4/5 stars
What's it about? A young woman flees colonial Jamestown to escape her life of servitude and starvation, only to battle the harsh realities of the American wilderness. A spartan novel of humanity, faith, and perseverance.
How’d I find it? I love me some Lauren Groff, so I bought this on publication day from Solid State Books.
Who will enjoy this book? This one will appeal to Annie Proulx readers or someone looking for a grown-up version of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet.
What stood out? Every novel by Lauren Groff has its own world and tone, which speaks to her versatility and curious mind. The Vaster Wilds shares the contemplation of spirituality with Matrix but gives equal attention to the corporeal, the effects of the environment on a body in crisis. The 17th-century America that Groff evokes is indifferent to human suffering but peopled with glimpses of thriving indigenous Americans that contrast with the girl’s struggle to survive.
Which line made me feel something? Upon seeing a bear gaze with awe upon a waterfall: “Then she thought that perhaps in the language of bears there was a kind of gospel, also. And perhaps this gospel said to the bears the same thing about god giving bears dominion over the world. And perhaps bears believed that this gave them license to slaughter the living world, including the men within it. And this thought made her shake, for if the gospel was changeable between species, then god was not immoveable. Then god was changeable according to the body god spoke through. And that god could change according to the person in the moment the soul was encountering god.”