Genre Fiction
![Diane Cook - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00LGDJJ8Y.jpg)
The New Wilderness: A Novel
A Washington Post, NPR, and Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year • Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
"More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced - a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really about motherhood, and about the world we make (or unmake) for our children." - Washington Post
"5 of 5 stars. Gripping, fierce, terrifying examination of what people are capable of when they want to survive in both the best and worst ways. Loved this."- Roxane Gay via Twitter
Margaret Atwood meets Miranda July in this wildly imaginative debut novel of a mother's battle to save her daughter in a world ravaged by climate change; A prescient and suspenseful book from the author of the acclaimed story collection, Man V. Nature.
Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, consumed by the smog and pollution of the overdeveloped metropolis that most of the population now calls home. If they stay in the city, Agnes will die. There is only one alternative: the Wilderness State, the last swath of untouched, protected land, where people have always been forbidden. Until now.
Bea, Agnes, and eighteen others volunteer to live in the Wilderness State, guinea pigs in an experiment to see if humans can exist in nature without destroying it. Living as nomadic hunter-gatherers, they slowly and painfully learn to survive in an unpredictable, dangerous land, bickering and battling for power and control as they betray and save one another. But as Agnes embraces the wild freedom of this new existence, Bea realizes that saving her daughter's life means losing her in a different way. The farther they get from civilization, the more their bond is tested in astonishing and heartbreaking ways.
At once a blazing lament of our contempt for nature and a deeply humane portrayal of motherhood and what it means to be human, The New Wilderness is an extraordinary novel from a one-of-a-kind literary force.
"More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced - a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really about motherhood, and about the world we make (or unmake) for our children." - Washington Post
"5 of 5 stars. Gripping, fierce, terrifying examination of what people are capable of when they want to survive in both the best and worst ways. Loved this."- Roxane Gay via Twitter
Margaret Atwood meets Miranda July in this wildly imaginative debut novel of a mother's battle to save her daughter in a world ravaged by climate change; A prescient and suspenseful book from the author of the acclaimed story collection, Man V. Nature.
Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, consumed by the smog and pollution of the overdeveloped metropolis that most of the population now calls home. If they stay in the city, Agnes will die. There is only one alternative: the Wilderness State, the last swath of untouched, protected land, where people have always been forbidden. Until now.
Bea, Agnes, and eighteen others volunteer to live in the Wilderness State, guinea pigs in an experiment to see if humans can exist in nature without destroying it. Living as nomadic hunter-gatherers, they slowly and painfully learn to survive in an unpredictable, dangerous land, bickering and battling for power and control as they betray and save one another. But as Agnes embraces the wild freedom of this new existence, Bea realizes that saving her daughter's life means losing her in a different way. The farther they get from civilization, the more their bond is tested in astonishing and heartbreaking ways.
At once a blazing lament of our contempt for nature and a deeply humane portrayal of motherhood and what it means to be human, The New Wilderness is an extraordinary novel from a one-of-a-kind literary force.
Editorial Reviews
"Could this be the great climate change novel of our time? Buzz is building fast for the epic debut novel of Diane Cook." - Entertainment Weekly
"The emotional core of the story is the relationship between Bea and Agnes, whose perspectives drive the narrative. It's a damning piece of horror cli-fi, but it's also a gripping and profound examination of love and sacrifice." - Buzzfeed
"Cook writes about desperate people in a world of ever shrinking livable space and increasingly questionable resources like air and water but also about the resilience of children who adapt, even enjoying circumstances that overwhelm the adults around them. Cook also raises uncomfortable questions: How far will a person go to survive, and what sacrifices will she or won't she make for those she loves? This ecological horror story (particularly horrifying now) explores painful regions of the human heart." - Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"A wry, speculative debut novel. . .Cook's unsettling, darkly humorous tale explores maternal love and man's disdain for nature with impressive results." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Violence, death, tribalism, lust, love, betrayals, wonder, genius, and courage-all are enacted in this stunningly incisive and complexly suspenseful tale akin to dystopian novels by Margaret Atwood and Claire Vaye Watkins. When Cook finally widens the lens on her characters' increasingly desperate predicament, the exposure of malignant greed, deceit, and injustice resonates with devastating impact." - Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review)
"More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced-a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really about motherhood, and about the world we make (or unmake) for our children." - Washington Post
"A dazzling debut.....
