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Wilderness
One part family drama, one part action-adventure; this is the children's novel we've been waiting for from Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle!
A novel of mothers lost and found. Grainne's Mom disappeared years ago when her parents were divorced, and Mom moved to the U.S. Now, bafflingly, she's reappeared and wants to meet. What could she be up to?
To get out of the way of this mysterious reunion, Grainne's half-brothers, Johnny and Tom, go with their mother, Sandra, on an "adventure holiday" in Finland. But before they're more than a few days into the snowy north, the boys are separated from Sandra, taking impossible risks to save her life. WILDERNESS is part-adventure, part-family drama with a charm that's all Roddy.
A novel of mothers lost and found. Grainne's Mom disappeared years ago when her parents were divorced, and Mom moved to the U.S. Now, bafflingly, she's reappeared and wants to meet. What could she be up to?
To get out of the way of this mysterious reunion, Grainne's half-brothers, Johnny and Tom, go with their mother, Sandra, on an "adventure holiday" in Finland. But before they're more than a few days into the snowy north, the boys are separated from Sandra, taking impossible risks to save her life. WILDERNESS is part-adventure, part-family drama with a charm that's all Roddy.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
23 people are currently reading
451 people want to read
About the author
Roddy Doyle
127 books1,647 followersRoddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.
Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.
Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
July 9, 2023
Strange to read a young adult story. A mother and her two young sons go on holiday to Finland to go sledding. The father with his teenage daughter from another mother stay home in Dublin to meet the mother again who basically ran away to New York.
The mother goes missing on the sled ride and the boys must find her before she freezes to death. I liked the simplicity of the story and the complex relationships between the siblings and their parents.
The mother goes missing on the sled ride and the boys must find her before she freezes to death. I liked the simplicity of the story and the complex relationships between the siblings and their parents.
May 31, 2018
Due ore al Nord
Era forse da quando avevo dodici anni che non leggevo un romanzo in questo modo, in una serata.
E' ben lontano dall'essere un capolavoro; stile scorrevole, situazioni nitide.
Ma bravo Roddy Doyle che riesce a farmi stare due ore nei posti che più detesterei visitare: in Finlandia, su una slitta trascinata da husky, con neve a perdita d'occhio, scossoni, problemi e tanto freddo.
Sarà il cuore adolescenziale che mi ritrovo, ma sono andata là, con lo sguardo dei ragazzini che vivono l'avventura, ho vissuto - confortevolmente adagiata nella stanza al calduccio - le sensazioni fisiche del grande Nord, e me ne sono uscita tutta contenta, più che mai decisa a non mettere piede nei paesi freddi, rassicurata come si può uscire dopo aver visto il film Titanic: bello avventuroso - e meno male che sono sulla terra ferma!
Era forse da quando avevo dodici anni che non leggevo un romanzo in questo modo, in una serata.
E' ben lontano dall'essere un capolavoro; stile scorrevole, situazioni nitide.
Ma bravo Roddy Doyle che riesce a farmi stare due ore nei posti che più detesterei visitare: in Finlandia, su una slitta trascinata da husky, con neve a perdita d'occhio, scossoni, problemi e tanto freddo.
Sarà il cuore adolescenziale che mi ritrovo, ma sono andata là, con lo sguardo dei ragazzini che vivono l'avventura, ho vissuto - confortevolmente adagiata nella stanza al calduccio - le sensazioni fisiche del grande Nord, e me ne sono uscita tutta contenta, più che mai decisa a non mettere piede nei paesi freddi, rassicurata come si può uscire dopo aver visto il film Titanic: bello avventuroso - e meno male che sono sulla terra ferma!
April 18, 2023
Cute children’s book by Roddy Doyle, with funny kids, nice dogs, beautiful nature and not a whole lot of plot, but that was okay.
January 24, 2021
MA IO HO BISOGNO DI ANDARE IMMEDIATAMENTE IN LAPPONIA!
Idue fratellini mi hanno fatto una gran tenerezza, la parte di Grainne abbastanza inutile e mal formulata, non si prova nessuna empatia, non se ne ha nemmeno il tempo visto che il suo incontro con la mamma è a malapena abbozzato.. Peccato!
Popsugar reading challenge: A book set in multiple countries
Around the year in 52 books: A book with a travel theme
Idue fratellini mi hanno fatto una gran tenerezza, la parte di Grainne abbastanza inutile e mal formulata, non si prova nessuna empatia, non se ne ha nemmeno il tempo visto che il suo incontro con la mamma è a malapena abbozzato.. Peccato!
