Rachel Reviews: The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

A book which makes the Booker Prize shortlist is most likely going to be a good read. It's also likely to be thoughtful and challenging as well as literary. The New Wilderness ticks all these boxes.

The premise of Cook's story is a group of people have volunteered to enter the wild for a trial project and specifically, into an area which has been conserved. Within this group, the narrative is centred specifically on two people: Bea and her daughter, Agnes. We see how they interact within the wider group too but a lot of the story is about their relationship and in particular, how they view each other.

We learn that Bea came to the wilderness to save Agnes, having left the City to improve Agnes' health. The City seems to be a generic term for what is outside of the Wilderness, a polluted environment of no hope with limited scope for it to change. Glen, Bea's husband and Agnes' stepfather is the orchestrator of the project and it is these three who form the core around which the action of the story unfolds.

"Rangers" provide a link to the outside world and the group must report to them at "posts" where they can receive mail from family and get candy from vending machines but they are a mixed blessing for the group, not always benign.

This is quite a confronting book. It reminded me of Lord of the Flies where without the constructs of society, life becomes unregulated except that in Cook's novel, you have mixed levels of society and not just children. There are attempts to instil order and consensus to make life fair but again, these are in perpetual danger of being eroded away by the will of those who see them as barriers to their purpose and power.

It's certainly a book to prompt debate. Having assumed the lifestyle of a nomadic tribe, searching for food and gathering where they can, learning to hunt with weapons they have made themselves, there is a sense of man returning to his most primal roots and living a simple life; and yet, can you ever really leave what you've left behind and unlearn? Also, the dynamics between the members of the group create tension and threat and Cook is excellent at showing how surviving can be more that just finding something to eat and drink.

I would recommend.

Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*I read this book at the instigation of my cousin who wanted to discuss it with me and I can see why as it is a strange one to digest in many ways. I feel like in this review, I have only really touched on some of the issues and themes that arise in this novel and think that I may have to write a more detailed analysis of it to really prise open what I think was Cook's purpose in writing the book. It was certainly an interesting one.