![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/coyote-1-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff, is one of the best books I think I have ever read. The telling of the tale is done with a poeticness rare in modern books. The story too is rather rare as much of it is a lesser written man verses nature plot, in which a person most commonly a man, is battling nature to survive. But in this story, it’s a young woman! Or The Girl, as she thinks of herself. Which I found interesting as native American tribal names often translate to something along the lines of “the people.” much as we would say the coyotes or the bears, or the rabbit. The girl discusses herself in terms of less attachment to self, that recognize her for what she is rather than who she is. <\/p>\n
The girl has several names. Sometimes she remembers them and the people who gave them to her. Not a one of them loved or valued her. So her names go from sad, to even cruel. Still, the girl knew love once. On a boat headed to the new world with the family she lived with. He was a man who did not speak her language. But like nature, love finds a way. He once gave her an orange. She remembers how they loved. Sometimes wonders if things might have been different had she spent her life with him. But I do not wish to share too much about this fleeting love affair. I don’t want to spoil this absolutely beautiful story for anyone.<\/p>\n
The girl, lived with a family that obtained her from the poor house when she was quite young. She felt that often they were kind to her. Especially the old goldsmith, the first husband of the Mistress, mother of the blessed child Bess, and a horrible terrible older son. When the goldsmith passes, The Mistress marries again. A very handsome but terrible preacher, who uproots them all and drags them across the fractious water to Jamestown in the new world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early Jamestown, was not an easy place. It was full of strange and potentially dangerous native people in the forest, and in the town the good English folk, starved so extremely the bodies were piling up and people were resorting to whatever they had to in order to stay alive…. There was also disease striking the people of the town down.<\/p>\n
The Girl, was a servant, one of the lowly, when even the mighty were starving. Her main job was to care for the child Bess… And she loved her charge fiercely. But as people lose themselves in cities full of hunger… The Girl, would find it a place she could not abide without the child Bess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She fled with only a few critical objects into the wilds of the new world following the river. Hoping to perhaps one day reach the french…\u00a0<\/p>\n
The girl faced much out in the wilderness… She faced herself, her memories, loneliness, many other things, and finally, survival alone…. She lived two lives, one that ended in a matter of weeks, the other that lasted decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This book discusses our place in the universe and within the cycle of nature. It dug deep into human nature, and asked is surviving enough? What of quality of life? It explored human growth, and human failings… By the end of this book I was sobbing. Not because the end was or wasn’t sad. But because of the poetic profoundness so carefully and painstakingly put into poetics by the a truly gifted author.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the best books I have ever read. Thank you Lauren Groff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I highly recommend this dark novel with shocking twists, turns, through the darkness of the wilds inside and outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This book may prove challenging for some readers as the language while beautiful, can be somewhat mildly old fashioned and a bit leaning towards classical. It doesn’t read like a modern novel. Partly because, we spend the entire book, inside the girl’s head, experiencing as she does and reliving her memories. There is no real dialogue. It is pretty much entirely one long narrative. Which could have ruined the entire thing in the hands of another writer. Groff, didn’t make it work. She made it work like magic works. This book deserved every award it got. If I could be Fifa and invent awards such as fictional peace prizes, I would give this book more awards. Altogether a fabulous unusual read. I highly recommend it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thank you for reading
\nAmanda of Wildflower Farm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff, is one of the best books I think I have ever read. The telling of the tale is done with a poeticness rare in modern books. The story too is rather rare as much of it is a lesser written man verses nature plot, in which a person most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1020],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookclub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4733,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4731\/revisions\/4733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildflower-farm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}