In Wildlife, Fiona Wood shares the story of two girls that develop a friendship over the course of a semester spent outdoors. The point-of-view switches between the characters: Lou, who retreated into herself and never came out after tragedy struck about a year previous, and Sib, who despite her own emotional troubles, contributed to the re-ignition of Lou's interest in people and reality. Both come to the semester with different expectations of what it will hold and both, with revelations about friendship, love, and growing up, are proven wrong.
Wildlife was a short and fascinating read for me. I was actually warned it would be so. Despite author Fiona Wood's mastery of the English language and ability to deliver a pretty kick-ass prose, the novel was one I could not connect with. My initial justification for this was the fact that I had not read the first novel that featured Lou: Fiona Wood's Six Impossible Things. But even the lack of preparation for a companion novel had been an obstacle I have worked around before. My second theory may be a little more likely when it comes to deciphering exactly why Wildlife did not sit right with me: I could not understand the reasons behind anything Lou or Sib did or said. Most consequences they faced for their actions throughout the novel were suffered for things that had no logic or reason behind them. So, perhaps its my own inability to solve the puzzle of Wildlife that left it so enjoyable for me, but I'd say its more probable that the characters really didn't have much incentive to behave the way they did.
Wildlife was a short and fascinating read for me. I was actually warned it would be so. Despite author Fiona Wood's mastery of the English language and ability to deliver a pretty kick-ass prose, the novel was one I could not connect with. My initial justification for this was the fact that I had not read the first novel that featured Lou: Fiona Wood's Six Impossible Things. But even the lack of preparation for a companion novel had been an obstacle I have worked around before. My second theory may be a little more likely when it comes to deciphering exactly why Wildlife did not sit right with me: I could not understand the reasons behind anything Lou or Sib did or said. Most consequences they faced for their actions throughout the novel were suffered for things that had no logic or reason behind them. So, perhaps its my own inability to solve the puzzle of Wildlife that left it so enjoyable for me, but I'd say its more probable that the characters really didn't have much incentive to behave the way they did.