Status
Available
Publication
Riverhead Books (2023), 272 pages
Description
A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her. Lauren Groff's new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how--and if--we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves.
User reviews
LibraryThing member japaul22
Lauren Groff's new book is both very different from her previous books in content and yet similar in some intangible way. In this novel, a young woman escapes from an early settlement in America when the community faces starvation and illness. She was brought there as a servant for a family who
I liked this, but like all of Lauren Groff's novels that I've read, I found it challenging. I wasn't always sure where Groff was trying to go or what the overarching point of the novel was trying to be. But there's something about her writing that I find compelling and unexpected - and I enjoy that.
Show More
wanted to leave England for the new land. At first she is trying to outrun someone from the colony who might be chasing her, but then, as she gets farther away, it becomes more of a survivalist story as she tries to navigate the vast, empty spaces of 17th century America. She starves, gets injured, becomes ill, fights wildlife, tries to avoid the native people, and has to navigate the wild terrain. As she does this she flashes back to her life in England, her passage to America, and her time in the colony. She also stumbles upon philosophical insights as she observes wildlife and the bare necessities of what it takes to survive. I liked this, but like all of Lauren Groff's novels that I've read, I found it challenging. I wasn't always sure where Groff was trying to go or what the overarching point of the novel was trying to be. But there's something about her writing that I find compelling and unexpected - and I enjoy that.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cariola
I gave up after reading over 60% of the book on kindle. I am SO disappointed as Lauren Groff is one of my favorite writers, and I was really looking forward to this her latest novel. Unfortunately, it was a painful, tedious read. The main character is a girl, formerly servant to a wealthy family in
Show More
colonial settlement, who is on the run after apparently murdering one (or more) of her masters. As far as I got, nothing is clear except that she is running, running, running and trying to survive in the snowy wilderness. There are way too many minute details about her packing and unpacking and repacking her sack, trying to find water, tending to her sore feet, looking for a cave or crevice to sleep in, skewering a nestful of baby squirrels and roasting them (their bones taste like butter), stealing a duck's eggs and then breaking her neck, gathering mushrooms that make her vomit, eating a cupful of grubs, pissing and shitting in the woods--well, you get the idea. I guess I was supposed to be impressed by her perseverance in the face of this ordeal, but honestly, it was just too much until it got boring, and I just couldn't take any more. Show Less
LibraryThing member jo_lafaith
Thank you so much, Riverhead Books, for sending me this ARC for The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. There is no denying this is a work by one of our BEST living writers, but it is also one rich with exploration, experience, insight and brutality. ‘The Vaster Woods’ was a most anticipated for me.
Quickly, this is a brutal survival story set in the early 1600s in a Jamestown colony, in a time of starving and sickness. It follows a young woman as she flees the settlement after acts of violence, and chronicles her trek into the elements in these unknown lands. It is a cold and heavy winter, and she has only a few tools to help her through. She encounters extreme weather, starvation, and the animals of the forest. In her condition she is vulnerable to injury, illness and hallucinations. She’s also at war, within herself, over the contradictions of godly men, the god they speak of, the wilderness and those who inhabited the lands before they came. We see glimpses of her life before, and slowly unravel what plagues her, and what she’s lost.
So much of this called to mind classic survival stories, and specifically those of Jack London. I grew up reading about death in extreme cold, and it reminded me of the fascination I had with that kind of severity. But Lauren Groff brings to this type of story, an emotion and thoughtfullness missing from those earlier works. The prose can be deceptively sparse and matter of fact, but contains a lyricism and beauty that glistens. There are scenes in which the girl must interact with or observe animals; deer locked together after battle, an exhausted family of ducks, a bear confounded by her presence… and each time there is a wonder and “humanity” in it that broke my heart.
A large portion of this is spiritual. It's unpacking the existence of "god" and who gets to decide what that is. It's looking at afterlife and the natural world, and religion as a force for power and control, and the disconnect between colonizers and the lands they come to, and the ungodly manner in which they devour and dominate. It captures the struggle inside a person when they see these contradictions and the way the indoctrination imprints itself into your bones. I've heard some reviewers refer to this as "preachy" but I found it the antithesis of that. Rather I found it to be comforting and parallel to my own journey as a child and young woman, recognizing the ways religion had been used as a tool to separate me from imagination, communion with nature and had - ultimately - condemned me for the actions of others, perpetrated against me.
