in the middle part of the book, & but I wish that continued into that last part of the book as well. I'm glad Cook never really spells out anything about the “Study” & also left the Rangers to be menacingly mysterious. In that way it reminds me a little bit of The Employees, or even TV's Severance. Not sure why Cook decided to bring back the 70s-style overcrowded & generally unlivable city trope, with its related overpopulation hobbyhorse.