The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

My thoughts

First let me say that I listened to the audio of this book while reading along. The narrator, January LaVoy, did an excellent job with this story. She made it come alive and gave it much feeling. 

While it's a much unbelievable story for me it was good. Well written and with vivid descriptions. 

A young girl takes off from Jamestown after some pretty awful things happened. She runs through forests and floats on water for the most part. She's totally alone and goes back and forth between her running and before she left. Back to her early days in England. Seems she was just a tiny child or maybe four when she was brought to the New World with the family she was working for. Caring for a child with special needs. 

This young girl went through a lot before she left. Before she ran away. From being used by a group of boys and being told she would be forgiven for that sin. She goes back to a boy she met on the boat and seems she fell in love with him. She could not possibly have been old enough to be doing the things it said. When she ran she was only a child of sixteen or maybe seventeen and that was several years after coming to Jamestown. 

Seems this new world was a strange and very savage land. There was a lot going on and then again nothing much going on with this child. She faced death a few times and never ran into any other human beings. Well once she did but they didn't see her as she hid in a small hole or cave until they went on by. She had a lot of places like that to hide in and survive the brutal cold. She even ran into a family of bears and the mama bear didn't hurt her. 

This was a beautifully written book but so unbelievable to me that I was happy when it finally ended. From thinking that bears may have souls to praying for death this young girl fought the elements to survive. A few times she almost gave up but in the end she found a place and with her own hands built a house. Yeah right. She stayed and lived many years until she died. I'm still not sure exactly what she died from. A fall possibly but she still didn't encounter other people. Though at times she did see them across the water. I'm sorry but to me that was just a bit much. A human has to have other human interactions. That is brought to light at the end of this book so it was not a total wash out. 

I was disappointed but hopeful throughout this book. It was very interesting and somewhat good. So much of it was just to far out there for me though. 

I won't say do not read it because most are giving this book glowing ratings. Judge for yourself. Read it and let us know. I do believe it was worth reading and listening to. It went fast for me. Whether from wanting it to be over with or because it was good I just can't say. I didn't care that it ended so there is that. It was good but now WOW good. 

About

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.