I'm really torn on this one. On one hand, it's a very moving story about resilience and drive to be free, to make your own choices and have a free mind.

And while I liked the beginning journey, her noting the freedoms she suddenly had, and her push to survive. We see her try mushrooms and berries, testing to see if they will poison her. She seeks water, steals a boat, and barely avoids the few men she stumbles across.

However, somewhere in this adventure, I lost the pull. My attention started to wander as she wondered about ants and birds and noted tree growth and slept in rock tunnels. Her fever, almost a friend in the end, was ever present and seemed to scatter her thoughts. The end left me sad and feeling a bit let down. ( )

I think that anyone who liked [Matrix] would also like this. It's historical fiction, about a young woman from the Jamestown Colony; in 1609-10; during the "starving time" who leaves the colony and survives in the wild. Groff's narrative style feels a bit distant, (our main character isn't named for the first third) so it took me a while to get into the book. However, once I did get into the book, I found it enthralling, It's mostly a survival tale, with a dash of nature description and anti-colonial analysis. To be honest, I thought the political analysis was a bit over-done, and didn't seem likely given our heroine's background. But it was interesting to reflect on what the country was like those 400 years ago. ( )

A historical tale of a girl fleeing the starving Jamestown settlement, The Vaster Wilds 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 the end veered into a dreamlike, spiritual place that left me less than satisfied. ( )

Groff is good at writing sentences. In isolation, they are enjoyable to read. But this book could have been much shorter. And even at it's existing length, not enough happens. The story is somewhat flat. ( )

Not sure what to think about this one. It is primarily a story of survival, full of just in the nick of time escapes, miraculous discoveries of food and water sources, unlikely ecounters with animals, and lots of dirt, mud, snow, rain, and hail. The girl who escapes the famine-stricken colonial settlement on the James River (sometime in the 1600's) is a servant fleeing grief and horror, with a vague plan to head north to Canadian French lands. A really good setup, that in the end left me puzzled and dissatisfied. We are in the girl's head as she grapples with her religious indoctrination pitted against her memories of those with power over her and how they exerted that power, and her single act of rebellion. Missing was any real engagement with other characters. The writing is superb and the depictions of the virgin American landscape very compelling. Many hints at the desctructive forces coming in the future. All in all, a bit of a miss for me. ( )