Popsugar reading challenge: A book set in multiple countries
Around the year in 52 books: A book with a travel theme
December 29, 2022
Total schöne Geschichte. Wer den Winter, Schnee und Berge liebt, sollte dieses Buch lesen. Wer seine Mutter liebt, sollte dieses Buch lesen hahaha... Einen Punkt Abzug, weil man bei diesem Buch schon stark gemerkt hat, dass es für Kinder und Jugendliche ist und der Wendepunkt extrem unrealistisch ist. Werde dieses Buch abgeben, damit es einer jüngeren Person umso besser gefallen wird.
July 26, 2023
Roddy Doyle can write anything he wants because he's Roddy Doyle, but maybe Ireland has changed too much for him to make sense of contemporary Ireland in fiction. Transitioning from a suffering people to an independent republic in Europe with coffee shops is a big change for a man who never left Dublin. This book has two plots for two wildly different audiences:
Grainne's mom left when she was a toddler and now she's back. Grainne is a bit emo and going through teenager stuff as well. Grainne lives with her dad and his new wife,
who, understanding that the whole family could use a break from Grainne and her big ball of negative emotions, takes her sons who are Grainne's half-brothers on a Finnish dogsled vacation where a big accident and snow-based rescue happens.
I think Roddy Doyle went on a Finnish dogsled vacation and it was great, but he needed to make it dramatic. The tour company has safely protocols in place, but a rogue dog gets away..., but mainly, this is the story of two boys and their mom having a great winter vacation in sparse, Roddy-Doyle-esque language but without the swears.
Grainne has big emotions while her mom takes her for coffee. They end up tentatively okay with each other. Okay like this book.
Grainne's mom left when she was a toddler and now she's back. Grainne is a bit emo and going through teenager stuff as well. Grainne lives with her dad and his new wife,
who, understanding that the whole family could use a break from Grainne and her big ball of negative emotions, takes her sons who are Grainne's half-brothers on a Finnish dogsled vacation where a big accident and snow-based rescue happens.
I think Roddy Doyle went on a Finnish dogsled vacation and it was great, but he needed to make it dramatic. The tour company has safely protocols in place, but a rogue dog gets away..., but mainly, this is the story of two boys and their mom having a great winter vacation in sparse, Roddy-Doyle-esque language but without the swears.
Grainne has big emotions while her mom takes her for coffee. They end up tentatively okay with each other. Okay like this book.
January 11, 2021
I remember starting this book about 6 years ago for English class but never actually finishing it. It was an alright book, I think if I had finished it at the time I started it I would have enjoyed it much more. It was written in simple way, easy to comprehend, but didn’t connect with any of the characters and felt like the stories were a bit boring.
September 25, 2007
This was supposed to be a story of how families that have drifted apart can come back together, especially if propelled by tragic events, but I thought it was a little clumsy. The chapters flip back and forth between the two sets of children from one family; one line is about a rebellious teenage daughter who feels alienated from her fathers new family, and how she is reconnected with her real mother. The other story line is about how the step mom takes her two sons for an arctic dog sledding adventure. I really enjoyed the story about the daughter, I thought it was realistic how the daughter fought with the tension within herself as she comes to grips with her new family and her fledging relationship with her mother. I am not sure who this book is intended for as the two story lines, although connected by one family, reach for two different audiences.
August 11, 2017
There was not a single thing I liked about this book. The family drama was too much (calling the teenage daughter a terrorist????), the dialogue made me cringe (this may have been the translator's fault, but the children didn't sound like real children), the plot was unrealistic and too fast-paced, and we were supposed to believe that the family drama stops as soon as someone gets hurt?
As a child of divorced parents I was offended and hurt by this book.
As a child of divorced parents I was offended and hurt by this book.
September 14, 2022
Grainne's estranged mother returns to Dublin so, to avoid an awkward confrontation, her stepmother Sandra arranges a winter safari for herself and Grainne's two half brothers.
Younger readers will thrill at the adventure the boys have in 'Wilderness', but Doyle has poured his soul into the story of the teenage girl and her mother's attempts at reconciliation.
Younger readers will thrill at the adventure the boys have in 'Wilderness', but Doyle has poured his soul into the story of the teenage girl and her mother's attempts at reconciliation.
February 18, 2020
This book is a great book but I have only given it 4 stars because when it goes back to what is happening at the home it is a bit confusing about where they are. They could have been in wilderness or at home. It is a bit confusing when it is just a title 'THE DOOR or THE AIRPORT '.
