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3.5 ⭐

The Vaster Wilds is a well written, fictional, account of a young girl's escape into the wild unknown. A lonely and rather depressing tale throughout which the girl attempts to put distance between herself and her past, both physically and emotionally. Displaying a wealth of courage and headstrong strength, the girl makes her way across waters and lands trying to find a place of solace and comfort - a place of safety and belonging. ⤵️

"May you drown in a malmsey butt, welsh hag, the girl said." ?

There's one I haven't heard before. ?

What a gorgeous and perfect novel. In the 17th century, a teenage girl flees into the American wilderness from a fort in Virginia and tries to survive on her own in the wild. Almost no characters have names, almost no dialogue, but a rich interiority more than makes up.

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.
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.

My review: https://tinyurl.com/38dh4mzy

Despite my initial excitement, I had to stop reading due to the overwhelming repetition. While the beautiful writing didn't balance it out, it did introduce an intriguing blend of history and fantasy in early America. Thanks to @Soubhiville for the recommendation! #AUTHORAMONTH

I liked it. Reminded me a little of Jack London. Beautiful nature writing and does not shy away from the brutality of the world. Read for #authoramonth and #naturalitsy

My 2nd Groff for #authoramonth #aam This was an interesting read, all from the perspective of an escaped servant from colonial times as she is fleeing abuse and disease and struggles to survive the wilderness, injury, and being hunted. This is an adventure story that reads like a fable, a mystery and a tragedy all in one. It‘s hard to read, this is dark and depressing but the prose is quite lovely so that made it a pick for me. @Soubhiville

I learned two new words today! 🤗

#AAM #doublespin My first Lauren Groff book was an #auldlangspine recommendation from @Chelsea.Poole and I loved it! The first half was incredibly tense as we meandered slowly through what felt like an extended exposition of period syntax and visceral descriptions of survival alone in the wilderness. But once I relaxed into the rhythm of the novel, the story really opened up and took on a new dimension of spiritual insights that resonated deeply.

#authoramonth
The Vaster Wilds
my first book from this author ✍️

#litsylove
#bookspinbingo

This is one of those books that I objectively know is a Good Book™️. A historical tale of a girl fleeing the starving Jamestown settlement, it seamlessly combines the visceral experience of surviving alone in the wild with the haunted inner life of the girl recalling her journey to that point. For the first half, I was heavily invested but I struggled with the end where its more dreamlike, spiritual bent left me a little unsatisfied. Still a pick!

The moon hid itself behind the clouds. #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

I was going to read this last month but I held it for February #AuthorAMonth

I have read and loved each Lauren Groff I‘ve read (Fates and Furies, Florida and Matrix) so I‘m really looking forward to this one.

@Soubhiville

Good but hard subject.

I suspect this won‘t be everyone‘s cup of tea as a slow-paced novel. I have a serious book hangover though. Beautiful writing. 5 stars for me. A servant girl flees the colony Jamestown in the 1600s and makes her way through the land. A contemplation on survival and death, and strangely uplifting.

I think I need to concede that Fates & Furies was a one-off Groff.

This was interesting and unique but I didn't go absolutely nuts for it the way most people are. I felt the same about the Matrix. So I think I might need to take Groff off my must-read list.

And this swift and gorgeous and too-rare strike to the heart was just like when one of the goldsmith's apprentices beat and beat at a tiny lump of gold until all across the marble table on which they worked an astonishing thin leaf of gold spread outward; the vividest moments were when the leaf gently tore and one could see the cold sharp veins of the marble before the leaf was healed again by beating.

First day home from vacation and before Christmas gets put away I think I‘ll just sit here with coffee and a new book. 😊

#readinginthenewyear

My StoryGraph will never look like this again in 2024.

My #Top23of23! I can‘t wait to look back at the hashtag and all the ones I‘ve missed. Thanks for keeping this alive @BarbaraBB 💜

Notes: a few authors would have more than one: Kim Hooper (People Who Knew Me), Kent Haruf (Eventide), and Silas House (Lark Ascending), but I wanted max diversity on my graphic so my favorite of the two is there.

A lot less nonfiction than usual this year! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I still need to review two (Perrin and Alberta).

Boxing Day is a great time to read a book in a day - which is a rare event for me! And this tale went so fast.

Enormous skill on Groff‘s behalf to instil so much grief and joy into so few chapters, the hardship, visceral fear and relief of escape and survival told predominantly through our protagonist‘s solitary journey in nature. This is a real feat of writing that probably should have made my #top23of23 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is proof that some authors are uniquely gifted to write ‘It sucks to be you‘ in the most poetic of ways!

This was amazing! Loved the interiority of the main character - she is smart and insightful. Also loved the appreciation of the beauty of nature. Interesting that no character (aside from Bess) is named.

So there I was reading my library book and what falls out of the book but a BOGO coupon for the most delicious hot chocolate in the land. I am blessed!!! The main character in my book would kill for this coupon. It‘s also so weird that I‘ve spent 2 days with this novel and I‘m only now discovering it.

