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    The Wilderness: A Novel
    The Wilderness: A Novel
    The Wilderness: A Novel
    Ebook354 pages4 hours

    The Wilderness: A Novel

    By Karen Novak

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    When the body of an elderly man is found naked, frozen to death on the grounds of an abandoned petting zoo near where private investigator Leslie Stone lives with her family, the discovery triggers what Leslie calls the "haunted amusement park" of her mind. Voices and apparitions she knows to be hallucinatory disrupt her waking world. And she is unable to forget that the old man has left behind what seems like a riddle to be solved: an odd drawing and a children's poem with a shifting meaning, titled "The Wilderness."

    Compelled to find out what happened, Leslie finds her search interlacing with that of investigative journalist Sophia Mallory, who is tracing her personal path through the historical tragedy of slavery and its aftermath. Together they uncover a pattern of institutionalized violence so brutal, so inexplicable, that it resembles a curse. As "The Wilderness" leads each woman deeper into the past, it also leads them deeper into their own psyches, forcing them to question their motives for solving a mystery which threatens to destroy the lives of everyone they love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury USA
    Release dateDec 10, 2008
    ISBN9781596918658
    The Wilderness: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Wilderness

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      A harsh, brutal, beautiful story of the Civil War, the Pacific Northwest and the capability of mankind for both great evil and great kindness and bravery. Heartbreaking story, with rich, transporting writing in the style of Jeffrey Lent and Charles Frazier. At times very difficult to read for its brutality, but I was captivated by the story and characters and could not put it down until I reached the end.
    • 4/5
      Thirty years after the Battle of the Wolderness has left him permanently maimed, Abel Tubman feels he must come to terms with his past before the was. Haunted by the horror of the war and the tragic loss of his wife and child, he finds moments of unexpected kindness which saves his life.
    • 5/5
      Civil war veteran Abel Truman lives in a shack by the Pacific Ocean in Washington's Olympic Mountain range. Stern, anti-social, and living the life of a hermit, he knows life is winding down for him, and as it does so, he finds himself on an unexpected quest. He endures tremendous trials, as his memories and past hardships are slowly revealed to us.I loved this book! And it's a bit surprising how much I loved it, considering it is strongly narrative, and I am more of a dialogue-driven reader. But I used to live in this area, and I have hiked the Olympic Mountains (well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. I have hiked for a few hours at a time in those mountains). I used to look out at these mountains every day, and they are my favorite place on earth.Combine that with a character like Abel Truman, a gritty old war veteran, a widower, a loner, and you've got me hooked! But Abel isn't completely alone. He shares his little shack and quiet life with a dog that found him years before. This is the second story I've read in the last few months that is about a loner man and his bond with his dog. The last one, The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, became one of my favorite books of 2012, and this book surpasses that one.Abel seems pretty miserable. He is just enduring life rather than living it. And as you get glimpses into his past, you begin to understand why. You come to realize he has a bit of a death wish, and does not fear death at all; that he would, in fact, find death to be a relief.But then circumstances change, and he finds a mission to drive him, which then leads to another mission, and what will then become the defining moment in his life. Moments of the story can get quite emotional. Modest and restrained, this story is told in beautiful prose and descriptive text, and that is quite something said coming from someone who is not a fan of descriptive text!This provocative story starts out being narrated by an elderly woman in a nursing home, looking back on her life and that of her "second father" Abel. But soon after the story becomes solely Abel's story.I would give warning that there is a bit of offensive language and subject matter in this book. Abel was a civil war soldier, and he was a confederate soldier, fighting against freeing the slaves, and he speaks like a racist through much of the story. The "N word" is thrown around a fair bit, along with some other offensive terms. And there is death and rape and other violence. But that isn't the bulk of the story. And you wind up loving this man despite his shortcomings.My final word: This was story of real substance; a series of complex stories interwoven into poetic beauty and tragedy. Abel becomes a very human, flawed and reluctant hero, and you can't help but admire him. A truly beautiful story!
    • 5/5
      I received this electronic Advanced Reading Copy through NetGalley. The book is released in September 2012.Wilderness is a book you'll be hearing and reading a lot about in the coming months. It's just that sort of book, though in this case the buzz is well-deserved. I confess, I struggled with the first few chapters. It starts slowly, with excessive, almost purple descriptions. It also gave away the ending right away, which left me puzzled--shouldn't I be left wondering who survived?In this case, no. It's not a thriller, it's not just a "Can they escape the bad guys?" kind of book. It's a lot deeper than that. At heart, Wilderness is about the scars we carry with and within ourselves, the things that make us who we are. Abel Truman is physically scarred with his maimed arm and mottled chest, but the wounds within are far worse. This isn't a book that should be read by anyone coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The scenes of the Battle of the Wilderness are probably among the most beautifully written yet horrible descriptions of war I have ever read. Weller shows the humanity of war and what it does to people on both sides, as well as those caught in the middle. There are also women of strength and character, such as Hypatia the escaped slave, and in the 1899 storyline there is Ellen. Oh, Ellen. Some of her scenes made me want to cry or to grab a weapon as if I could come to her aid. Really, I was stunned by the intense emotional reactions this book caused in me. I read through some of the battle sequences with my jaw actually gaping, and a horrible knot in my stomach. Then when Ellen and her husband were together, I wished I could hug them both.The antagonists aren't quite as nuanced, but they aren't stock characters, either. Everyone in this book has suffered. Everyone has been altered by that suffering. Even the dogs, who Abel loves with fierce intensity, are not immune.The book may have started at a crawl, but once the Civil War scenes began, I was utterly hooked. It's a book about horrible things, but written with eloquence and sensitivity. I will look for Lance Weller's books in the future.
    • 4/5
      A rich, lyrical novel which reminded me a bit of Charles Frazier. Set in 1899 Washington State with flashbacks to the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, this is a powerful story, well told.

    Book preview

    The Wilderness - Karen Novak

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