"The emotional core of the story is the relationship between Bea and Agnes, whose perspectives drive the narrative. It's a damning piece of horror cli-fi, but it's also a gripping and profound examination of love and sacrifice." - Buzzfeed
"Cook writes about desperate people in a world of ever shrinking livable space and increasingly questionable resources like air and water but also about the resilience of children who adapt, even enjoying circumstances that overwhelm the adults around them. Cook also raises uncomfortable questions: How far will a person go to survive, and what sacrifices will she or won't she make for those she loves? This ecological horror story (particularly horrifying now) explores painful regions of the human heart." - Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"A wry, speculative debut novel. . .Cook's unsettling, darkly humorous tale explores maternal love and man's disdain for nature with impressive results." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Violence, death, tribalism, lust, love, betrayals, wonder, genius, and courage-all are enacted in this stunningly incisive and complexly suspenseful tale akin to dystopian novels by Margaret Atwood and Claire Vaye Watkins. When Cook finally widens the lens on her characters' increasingly desperate predicament, the exposure of malignant greed, deceit, and injustice resonates with devastating impact." - Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review)
"More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced-a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really about motherhood, and about the world we make (or unmake) for our children." - Washington Post
"A dazzling debut.....
Readers Top Reviews
AdamThe Reading R
The hardback edition is beautiful, and pleasantly light to hold, but that's where my praise ends. Diane Cook’s 400-page book about people walking aimlessly around a wilderness has wandered onto the Booker Prize longlist and is on its way to being adapted by Warner Bros. Television. I do not envy the director who has to find some direction in what already felt like a protracted television series minus all the good bits. The juiciest action takes place before the book starts: Bea flees the City with her poorly daughter Agnes and husband Glen, who, alongside 17 others, form the Community, a nomadic tribe fighting against the elements and wild animals in the Wilderness State. The limited action actually described within the time frame of the novel itself is comparatively sedate. Hundreds of paragraphs are devoted to walking: walking through rivers; walking through sage fields; walking through forests; walking up mountains; there might have been some sleepwalking, or that might have been me dropping off. The walking is tedious for the characters, but does that justify boring the reader? If The New Wilderness needed to be written at all, it should have started earlier in the timeline of events, when the characters first arrived in the Wilderness. Or it should have started at page 139, when one of the characters deserts the others, returning to the City, creating a vacuum that changes the relationships of the group and offers a glimmer of intrigue. Thanks to the marketing hype, readers go into the novel expecting to discover a dystopian near-future with a landscape ravaged by climate change and pollution. Disappointingly, Cook’s world building is lazy. The novel is simply set in an uninhabited area of land in which the characters scoff at the quaint antiques of the old world, such as fireplaces. How droll! She hints that over-population is the cause of pollution that in turn threatens the ever-expanding City and causes characters to flee to the last Wilderness. She drops hints about a malign Administration controlling things, but I had difficulty believing that any government that allowed inner-city building to spin out of control would cherish a wild landmass enough to preserve it and limit its inhabitants to just 20 in number. Equally incongruous is the fact that the Community are controlled by rangers, yet individuals have the option to return to the City at any time they choose. The concept is weak. The New Wilderness is Lord of the Flies without the plane crash or the peril or the literary prose. It is The Walking Dead without the zombies. Something that shook me out of my ennui was the portrayal of female sexuality, which was problematic to say the least. One female character flagrantly uses sex to assume joint leadership of the Community. Another female’s foremost character trait is her longing to get pregnant so as to s...
jessica hanksAdam
I loved this book! I wish there was a sequel. Definitely a page turner for me, I couldn't put it down. Very original story and I feel like the story could keep going on.
Megan GilbertSerd
I felt overall that this book is focused mainly on a mother daughter relationship and less on the actual plot that is set up. Not a satisfactory end, completely anticlimactic and lost me. It was a shame because up until then it was one of my favorite reads. Now it’s just mediocre
LilyWoolfMegan Gi
A believable plot as 20 pioneers are forced to flee a polluted city to save themselves and their kids. While some reviewers found this book slow and repetitive I think that was intentional to show the monotony mixed with danger the Originalists faced in frequent moving and fighting to survive. Bea is a complex character who left all the comforts she knew to save Agnes and then aligned with the group's leader to protect her husband and daughter. She did many non-perfect-mom things but all led to protecting her kid.
StephanieSquatchL
I really enjoyed this book for the story, but the writing wasn't anything special. A lot of "telling, not showing" stuff regarding character development, obvious vocabulary, etc. It's worth reading anyway.