I LOVED Groff's novel Arcadia, then couldn't get into Fates & Furies (I did finally finish it). Matrix wasn't my thing. Monsters of Templeton is okay. This one was really good! I found it compulsively readable. It's not my favorite book ever, but it was solid & Groff's writing is superb (even in the books I wasn't into). At the time, I thought Arcadia was a fantastic post-9/11 book. In the same way, this feels like a response to Covid isolation.

I spent the long weekend in my childhood home.

A Woman versus nature narrative. A Meditation. Everything I say on its face I don't like. But this is in subtle but profound conversation with preceding Matrix and succeeds at what it does. This is not an adventure story. This does not follow an Aristotelian structure and to judge it as such is a disservice to the work. Further thoughts on Youtube --> https://youtu.be/GfUH62QxwXg

I know so many people absolutely loved this story, and I really wanted to, but I ended up finding it just ok. The writing is absolutely gorgeous (for the most part…some discussion of the main character shitting was kind of 😳) but it was so very bleak and just left me feeling kind of unsatisfied. The narrator was also just ok. Definitely worth a read if you love this author and I will probably read more myself but not rushing out to do so. 🌟🌟🌟

A servant girl flees a colonial settlement and is forced to attempt to survive weather, beasts, navigation, and her memories. This book, for me, was when I truly saw what everyone already said about the genius of Groff as a writer. I loved this book and devoured it.

Still working on this one. Taking lots of time to think thoughts on it.

When you leave your colonial settlement and strike out into the wilderness on your own, you might eat a lot of #berries #hopefulharvest

A girl runs from her Colonial town and has to fight to survive the winter wilderness. We suffer alongside her as she battles hunger, cold, and exhaustion and learn where is is from and why she is running as she contemplates her own past. Vivid and dark this was a book I experienced more than read.

Interesting story about a young woman who flees her home in colonial Virginia to avoid famine and a plague. When she found a cave for shelter, I wanted to tell her: Don‘t go in there! It‘s a trap set by goblins!

#BookspinBingo list for #November complete! Can‘t believe it is right around the corner! @TheAromaofBooks

We‘ve reached the part of the year where my TBR is pure chaos and the first round of Goodreads Choice voting could open at any time (despite the fact that tons of big books come out in the fall and 2023 ain‘t done yet🙃) https://youtu.be/zmCFV8fkvPw

A propulsive survival tale of a servant girl on the run through wilderness in 17th-century colonial America. I appreciate the way moral questions and theological ideas give layers of depth. The audiobook is performed by the very talented January LaVoy. Loved this!

There can be no fight in this world, only submission.

It is a moral failure not to see the beauty of the world.

Friday Reads Oct 20: move to a new province; Giller shortlist; queer authors; Uighur memoir; audiobooks
https://youtu.be/gPpgNtruR5A

So, so good. Absolutely loved it.

#BOTM

Metaphysical novel of a young servant girl's life in the "new" world. A meditation on human connection as well as our connections with nature. Beautiful. 4.5 ?

A very different book by Lauren Groff. We follow a servant girl in America, running away from her home where the plague is killing everyone, and forced to live on her own in the wild. Beautifully written, not a word of dialogue. Not really my kind of book, but it spoke to me in the way excellent literature can speak.

How can someone write passages so dark, full of violence and graphic descriptions of starvation, death, disease, despair, and suffering so profoundly? This is the story of early America through the eyes “the girl” who escaped from a British colony and survives in the wild, overcoming one obstacle after another! Starvation, frigid temperatures, beasts—both human and animal. I was right there until the bitter end, feeling the ant with her.

I feel like Lauren Groff just gets better with every book. I loved this one. (I do tend to have a soft spot for surviving-in-the-wild type books.)

Groff‘s writing style is totally immersive for me. I give this 5⭐️.

This is an extraordinary tale of endurance and survival in the American wilderness. A young servant girl flees her colonial settlement, pushing deeper into the wild to escape capture. Her resilience and fortitude shine throughout as she reflects on how she got to be here and what's next. The detailed, descriptive nature writing is very evocative and some of the most beautiful I've read in fiction. ⬇

A girl runs from a colonial settlement in North America and has to figure out how to survive on her own in late winter. I enjoyed this, but it suffered from overhype for me (I heard it referred to on a podcast as her best book, and for me Matrix was better), which was a little bit of a letdown. I did like how she subtly snuck in bits of social commentary.

Enjoying this survivalist story about a lone girl who escapes a colonial settlement to survive in the wilds of America.

I am not a highlighter of fiction, but I highlighted like crazy in this one! The writing and ideas (esp. around gender, and religion, too) were just that good. I paired this with the audio, which was a great experience. For my other thoughts, just see the previous review by @Megabooks - I agree with every word! 😁 (Thanks again to @RiverheadBooks for the ARC!)

All the stars to Groff‘s latest!! Matrix is one of my all-time faves and Vaster is even better!! January LaVoy was the PERFECT narrator. This is a dark and brutal story, but Groff‘s language is exquisite.

A girl runs away from a colonial settlement in early America. As she runs deeper in the wilderness, she learns survival skills at sometimes brutal costs. Her reasons for running are also revealed. Read this!!!