As you might imagine this was a highly personal read, despite never having to battle the climate and starvation like the girl we follow. It blew me away, broke my heart, and still - healed something long broken. I always encourage you to proceed with caution when subject matter is dark and your dealing with survival, but I do believe Lauren Groff perfectly balanced the brutality with the beauty and weaves a meaningful theme, making this well worth the read. It will be a journey, and one that transports you through space and time, but I'm better for the time spent with the girl.... the forest... and the unknown.
Show More
Lauren Groff’s works consistently leave me awestruck, moved and inspired, while being surprised by the settings, characters and direction. I thought it would be impossible to top ‘Matrix’ but ‘The Vaster Wilds’ hit a nerve. It was my perfect book. Quickly, this is a brutal survival story set in the early 1600s in a Jamestown colony, in a time of starving and sickness. It follows a young woman as she flees the settlement after acts of violence, and chronicles her trek into the elements in these unknown lands. It is a cold and heavy winter, and she has only a few tools to help her through. She encounters extreme weather, starvation, and the animals of the forest. In her condition she is vulnerable to injury, illness and hallucinations. She’s also at war, within herself, over the contradictions of godly men, the god they speak of, the wilderness and those who inhabited the lands before they came. We see glimpses of her life before, and slowly unravel what plagues her, and what she’s lost.
So much of this called to mind classic survival stories, and specifically those of Jack London. I grew up reading about death in extreme cold, and it reminded me of the fascination I had with that kind of severity. But Lauren Groff brings to this type of story, an emotion and thoughtfullness missing from those earlier works. The prose can be deceptively sparse and matter of fact, but contains a lyricism and beauty that glistens. There are scenes in which the girl must interact with or observe animals; deer locked together after battle, an exhausted family of ducks, a bear confounded by her presence… and each time there is a wonder and “humanity” in it that broke my heart.
A large portion of this is spiritual. It's unpacking the existence of "god" and who gets to decide what that is. It's looking at afterlife and the natural world, and religion as a force for power and control, and the disconnect between colonizers and the lands they come to, and the ungodly manner in which they devour and dominate. It captures the struggle inside a person when they see these contradictions and the way the indoctrination imprints itself into your bones. I've heard some reviewers refer to this as "preachy" but I found it the antithesis of that. Rather I found it to be comforting and parallel to my own journey as a child and young woman, recognizing the ways religion had been used as a tool to separate me from imagination, communion with nature and had - ultimately - condemned me for the actions of others, perpetrated against me.
As you might imagine this was a highly personal read, despite never having to battle the climate and starvation like the girl we follow. It blew me away, broke my heart, and still - healed something long broken. I always encourage you to proceed with caution when subject matter is dark and your dealing with survival, but I do believe Lauren Groff perfectly balanced the brutality with the beauty and weaves a meaningful theme, making this well worth the read. It will be a journey, and one that transports you through space and time, but I'm better for the time spent with the girl.... the forest... and the unknown.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Hccpsk
With The Matrix, Lauren Groff cast aside plot to create a character-driven book and she continues this trend with her newest novel, The Vaster Wilds. Again she gives us a young woman with deep religious roots cast out from societal norms — this time in 1600s America. The Girl, as we mostly know
Show More
her, escapes from her servitude and the starvation happening in her settlement to run into the wilds with little more than her faith and a few precious items stolen from her mistress. As she plunges through the early American wilderness we learn a little about what brought her to this place, and watch as she struggles to survive. This short novel is really a meditation on religion, colonialism, and the human spirit to survive which should appeal to readers of The Matrix, Maggie O’Farrell, and Richard Powers. Show Less
LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
This story of a young woman's attempt to survive in the wilderness in 17th century Virginia would have made a better short story, or perhaps, a novella. In spite of her lyrical writing, Groff's story just goes on and on, descriptive text and events unbroken by dialogue, one terrible moment after
Show More
another. I almost stopped reading, but then decided to skim and find out whether there was a reason to continue. And there was, sort of. No spoilers here. Not a book I would recommend reading over Christmas vacation, as I did. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBD1
Loved it, as I usually do with Lauren Groff's novels. Just brilliant and so carefully and beautifully constructed.