March 24, 2022
I didn't think I would enjoy reading a children's book like I did this one.
The author placed two scenery before its readers with two challenging realities and the will to overcome when necessary.
The characters as kids portrayed strength, resolve and understanding worthy of admiration.
The author placed two scenery before its readers with two challenging realities and the will to overcome when necessary.
The characters as kids portrayed strength, resolve and understanding worthy of admiration.
January 9, 2015
This book is about two boys named Tom and Johnny that go on vacation with their mom Sandra. While the dad and his daughter stay home. It takes place in Dublin and in Finland for the two groups of people.The major conflict in the book is that the daughters real mom is coming to visit her. Its a conflict because she doesn't know if she wants to meet her.The story behind the book is the boys trying to find their mom after she was lost and got injured in the wilderness of Finland.
I chose to read this book because I liked the cover with the huskey. I enjoy dogs and I believed the book would involve wild huskeys in the wilderness hence the title. But in the ended the book was about a family in two different situations but over all I still enjoyed it. Also it did have dogs in the story that I enjoyed.
I liked all the characters because of their individual stories. The stories behind them kept me interested with the characters in the book. The setting was really enjoy full because the way the author would describe it made me feel like I was there. With the way he wrote about Finland it made e feel cold at times and it really made want to go there.
The plot of the book could have been changed to make the book run more smoothly. At time the author would just all of a sudden be in Dublin talking about the dad and the daughter then the next we would be in Finland without knowing. Also the conflicts could have been improved because the conflict with the daughter and the mom could have just been left out because it don't really tie into the book and made it feel less interesting at times. Then the way he transitioned between the two conflict would not really take affect until you saw the names of the characters that's when you knew what person you were reading about.
My overall impression was that I enjoyed the book even with the bit of feedback I said before. It kept me interested during most of the book even through some of the bad parts. It also gets a higher score for the way he described the setting making me feel like I was actually there. But in the ended I thourally enjoyed the book over all and I might read more of his books.
I believe that people that like dogs and or are not really big readers will enjoy the book the most. There are not a lot of words in the book and it has something that they will enjoy or relate to. Like people who like dogs will enjoy it because of the Huskeys in the book. And they can relate to owning and or taking care of a dog. also for the not so big readers its easy to read and it does not get complicated.
In this book some of the characters do swear at time but does not really occur much. So if you do not tolerate any bad language I would not recommend the book but if the a word is okay then you should have no problem. Other than that there is no other bad language in the book or any other offensive materials in the book.
I chose to read this book because I liked the cover with the huskey. I enjoy dogs and I believed the book would involve wild huskeys in the wilderness hence the title. But in the ended the book was about a family in two different situations but over all I still enjoyed it. Also it did have dogs in the story that I enjoyed.
I liked all the characters because of their individual stories. The stories behind them kept me interested with the characters in the book. The setting was really enjoy full because the way the author would describe it made me feel like I was there. With the way he wrote about Finland it made e feel cold at times and it really made want to go there.
The plot of the book could have been changed to make the book run more smoothly. At time the author would just all of a sudden be in Dublin talking about the dad and the daughter then the next we would be in Finland without knowing. Also the conflicts could have been improved because the conflict with the daughter and the mom could have just been left out because it don't really tie into the book and made it feel less interesting at times. Then the way he transitioned between the two conflict would not really take affect until you saw the names of the characters that's when you knew what person you were reading about.
My overall impression was that I enjoyed the book even with the bit of feedback I said before. It kept me interested during most of the book even through some of the bad parts. It also gets a higher score for the way he described the setting making me feel like I was actually there. But in the ended I thourally enjoyed the book over all and I might read more of his books.
I believe that people that like dogs and or are not really big readers will enjoy the book the most. There are not a lot of words in the book and it has something that they will enjoy or relate to. Like people who like dogs will enjoy it because of the Huskeys in the book. And they can relate to owning and or taking care of a dog. also for the not so big readers its easy to read and it does not get complicated.
In this book some of the characters do swear at time but does not really occur much. So if you do not tolerate any bad language I would not recommend the book but if the a word is okay then you should have no problem. Other than that there is no other bad language in the book or any other offensive materials in the book.
July 25, 2013
Johnny Griffin was nearly twelve and his brother, Tom, was ten. They lived in Dublin, with their parents and their sister. They were two ordinary boys. And they were being very ordinary the day their mother made the announcement.
