The Wilderness
About the book
Author: Angela Flournoy
Publisher: Mariner Books
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)
My review
There have been a lot of novels about friendship lately, and I feel like we keep reading all of them hoping they’ll have the exact spark that The Wilderness has. I’m so grateful to the National Book Award for making sure I knew that this one stands out in the crowd, because wow did I enjoy this book.
The book is about four women and their friendship from their 20s into middle age, spanning from the early ‘00s to a very near future. I listened to most of it on audio, so it did take me a little bit to get into it all the way (and the jumps back and forth in time were a bit tricky in that format), but once I hit 40% or so, I was completely locked in. By the end, I was engrossed in these characters and their lives and the ending — the ending!!
The choice to bring the storyline of this novel 2–3 years into the future was unexpected, but I think it worked really well. It not only made a statement but also underscored the way certain friendships are a living, breathing thing that cannot be diminished, only perhaps battered.
What a beautiful look at the messiness of love and support, the ways relationships ebb and flow, ambition and the public eye, and so much more. I have a feeling this one is going to stick with me for a long time.
Content and trigger warnings
Police brutality
Grief
Pregnancy / postpartum medical issues
Death