LibraryThing member maryreinert
Undoubtfully, the writing in this book is beautiful at times even when describing repulsive and horrible scenes. A young girl escapes a colony (probably Jamestown) and starts north. She never really ends her trip which is filled with danger, cold, insects, bears, a feral man, hunger, disease, along
The book is not particularly an easy read but interesting in places, and always led me to wonder where it was going. The relationship of the girl to nature in both a physical and spiritual way is so well drawn.
There are scenes that are horrific and scenes that are beautiful still not as well liked as "Matrix"
Show More
with vast scenes of the beauty of nature. The reader picks up glimpses of her past beginning in England, the fearful voyage to America, her relationship to her mistress and her first husband and second evil husband, as well as the child Bess who was her charge.The book is not particularly an easy read but interesting in places, and always led me to wonder where it was going. The relationship of the girl to nature in both a physical and spiritual way is so well drawn.
There are scenes that are horrific and scenes that are beautiful still not as well liked as "Matrix"
Show Less
LibraryThing member alans
A masterpiece,incredibly moving and phenomenally well-written. A book people will be talking about for years to come.
LibraryThing member kayanelson
A well written book. The many named servant girl escapes Jamestown to exist on her own in The Vaster Wilds, of course. The story is a huge stream of consciousness and I have read way too many of these books lately. All of which have been about survival in a remote land (The Unseen and The Summer
The Vaster Wild was beautifully written, has history written in it and some wonderful philosophical statements. It is worth a read.
Show More
Book). Reading these three books so close together was not done intentionally on my part but I am now tired of them.The Vaster Wild was beautifully written, has history written in it and some wonderful philosophical statements. It is worth a read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ozzer
What options does a person have when surrounded by death and disease? You can give in to despair, you can resist, or you can run. Groff’s protagonist, known only as “the girl,” runs. The novel follows her through the pre-colonial wilderness of the New World, armed only with the barest
Groff uses dream sequences and memories to tease her protagonist’s backstory. Although effective, these abrupt narrative shifts can interfere with fluid storytelling.
Show More
essentials. She proves to be adept at survival, while keeping her distance from the other inhabitants of this isolated place —both man and beast. Along the way, she learns to appreciate the wild land, the changing seasons, and the abundance that these things provide, while also coming to understand that isolation is not natural for humans.Groff uses dream sequences and memories to tease her protagonist’s backstory. Although effective, these abrupt narrative shifts can interfere with fluid storytelling.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
Nature is God is beauty is truth. Mankind, by making tools, destroys nature and destroys mankind. The old conundrum. We fall on our own axe. This view is essentially Rousseauian (ie. Romanticism) which sees man in his primitive natural state as superior to the civilized man which is degeneration.
Show More
It's not a universal truth, but one version. The book is set in a time period predating these issues so it's unclear the author was aware of the historical movements she is playing with, it feels off, sort of a mixed bag. Then, it may have nothing to do with history and everything to do with the present, which is fine, but makes it a slighter period piece. I liked the imagery of the dead fish eye frozen into the stream. Show Less
LibraryThing member jillrhudy
Talk about a book that's difficult to review without spoilers! Very little happens, and the little that does happen could be classified as spoilers.
With incredible writing finesse, Lauren Groff puts the reader right into the skin of a girl who escapes a colonial fort. The girl faces down the wilds
Nevertheless, I can't deny the genius of either this protagonist or this writer.
With incredible writing finesse, Lauren Groff puts the reader right into the skin of a girl who escapes a colonial fort. The girl faces down the wilds
Show More
with ever-increasing ingenuity. We know very little about her, not even her name, and at the same time, we know every detail about her right down to the functioning of her digestive system from top to bottom. There's no TMI when it comes to this character. Her ability to survive blew my mind, until the novel just comes to an unsatisfying (to me) conclusion. I understand the symbolism of the ending but still didn't like it.Nevertheless, I can't deny the genius of either this protagonist or this writer.
Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
Imagine being a girl of sixteen, a New World victim of famine and plague, who seizes a chance to escape her dying settlement by fleeing into the woods in winter. Alone. Zed, an orphan who is so named by her mistress, becomes a servant to the wealthy widow who then marries a handsome minister and
Show More
sails to the colonies. The novel is Zed's detailed description of how she makes use of what she wisely grabbed in her flight - a hatchet, a fork, blankets, boots - and how she survives and occasionally thrives in the random, feast-or-famine bounty of the woods and the river, the caves, the grubs, mushrooms, and fish. Around her are Natives who do not disturb her; a wildman hermit whose handmade boat she steals; and terrifying bears and vultures. Her thoughts are presented as a daily journal of her hardships and of her emerging spirituality and renouncement of the teachings of her stern church. This reader became fearful and knowledgeable along with Zed, as she presses on towards the north’s French settlements, and also became a grateful witness to this most unique of survival tests. I have not read anything like this short and sleek part history and part unravelling mystery, with Zed's regrets for her solitude and her recognition that she will only bring disease and death to anyone who tries to save her. Groff is an author whose subject matter varies but is always revealing the inner sanctums of her mostly noble characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member nicole_a_davis
I can’t think of any other book like this. It was dark and strange and didn’t have much of a plot to speak of but I was immersed in the world the author created. Really captivating.
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
In 1607 English settlers established a base in Jamestown, Virginia, and almost immediately the community faced a variety of diseases and a high mortality rate. The native population initially provided gifts of food to help them survive but as relations soured, famine took hold. In The Vaster Wilds,
She makes her way over rough terrain eating anything she can find, from mushrooms and berries to live insects to fish from the river. She creates overnight shelter using two coverlets brought with her from the settlement. Only rarely does she spy other humans, usually natives, and fear drives her on. As the days pass the girl’s back story is slowly revealed: her life in England, the circumstances surrounding her journey to Virginia, and the events in the settlement that led to her dramatic and dangerous decision.
On the surface the girl’s story is one of survival in the wilderness, but with sublime prose Lauren Groff adds layers of social commentary, about the native peoples’ respect for the land, the impact of colonialism, and women’s lack of agency and options. The result is a beautifully written and thought-provoking novel.
Show More
a girl flees this dire situation prepared to survive on her own until she finds other settlers.She makes her way over rough terrain eating anything she can find, from mushrooms and berries to live insects to fish from the river. She creates overnight shelter using two coverlets brought with her from the settlement. Only rarely does she spy other humans, usually natives, and fear drives her on. As the days pass the girl’s back story is slowly revealed: her life in England, the circumstances surrounding her journey to Virginia, and the events in the settlement that led to her dramatic and dangerous decision.
On the surface the girl’s story is one of survival in the wilderness, but with sublime prose Lauren Groff adds layers of social commentary, about the native peoples’ respect for the land, the impact of colonialism, and women’s lack of agency and options. The result is a beautifully written and thought-provoking novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
Lauren Groff has written a book that is set during the time of the Jamestown colony in 1609.Her previous book(Matrix) dealt with 12th century France so she has now down 2 historical novels which is a shift from her previous work. Her prose is excellent and she is brilliant at painting a picture
Show More
with words. This story seems simple. In the winter of 1609 a 16 year old girl escapes the Jamestown colony where there is terrible starvation and disease. She goes in the wilderness with a few tools(Hatchett, knife) and some other things. The book deals with her connection to the wilderness as she survives with her ingenuity. Groff's description of the land and the hardships the girl faces are hard to read and she really makes you feel the hardship. We are in the girl's head as she has no real human contact but we do get her history and begin to understand her motivation to leave the colony. This is a short book(252) and with the constant struggle the reader can begin to get worn down by the bleakness she faces. Groff touches on many issues and gave me a real feel for how difficult life was for the early colonial settlers. This book may not be for everyone but I thought it was a worthwhile read about a young girl who was just one of the millions that pass through life without acknowledgment but still have a story to tell. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmarcin
A young girl runs from her mistress and master in colonial America, after witnessing a horrific act. The household is starving and the girl is hungry and in despair. She leaves behind all she knows, carrying only a few essentials. She braves the wilderness, escaping a soldier tracking her, and the
While exhausted, her mind stirs up memories of the ocean voyage to the new world, a glassblower she met, a child she helped to raise. Her mind becomes muddled by fever and hunger. She contemplates god and what her religion means in the colonial world.
