I’m glad Obama’s list included The Vaster Wilds. I just finished it about a week ago and I do not think I will stop thinking about it for a long time. It’s really about the encounter of Europe with pre-colonial America and the main character, Lamentations (the NYT review of this book is actually badly written, she does have a name and we do know where she starts, Jamestown VA 1610), is a compelling Everywoman. It’s a feminist twist on the survival tale. The evocation of the landscape is fascinating and the travails of evading starvation are described compellingly. I kept trying to figure out where she actually was, and I think she ended up in southern Pennsylvania. The outcome is very ironic (will not say more b/c spoilers). The ending is controversial, but on reflection, I think, fitting. The point is that we need human connection to make our lives meaningful. The people we love make us go on.
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