They were in the kitchen, doing their homework. It was raining outside, and the rain was hammering on the flat roof of the kitchen. So they didn’t hear their mother’s key in the front door and they didn’t hear her walking up the hall. Suddenly, she was there.
I picked up Wilderness by Roddy Doyle at the library, in the Italian translation by Giuliana Zeuli. I had read somewhere it was a YA book, and I'm always curious about YA literature. However, the Italian translation is being marketed as a book for adults. I probably wouldn't have picked it up but for the sentence on the cover, "Roddy Doyle is a genius"-J.K.Rowling. If JKR likes this it can't be too bad, I thought.
This is a novel about "mothers lost and found", says the book jacket. Grainne is an eighteen-year-old Irish girl with si much anger inside. Her mother abandoned when she was just a baby and when to live in New York. Her father has remarried with Sandra and had had other two boys, Johnny and Tom. The relationship between Sandra and Grainne is particularly strained.
One day Grainne learns that her long-lost mother is coming back to Ireland to visit. The meeting, however, will go differently than how she expects. In the meantime, in order to give Grainne some space, Sandra and the boys leave for Finland to go on an "adventure holiday" in the snow. The boys are happy and excited. But when one evning their mother goes missing in the snow, they will have to take a brave, tough decision.
The two stories - Grainne's, and Johnny and Tom's - are told in parallel, in alternating chapters with very non-committal titles, like "In the forest", "In the kitchen, "At the airport" etc. The narrating style is very simple and direct in the parts in Johnny and Tom's point of view while it is slightly more complicated and mature in the parts told from Grainne's perspective.
I have to be honest: I'm not a fan of adventure tales. I was much more interested in Grainne's story than in the "adventure holiday". But this was a good book all the same.
They were in the kitchen, doing their homework. It was raining outside, and the rain was hammering on the flat roof of the kitchen. So they didn’t hear their mother’s key in the front door and they didn’t hear her walking up the hall. Suddenly, she was there.
I picked up Wilderness by Roddy Doyle at the library, in the Italian translation by Giuliana Zeuli. I had read somewhere it was a YA book, and I'm always curious about YA literature. However, the Italian translation is being marketed as a book for adults. I probably wouldn't have picked it up but for the sentence on the cover, "Roddy Doyle is a genius"-J.K.Rowling. If JKR likes this it can't be too bad, I thought.
This is a novel about "mothers lost and found", says the book jacket. Grainne is an eighteen-year-old Irish girl with si much anger inside. Her mother abandoned when she was just a baby and when to live in New York. Her father has remarried with Sandra and had had other two boys, Johnny and Tom. The relationship between Sandra and Grainne is particularly strained.
One day Grainne learns that her long-lost mother is coming back to Ireland to visit. The meeting, however, will go differently than how she expects. In the meantime, in order to give Grainne some space, Sandra and the boys leave for Finland to go on an "adventure holiday" in the snow. The boys are happy and excited. But when one evning their mother goes missing in the snow, they will have to take a brave, tough decision.
The two stories - Grainne's, and Johnny and Tom's - are told in parallel, in alternating chapters with very non-committal titles, like "In the forest", "In the kitchen, "At the airport" etc. The narrating style is very simple and direct in the parts in Johnny and Tom's point of view while it is slightly more complicated and mature in the parts told from Grainne's perspective.
I have to be honest: I'm not a fan of adventure tales. I was much more interested in Grainne's story than in the "adventure holiday". But this was a good book all the same.
October 12, 2021
I remember when i read this with my mum back in year 5 or 6 and it was the most boring book i’d ever read.
My younger self really found the two boys annoying with their “wilderness” nonsense.
My younger self really found the two boys annoying with their “wilderness” nonsense.
August 4, 2016
No se terminaba más. No tengo nada para decir.
Había un capítulo en Dublín y otro en la nieve (ni me acuerdo donde). Los primeros fueron buenos (ponele) pero los otros eran larguísimos. Interminables. Toda descripción. Y diálogos de dos frases.
Es un libro mas que nada infantil, por ahí para un nene está bueno, eh, no digo que no, pero para mí fue re incompleto. Y algunas partes eran medias incoherentes, muchas preguntas sin responder, pero no al estilo de PLL, sino que parecía que se había olvidado de responderlas el autor. O estaban mal explicadas. No sé como expresarlo.
La ambientación no estuvo mal de todas formas, ni la forma de hablar de los personajes, algo bueno para destacar.
Perdón, pero igual, no me gustó.
