A review by nectarine_waffle
Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne

3.0

Gently satirical novel about the discontented existences of a group of people who have dedicated their lives to living in a commune in the countryside. Some parts of this are sharply drawn and humorous, but other parts flit around too much instead of staying with the perspective and actions of a single character; this has the effect of painting a portrait of a place, but it also inhibited my ability to care about what happened. Although the story is centered on the children of the arrogant commune patriarch, my favorite character in this novel was Patrick, the commune's main financial backer, an insecure longtime stoner paranoid that no one really likes him.

This second novel by the author of [b:Submarine|2473454|Submarine|Joe Dunthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320547560s/2473454.jpg|2480651] (which was turned into a quirky, delightful movie) is hit-or-miss but worth reading. It also will make a good movie.