Show More
beasts of the forest. She eats berries, grubs, mushrooms, squirrels, and fish. She becomes resourceful in building fire and shelter.While exhausted, her mind stirs up memories of the ocean voyage to the new world, a glassblower she met, a child she helped to raise. Her mind becomes muddled by fever and hunger. She contemplates god and what her religion means in the colonial world.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wellred2
Compelling, intense, the language! A beautiful book.
LibraryThing member mykl-s
This is the story of a young woman, a foundling, who has no real name but sometimes is called Zed, or names even less complementary, by the people she finds herself working for, essentially as a slave in Jamestown Colony. The colony is starving and we gradually learn the reasons she has to escape
We learn about Zed's difficulties and successes in traveling alone, her determination, and even more about the changes she goes through in understanding her place in the world. Some details were hard for me to understand, just where she was, how she made her camps on the way, found food and slept in the wilderness. But, the details were to show how dangerous and precarious her situation was, both in society and in the wild.
Groff uses a narrator who knows what Zed is thinking and feeling, knows her past history, and tells us also a bit more about what a few of the other characters are doing. This helps us understand what is really happening, and some of the horrible history of early English colonization in North America. The story only gives a few clues as to how it will end. It ends in an unexpected but satisfying way.
Vast Wilds was a slow read for me, because each word, each phrase tells so much, and because I want to savor each part for its language and its meanings. It has a depth not found in many much longer novels. At the end of the book, I spent considerable time rereading many parts of this story.
Show More
into the wild countryside to save herself. We learn about Zed's difficulties and successes in traveling alone, her determination, and even more about the changes she goes through in understanding her place in the world. Some details were hard for me to understand, just where she was, how she made her camps on the way, found food and slept in the wilderness. But, the details were to show how dangerous and precarious her situation was, both in society and in the wild.
Groff uses a narrator who knows what Zed is thinking and feeling, knows her past history, and tells us also a bit more about what a few of the other characters are doing. This helps us understand what is really happening, and some of the horrible history of early English colonization in North America. The story only gives a few clues as to how it will end. It ends in an unexpected but satisfying way.
Vast Wilds was a slow read for me, because each word, each phrase tells so much, and because I want to savor each part for its language and its meanings. It has a depth not found in many much longer novels. At the end of the book, I spent considerable time rereading many parts of this story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member technodiabla
I listened to the audiobook version.
This novel follows a teenage girl as she escapes the Jamestown famine into the wilderness. There are frequent flashbacks to her life there as well as in England. As she travels and survives a multitude of challenges her devout Puritan faith evolves into
This novel follows a teenage girl as she escapes the Jamestown famine into the wilderness. There are frequent flashbacks to her life there as well as in England. As she travels and survives a multitude of challenges her devout Puritan faith evolves into
Show More
something more inspired by the nature. There is not a riveting plot but the imagery and nature writing is beautiful. There is no romanticism though and the horrors of suffering and daily life in survival mode are told very explicitly and uncut. I enjoyed the book but I don’t think it’s for everyone. Show Less
LibraryThing member msf59
"She flew as fast as she could over the mud thinly frozen again in the chill night, into the wild dark woods, because what was behind her was far more deadly than whatever could lie ahead."
