Friday Finds: The Wilderness

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

The blurb from the publisher:

It’s Jake’s birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life – his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his mid-sixties, and he isn’t quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer’s.

As the disease takes hold of him, Jake struggles to hold on to his personal story, to his memories and identity, but they become increasingly elusive and unreliable. What happened to his daughter? Is she alive, or long dead? And why exactly is his son in prison? What went so wrong in his life? There was a cherry tree once, and a yellow dress, but what exactly do they mean? As Jake fights the inevitable dying of the light, the key events of his life keep changing as he tries to grasp them, and what until recently seemed solid fact is melting into surreal dreams or nightmarish imaginings. Is there anything he’ll be able to salvage from the wreckage? Beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all?

From the first sentence to the last, The Wilderness holds us in its grip. This is writing of extraordinary power and beauty.

I must get my hands on this one. What did you find this week?

14 thoughts on “Friday Finds: The Wilderness”

Wow, that sounds like it's going to be really good. Great find!!

Hi! This does sound a very powerful book.

Here are my Friday Finds!

Take care,

Not too long ago I picked up STILL ALICE, and this premise sounds like it comes from a similar place (with some intrigue mixed in). Definitely caught my attention.

Thanks for posting the find!

The Wilderness looks very intense and is probably an emotional read as well. But it interests me too. Thanks for finding and sharing.

wow. sound like a great book to read.

This book sounds so very sad but also fascinating. On the hand, a wonderful look back at a life filled with good and bad, things to celebrate and things to grieve over but on the other hand, so many of Jake's memories are probably like swiss cheese. I'm interested to see how its written, if its confusing to the reader because it is to Jake and if the reader can tell what memories are real and what are imaginings.

Thanks you for highlighting this book, which I have to mention, has a very cool cover!

~ Amy

Sounds so very good. Adding it…

Friday Find: Maps For Lost Lovers

Wow, I love the cover but wonder how it connects to the book. It sounds good!

Wow, this sounds like quite a book. I think I'd have to be in the right mood to read it.

I know about this book because Jackie of Farm Lane Books was completely in love with it, compared to the rest of the Booker list. She has mentioned it many times, and has been disappointed that it hasn't won any of the awards it has been nominated for. My grandmother died of complications from Alzheimers, so I think this book would be very poignant for me.