The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff, Penguin Random House, ISBN: 9781529152906

IN The Vaster Wilds we follow the story of a teenage orphan, who has just fled the first English settlement in America (think 17th-century) in the dead of winter. As she struggles alone against the brutal wilderness, we slowly learn that she’s running from more than the community’s disease and starvation.

While the tale is undoubtedly an impassioned homage to the grit and determination of the human spirit, it fell short in a few key areas for me.

Lauren Groff’s storytelling is undeniably immersive. You can feel, see, and hear every hardship the girl has to endure. But that is also its downfall. Not only is it too visceral at times but the relentless depiction of gnawing cold and desperate hunger becomes monotonous.

The story’s gritty realism is further challenged when the uneducated teenager repeatedly survives through ingenious survival tactics that feel slightly implausible.

While some will delight in the book’s old-school, colonial-style English prose, I found it tedious. What’s more, Groff veered into philosophical tangents that just lasted a tad too long.

With the story being centred around such a strong-willed female character, the tale provided the perfect opportunity for a feminist empowerment story.

Yet, despite the young woman’s ingenuity, the book ultimately veers into a conclusion that is both depressing and disappointing. Mariclair Smit 2/5 stars