Había un capítulo en Dublín y otro en la nieve (ni me acuerdo donde). Los primeros fueron buenos (ponele) pero los otros eran larguísimos. Interminables. Toda descripción. Y diálogos de dos frases.
Es un libro mas que nada infantil, por ahí para un nene está bueno, eh, no digo que no, pero para mí fue re incompleto. Y algunas partes eran medias incoherentes, muchas preguntas sin responder, pero no al estilo de PLL, sino que parecía que se había olvidado de responderlas el autor. O estaban mal explicadas. No sé como expresarlo.
La ambientación no estuvo mal de todas formas, ni la forma de hablar de los personajes, algo bueno para destacar.
Perdón, pero igual, no me gustó.
February 24, 2012
Ein wirklich interessantes Buch. Interessant deshalb, weil man sich erstmal an die teilweise ungewohnte Wortwahl bzw. Struktur des Autors gewöhnen muss, seine Naturbeschreibungen aber unheimlich lebensecht und fesselnd sind. Auch die beschriebene Familie ist zum Glück keine Friede-Freude-Eierkuchen Familie, sondern hat echte Probleme, die zumindest mich sehr wütend gemacht haben.
Nicht nur für Kinder bzw. Jugendliche ist es empfehlenswert!
Nicht nur für Kinder bzw. Jugendliche ist es empfehlenswert!
September 23, 2020
The book is written in a plain English and it’s v simple and easy to understand which is the good part of it.
I only enjoyed the story of the two boys and their mother.
But nothing enjoyable about the teenage girl’s story as it felt like it was just there for breaking up chapters and give the reader a break from the main story.
I only enjoyed the story of the two boys and their mother.
But nothing enjoyable about the teenage girl’s story as it felt like it was just there for breaking up chapters and give the reader a break from the main story.
February 7, 2016
J'ai adore faire du traineau avec des huskies dans l'immensite blanche de la Finlande, j'ai adore l'histoire et le style unique de Roddy Doyle.
September 22, 2016
2,5 stars. It was okay for a childrens book, but it got kinda boring and was not what I had expected.
November 12, 2019
This book was a bit sad because Jouhny and tom lost there mum in a swirling snowstorm would you find it sad?
February 11, 2020
Very good love it is quite characteristic and funny
March 13, 2020
I found this book a little boring considering what a good author he is and how well renowned he is in the industry.
April 21, 2024
Yes, I know that this is a book meant for kids- but it still felt really rushed for a kids/young adults book. This one has two stories happening at the same time, it's about a mother and her two kids who go to Finland for a holiday, the mother later gets lost as the sled she is on weers away into the forest after the lead dog decides to go rogue and her kids who go and search for her on their own - yes they save her life by finding her before the adults doo but the adults seem still seem way too lenient and I am just shocked that nobody was really mad at them for sneaking out of the cabin they were in and going searching on their own. The other story is about their sister and dad- sister is from previous marriage, she is a moody tenager or young adult - since she is 18 I believe? Her mom is coming back home for a visit after not bothering to talk to her daughter or seeing her after walking out on her husband and daughter years ago. The relationship is strained but they work through it surprisingly fast, I am just glad that it's not one of those books where everybody instantly gets along, loves each other and lives happily ever after I guess, because there is still tension between them by the end of the book and they don't live happily ever after, the daughter realizes that her step brothers and step mom aren't that bad, though she never apologizes for throwing a mug full of hot coffee into her mother a little bit before they leave for their trip and the book is left open ended after the boys and their mom come home and they get reunited at the airport... the book was all in all pretty underwhelming because it had a really interesting premise and synopsis.
October 30, 2025
Two stories shoehorned into one. Both unbelievable in their own way.
The backstory is a couple have three kids. The father has a daughter who lives with him from his first marriage and then two sons with his second wife. She takes the two boys off to Lapland when the first wife returns from New York to reconnect with the daughter she has made no attempt to contact over the intervening 10 or so years, since she abandoned her husband and her baby girl.
The story about the mum and two boys is standard filler stuff, they have an adventure, nearly die but are saved by the huskies body warmth, blah, blah.
The other story I found offensive. The mother does not credibly explain how she abandoned her baby daughter and in all the subsequent years didn't try to make contact. Clearly Doyle is hinting that the mother suffered post natal depression and thought it was better to leave which might be credible for a short absence, but to disappear out of your child's life for a decade and then have regrets just doesn't make sense except as plot device for a teenage daughter. I could not dislike this plot device more. I don't believe it and I dislike the 'happy ever after' type ending too.