A servant girl flees a Jamestown settlement, in colonial America. The wilderness offers even more challenges,
A servant girl flees a Jamestown settlement, in colonial America. The wilderness offers even more challenges,
Show More
as she struggles to survive on her own. I am fan of Groff and I really liked the first half of this adventure story but it began to wear thin, in the second half. It may work better for others. Show Less
LibraryThing member ellengryphon
If you love language and history, if you enjoy learning about remarkable women, the power of the powerless, and the pull of gravity, mortality and spirituality, then I highly recommend these spare but worthy books — The Vaster Wilds and Matrix — by Lauren Groff, whom I count among our greatest
Her most recent book, the Vaster Wilds, follows the story of a teen girl brought as a servant to the Jamestown Colony at its bleakest moment, “The Starving Time.” After her charge dies, and with starvation and small pox closing in, she escapes into the wilds of 17th Century North America. The story is part Odyssey, part Robinson Crusoe with a dash of Call of the Wild thrown in. Groff’s descriptions of pre-colonized America are gorgeous. And we come to understand just who the heroine (who refers to herself simply as “girl”) is, what has shaped her, and where she hopes to go in her one precious (if fleeting) life. Her near-encounters with the original people of the land (Powhatan), with a former Spanish priest turned murderous hermit, her brushes with mountain lions, bears, and smaller specimens of the animal kingdom stay with the reader. Her hard and heartbreaking saga has staying power. I will not forget.
Likewise, Groff’s earlier book, Matrix, still resonates, though I read it many months ago now. The story of an almost unknown figure in history — Marie of France, this short book has language so beautiful and nuanced that I found myself constantly having to look up Groff’s dazzling word choices and historical references (even the use of the word “Matrix,” which is synonymous with womb, in this instance). This is the story of a strong and smart woman who strategically built power to turn the English convent she was forced to live in after being expelled from France from a place of starvation and ignorance to one of the wealthiest church holdings in England. As prioress, she kept misogynistic priests from plundering her convent while elevating and liberating her sisters and nurturing the people of her community. Groff’s imagination and luminous writing worked some literary magic here. I will likely check out some of her earlier work, as her talent is not something I want to miss.
Show More
living authors.Her most recent book, the Vaster Wilds, follows the story of a teen girl brought as a servant to the Jamestown Colony at its bleakest moment, “The Starving Time.” After her charge dies, and with starvation and small pox closing in, she escapes into the wilds of 17th Century North America. The story is part Odyssey, part Robinson Crusoe with a dash of Call of the Wild thrown in. Groff’s descriptions of pre-colonized America are gorgeous. And we come to understand just who the heroine (who refers to herself simply as “girl”) is, what has shaped her, and where she hopes to go in her one precious (if fleeting) life. Her near-encounters with the original people of the land (Powhatan), with a former Spanish priest turned murderous hermit, her brushes with mountain lions, bears, and smaller specimens of the animal kingdom stay with the reader. Her hard and heartbreaking saga has staying power. I will not forget.
Likewise, Groff’s earlier book, Matrix, still resonates, though I read it many months ago now. The story of an almost unknown figure in history — Marie of France, this short book has language so beautiful and nuanced that I found myself constantly having to look up Groff’s dazzling word choices and historical references (even the use of the word “Matrix,” which is synonymous with womb, in this instance). This is the story of a strong and smart woman who strategically built power to turn the English convent she was forced to live in after being expelled from France from a place of starvation and ignorance to one of the wealthiest church holdings in England. As prioress, she kept misogynistic priests from plundering her convent while elevating and liberating her sisters and nurturing the people of her community. Groff’s imagination and luminous writing worked some literary magic here. I will likely check out some of her earlier work, as her talent is not something I want to miss.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Narshkite
I have mentioned before that one of my main considerations when rating a book is whether the author achieved what she wished to achieve in writing the book. Here I think the answer is a resounding yes. This is a compelling writing exercise, and the prose is remarkable. I never love Groff's books,
Essentially this is dystopian history. It reads in many ways like the many dystopian novels, with our hero tromping through an apocalyptic hellscape outrunning those who wish her dead. Like many of those books, this is threaded through with a strong save the earth message. Those books though are set in the future or in alternate universes, and this book is set in 17th century Virginia. Our lead, we know her only as Zed (which is not her real name), is escaping a British settlement. (It's not mentioned by name, but it seems like it is Jamestown.) Zed is escaping to avoid repercussions from actions I won't spoil. In the early 17th century Jamestown experienced a famine that wiped out most everyone. (Thanks Lauren Groff for making those Williamsburg/Jamestown trips pay off!) Zed was a servant girl charged with raising a young child who is now dead -- she has no money, food or family. In her escape she shares memories (she is utterly alone with lots of time to ponder) and experiences many terrible things. The things that seem to take the most space on the page, other than a couple of long musings on God and nature, are vivid descriptions of Zed's pissing and shitting, her filth. Bothered by detailed descriptions of a woman picking the lice and fleas out of her pubic hair and armpits? Do you want to avoid frank and clinically detailed depictions of steaming torrential piss and ferocious diarrhea (color, texture, velocity of travel, etc.) If so you might want to take a pass. For my friends who appreciate art, reading this is like looking at a Francis Bacon painting. Fascinating, brilliantly rendered, repellant.
