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A review by thechiaraface
The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a speculative fiction novel (could also be shelved as dystopian/sci-fi) that follows mother-daughter duo Bea and Agnes. This is set in a future/alternate(?) world where everyone lives in The City and there is only one Wilderness area left. Because of the over-population and over-pollution many children are dying in The City – Agnes is one of these children. Bea, Agnes, and her husband Glen in an attempt to save Agnes, they sign up for a research experiment in The Wilderness State to see if humans can co-exist with nature as nomads as they did once-upon-a-time. This book tells the story of their time in The Wilderness State. This book explores wildness, motherhood and daughterhood, group dynamics, and what people are willing to do to survive.
I found this book captivating and utterly compelling, and yet I struggle to explain what I liked so much about it. The writing was stellar, but I definitely did not 'get' everything, there definitely were some deeper metaphors and symbolism that went right over my head. This book deeply explores a mother-daughter relationship pushed to its limits when they have to rely so much more on survival instincts versus the norms/constraints of typical 'civilized human society'. Both Bea and Agnes are fascinating characters to follow around, neither extremely likeable but their very different motivations are complex, well-developed, and just so interesting. The book was thought-provoking in how the story unfolded (not by spelling things out for you to think about) which I appreciated. This book made me really ponder human nature and motherhood.
I feel like this book has some similar vibes to The Hunger Games (just the first book) in terms of surviving the outdoors/wilderness and still having an outside force guiding the experience. I also haven't read Lord of the Flies in a long time (and remember distinctly hating it when I read it in high school because everyone was so awful), but this seems in the same vein of exploring human nature and group dynamics – although this book is more closely investigating motherhood/the relationship between child and parent.
In conclusion, I loved this book. I feel similar about this as I did about The Dutch House, I loved it but don't feel like I can adequately explain why. A couple warnings/caveats though: 1. this book doesn't really have a clear, satisfying ending - it's a pretty ambiguous, kind-of chaotic ending. 2. The book opens with a couple of death scenes (including a still-born baby), while these scenes aren't graphic or gratuitous in my opinion, the topic/details are not danced around. Overall, definitely recommend if you those caveats don't deter you.
I found this book captivating and utterly compelling, and yet I struggle to explain what I liked so much about it. The writing was stellar, but I definitely did not 'get' everything, there definitely were some deeper metaphors and symbolism that went right over my head. This book deeply explores a mother-daughter relationship pushed to its limits when they have to rely so much more on survival instincts versus the norms/constraints of typical 'civilized human society'. Both Bea and Agnes are fascinating characters to follow around, neither extremely likeable but their very different motivations are complex, well-developed, and just so interesting. The book was thought-provoking in how the story unfolded (not by spelling things out for you to think about) which I appreciated. This book made me really ponder human nature and motherhood.
I feel like this book has some similar vibes to The Hunger Games (just the first book) in terms of surviving the outdoors/wilderness and still having an outside force guiding the experience. I also haven't read Lord of the Flies in a long time (and remember distinctly hating it when I read it in high school because everyone was so awful), but this seems in the same vein of exploring human nature and group dynamics – although this book is more closely investigating motherhood/the relationship between child and parent.
In conclusion, I loved this book. I feel similar about this as I did about The Dutch House, I loved it but don't feel like I can adequately explain why. A couple warnings/caveats though: 1. this book doesn't really have a clear, satisfying ending - it's a pretty ambiguous, kind-of chaotic ending. 2. The book opens with a couple of death scenes (including a still-born baby), while these scenes aren't graphic or gratuitous in my opinion, the topic/details are not danced around. Overall, definitely recommend if you those caveats don't deter you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Violence