Reviews

What Should Be Wild: A Novel by Julia Fine

jacrob's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I think this book was well written, but might not be the kind of book for me. It took a while for me to get invested, but about halfway through I started understanding a bit more what was going on and got a bit more into it. I could see this making a great TV show. 

jasse's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, the writing was captivating and the plot drew me in from the first page.
But I have to say it sizzled a little out and felt very rushed halfway in. I wasn’t particularly fond of the ending, but all in all I would absolutely recommend it!
I was stuck between rating it with 3 or 4 stars, although the writing really made it up there for me so I ended up with giving it a 4 :)

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in litterateur and English is my second language so this might be OK for those of you with a literary background, haha.

coldheartedbirch's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.0

lauralily24's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

sukant's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 I'm honestly just sad. I love how Julia Fine puts sentences together - I absolutely love Maddalena and the Dark, so I decided to read her other writing - and while I absolutely adored her prose in this book as well, the plotting just feels poorly handled - with some character situations just feeling unnatural (eg

[how casually Matthew and Peter respond to Mrs Blott's death, the entire love triangle subplot, Maisie feeling nervous telling Matthew about Rafe's death (hide spoiler)]

).

I really enjoyed the chapters in the forest with all the Blakely women of the past, and I wish we'd spent more time with each of them, but I suppose that was the point - there really isn't much that happens after they're in the wood - an "unlife" of eternal stagnation.

With all my issues with this novel, it might yet have been great, but for the ending. A book's worth of building up

[the shadow of Maisie (hide spoiler)]

, only for her to only really interact with Maisie for all of 4 pages. An opportunity for at the very least a wonderful monologue, the likes of which Fine writes so incredibly well, squandered in favour of

[a page describing Matthew trying to assemble a puzzle out of twigs (hide spoiler)]

. And the more I try to understand the point being made with the ending, the more puzzling it is.

[So it's a cycle - and it seems Maisie accepting that she should take what she wants from life is enough to reset the cycle. The final line of the book is "Outside, the wood grows wild.", which I assume implies that (maybe because of the magic book that was related to Alys's cousin in 605AD), the wood will become enchanted again over time and the entire story will play out again with the village. So.....what was the point? Why was the black eyed girl killing the other Blakely women? Or was she only killing the ones that wanted to die? Because Helen was suicidal, but Emma was too young to understand that she would be killed and Kathryn sure didn't seem like she wanted to die, more like she simply accepted death. Why did Maisie embracing her double reset the cycle anyway? (hide spoiler)]

I don't mind having to think a little bit, but I do feel like Fine buried the lead a little too far. I had to reread the last couple of chapters of Maddalena and the Dark to remind myself of why I loved her writing so much. (less)

 

raereadings's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

What Should be Wild isn’t the book for me. There are two timelines when I which is easily differentiated by one being in first person narrative and one being in third person. 

I loved the premise which reminded me of Girl, Serpent, Thorn but wanted things to move faster in the plot, wanted less exposition and more live action in the moment, less telling and more showing and for the characters to not start off the story at such a young age.

unicorn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mazreadssometimes's review against another edition

I'm going to read this later, since I like the idea of it, but I have too much of a physical TBR currently (1000+) to justify reading this right now, and it's stopping me from reading.

no_good_wyfe's review against another edition

3.0

Hitting you over the head a bit with the allegory, and lacking character development. Mysterious and engaging enough to keep you reading through, but the end fell flat. The reviews promise a lot about explorations of female desire, but while there’s a promising look at the rocky transition from girlhood, it’s marred by some really bad caricatures of female desire. These are also excessively heteronormative.

alexandriam_rose's review against another edition

4.0

*3.5 rounded up? will review soon but it was weird