I am ending up with a 3 here. Personal enjoyment is a 2 and craft is a 5.
Show More
but I have come away from reading her work awed by her craft every single time. There is true artistry here in Groff's descriptions of sensations and wonderings and experiences. Everything is visceral and deeply personal, and right there on the page. There were two problems for me, neither of which has a thing to do with Groff's skill. The first problem is that what she is bringing to life is mostly revolting, really disgusting, and a lot of the time it is not revolting it is kind of dull. (People who enjoy graphic horror might like this, though it is not in any traditional way horror.) The second problem for me is that Groff has a very clear point of view, an integrated theory really, about God and religion and nature and humans as part of the natural world and as destroyers of the natural world and it is well presented, it just does not ring true for me personally. (Other than the belief that the world is unsafe for woman. We agree on that. There is a passage that depicts grooming a young girl that is sickening but is the best writing I have ever read on the subject. Those 4 sentences pack a book into them and I have been fixated on that story for over 24 hours now and I expect it will stay with me for a long time, if not forever.) I don't buy into her theory so I didn't enjoy the book, but I admired every page.Essentially this is dystopian history. It reads in many ways like the many dystopian novels, with our hero tromping through an apocalyptic hellscape outrunning those who wish her dead. Like many of those books, this is threaded through with a strong save the earth message. Those books though are set in the future or in alternate universes, and this book is set in 17th century Virginia. Our lead, we know her only as Zed (which is not her real name), is escaping a British settlement. (It's not mentioned by name, but it seems like it is Jamestown.) Zed is escaping to avoid repercussions from actions I won't spoil. In the early 17th century Jamestown experienced a famine that wiped out most everyone. (Thanks Lauren Groff for making those Williamsburg/Jamestown trips pay off!) Zed was a servant girl charged with raising a young child who is now dead -- she has no money, food or family. In her escape she shares memories (she is utterly alone with lots of time to ponder) and experiences many terrible things. The things that seem to take the most space on the page, other than a couple of long musings on God and nature, are vivid descriptions of Zed's pissing and shitting, her filth. Bothered by detailed descriptions of a woman picking the lice and fleas out of her pubic hair and armpits? Do you want to avoid frank and clinically detailed depictions of steaming torrential piss and ferocious diarrhea (color, texture, velocity of travel, etc.) If so you might want to take a pass. For my friends who appreciate art, reading this is like looking at a Francis Bacon painting. Fascinating, brilliantly rendered, repellant.
I am ending up with a 3 here. Personal enjoyment is a 2 and craft is a 5.
Show Less
LibraryThing member decaturmamaof2
Poetry.
The story of a journey through the wilderness of colonial-era North America.
Also meditation on the journey of understanding. Of learning. Of seeing.
The story of a journey through the wilderness of colonial-era North America.
Also meditation on the journey of understanding. Of learning. Of seeing.
Awards
Southern Book Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2024)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Fiction — 2024)
NPR: Books We Love (2023)
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — September 2023)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2023)
Denver Public Library Staff Picks for Adults (Fiction — 2023)
The best books of 2023 | The Guardian (Fiction)
Language
Original language
English
Similar in this library
Trust by Hernan Diaz