LitSoc Review ‘The New Wilderness’
The Literary Society’s #Book6 Book Club (reading a new book every six weeks) began in January with Diane Cook’s ‘The New Wilderness’. Two of our dedicated members have reviewed the novel below. Next up is Tayari Jones’s ‘An American Marriage’. Do take a look at our list here and join in if you would like to do so!
Mrs Laura Bond
Teacher of English
Diane Cook’s debut novel ‘The New Wilderness’ was LitSoc’s first read of the #Book6 project, where we collectively read a selection of contemporary novels. This dystopian eco-horror novel immersed us in its broad, largely undivided structure, mimicking the untamed and unrelenting breadth of the ‘Wilderness State’, home to twenty people living a nomadic lifestyle having fled the toxicity of the City. The state itself is a place where time is counted in seasons, rather than days and weeks, power is measured by physical strength, rather than moral, and anger is either dissipated sexually, or simply through passivity. Cook’s prose forces the reader to desensitise their moral and innately human concerns, in response to the dispassionate and occasionally cruel survival methods implicated by the community in order to complete their journey, often at the expense and suffrage of their personal relationships.
The protagonist, Bea, flees from the City in order to restore her daughter Agnes’ diminishing health, and it is through their relationship Cook explores the limits of human nature and the role of maternity, as Agnes, who once slept each night clasping her mother’s ankle, is forced to become a highly independent young woman, leading the community on their walks, and eventually contradicting and influencing their decisions. As time sprawls across the novel, a shift seems to occur as the community slowly begin to buck away from the rules set out for them by ‘The Manual’, the sole piece of literature remaining in their possession, containing instruction from their management. The community begin to domesticate animals, overstay in their camping grounds and build permanent structures, only to have their deer shot, be moved onto new ground, and have their smokers burnt by bitter ‘Rangers’, who exist to moderate the existence of the community and maintain the purity of the Wilderness. The unabating dichotomy of moralistic humanity and animalistic survival is jarring to the reader, and serves to remind us of the structure and hierarchy of human instinct within our society, as Cook alludes to its fragility in contrast to the limitless power of nature faced by her community.
Isabella Hulbert
Lower Sixth Pupil
Over the last fortnight or so, I indulged myself with a new, dystopian novel; ‘The New Wilderness’. The newly established author, Diane Cook, was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker prize for her modern masterpiece. Her book follows a group of civilians who, in an attempt to escape the increasingly dangerous city they live in, are sent out into the Wilderness and have to learn the ways of survival. The plot mainly follows two female protagonists, Bea and her daughter Agnes. As I already love dystopian fiction, I was excited to explore this new world and found myself increasingly compelled by how scarily easy it was to see how our world could one day become similar to Cook’s. Consequently, I found the book both intriguing and daunting. Two of the most notable ideas explored in the book were the effect environmental circumstance can have on humans, and also the intense but strong bond between mother, Bea, and daughter, Agnes. I would recommend ‘The New Wilderness’ to all fans of dystopian texts, and to those who enjoy exploring the idea of humans having to revert to the fundamentals of life. Although the novel does have some difficult moments, there is no need to worry about the book leaving you ‘down’, as some intense texts can, however I would recommend readers being 16+.
As only twenty individuals have permission to live in the wilderness, due to concerns about human destruction of habitats, there is often mention of how those who still remain in the City look down on the group of twenty and now see them as equivalents to animals. Particularly alarming to both citizens in the city, and us as readers, is how calm the characters seem to be when encountering death. The narration from the perspective of the characters themselves, ensures readers still see those in the wilderness as real people, but it does not prevent events like this from causing questioning of the morality of those living in the wilderness. For me, this brought about the idea of how humans can change due to their environment. Currently, the idea of living in complete wilderness, without housing, without proper hygiene and having to kill and cook your own food is terrifying. That being said, if I was to find myself in complete desperation, would I put aside these fears in order to survive? The nature of our fight or flight response and overall survival instincts, probably leads me to say yes. However, it is still such an interesting concept to think about. Our world has become so ‘civilised’, that there are certain things that as a society we agree are simply unacceptable. Hunting, adultery, nudity, not grieving, no tolerance for the ‘weak’, are all widely dismissed today but, as illustrated in ‘The New Wilderness’, are all things that begin to emerge once humans revert to purely surviving. I think the impact of environment is such a fascinating concept, and is already evidenced by the different cultures across the world.
One of my favourite aspects of the novel was the narrative style. In the first half (ish) of the book, we are introduced to the story through the perspective of Bea. Then, about half way through, this switches to the perspective of her daughter, Agnes. I absolutely loved this feature, as I enjoyed being able to see two different perspectives of similar events, and how it allowed the characters themselves to be explored differently. Cook is excellent in exploring the perspectives of both the mother and the daughter, and the subplot of their relationship, was perhaps most captivating for me overall.
Emily Stanley
Upper Sixth Pupil
To celebrate World Book Day, RGS Literary aficionado Mrs Bond, shares some of her favourite reads in this video clip.
