The Vaster Wilds
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Average rating4
A taut and electrifying novel from celebrated bestselling author Lauren Groff, about one spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive
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.
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A stunningly beautiful fable-esque story in the style of Maggie O'Farrell.
A young servant girl runs in the middle of the night from a starving, disease ridden English colony on the James River in 1600s Virginia. She's running from her mistress, but also from the darkness in her past, and hopefully, towards the safety of French Canada.
Along the way she deals with starvation, injury, disease, animals, other humans, her failing believe in god and the memories of the past.
The girl (named Lamentations, but she admits herself she does not fit this name) is a resourceful and clever and endearing character, and her development, alone as she is in the story and in the wilds is artfully done.
Groff is a true master of the word.
The writing itself was great, really enjoyed the read as a whole, but I still have so 👏🏻 many 👏🏻 questions 👏🏻 and want a much longer book with an actual story in there somewhere, too. Read in an afternoon with the primary purpose of discussing the weird ending with Other Ashley.