Is it Doyle at his wokest? Is he saying that mothers don't matter that much and step mums are just as good, if not, what exactly is the point he is trying to indoctrinate into young readers?
He appears to capture the confused feelings of the daughter quite well but apart from that there wasn't one character in either story I particularly believed.
The backstory is a couple have three kids. The father has a daughter who lives with him from his first marriage and then two sons with his second wife. She takes the two boys off to Lapland when the first wife returns from New York to reconnect with the daughter she has made no attempt to contact over the intervening 10 or so years, since she abandoned her husband and her baby girl.
The story about the mum and two boys is standard filler stuff, they have an adventure, nearly die but are saved by the huskies body warmth, blah, blah.
The other story I found offensive. The mother does not credibly explain how she abandoned her baby daughter and in all the subsequent years didn't try to make contact. Clearly Doyle is hinting that the mother suffered post natal depression and thought it was better to leave which might be credible for a short absence, but to disappear out of your child's life for a decade and then have regrets just doesn't make sense except as plot device for a teenage daughter. I could not dislike this plot device more. I don't believe it and I dislike the 'happy ever after' type ending too.
Is it Doyle at his wokest? Is he saying that mothers don't matter that much and step mums are just as good, if not, what exactly is the point he is trying to indoctrinate into young readers?
He appears to capture the confused feelings of the daughter quite well but apart from that there wasn't one character in either story I particularly believed.
October 2, 2021
Overall, just a meh.
Why do I feel lukewarm? Mainly because my privileged ass not understanding the pain that a child can experience when their parents get a divorce, which is why I didn't really like the Grainne character; but also because I'm an only child and don't understand any of the interactions between the siblings either.
The plot is okay; predictable, but exciting in some places. Like, you expected Grainne to reconcile with her mum who ran away to New York for like 8 years and left her with her dad, and you also expected the two boys (Grainne's half-brothers) to rescue their mum (Grainne's stepmum) with the help of huskies because they are such ~majestic, all-knowing creatures who truly belong in the wilderness (haha geddit)~
I don't have much else to say except that J.K. Rowling said that the author "is an absolute genius". On a literary sense, that's a pretty good compliment, but from Rowling... I think you get what I mean.
Why do I feel lukewarm? Mainly because my privileged ass not understanding the pain that a child can experience when their parents get a divorce, which is why I didn't really like the Grainne character; but also because I'm an only child and don't understand any of the interactions between the siblings either.
The plot is okay; predictable, but exciting in some places. Like, you expected Grainne to reconcile with her mum who ran away to New York for like 8 years and left her with her dad, and you also expected the two boys (Grainne's half-brothers) to rescue their mum (Grainne's stepmum) with the help of huskies because they are such ~majestic, all-knowing creatures who truly belong in the wilderness (haha geddit)~
I don't have much else to say except that J.K. Rowling said that the author "is an absolute genius". On a literary sense, that's a pretty good compliment, but from Rowling... I think you get what I mean.
October 25, 2017
Wilderness from roddy doyle has 220 pages and the gerne is drama and adventure. The book is about two boys, Tom and Jhonny who go with her mother on a husky-expedition in Finnland. On the wilderness trip the learn a lot about huskys. Every day they drive with sleds a long way to a hut over the ice. At home, their half-sister meet the mother who abandoned her. She wants to convince her that she is coming to New York. I think the book is very exciting, because you never know how the story goes on. It is very varied, because the book is about two stories at the same time. The Story play in Lapland, in northen Finnland and in Manchester. The climax was when the mother went missing. Summarized the book was very interesting and exciting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2018
It's been years since I've read a Roddy Doyle novel, but he's still a master of catching the voices of his characters. He's got a good ear for the tics of Finnish-English too, which adds a lot of charm to the action-adventure half of this YA novel.
The story is slight: two Irish boys get in over their their heads on a husky safari in Lapland, while their half-sister has an awkward first meeting with the mother who abandoned her as a toddler. Both plots unfold more or less the way you would expect, but Doyle's sympathy for the characters carries them through to a satisfying conclusion.
The story is slight: two Irish boys get in over their their heads on a husky safari in Lapland, while their half-sister has an awkward first meeting with the mother who abandoned her as a toddler. Both plots unfold more or less the way you would expect, but Doyle's sympathy for the characters carries them through to a satisfying conclusion.
January 25, 2024
"Si sentì in trappola, tra suo padre e sua madre. Una mossa sbagliata e uno dei due sarebbe rimasto deluso. Non era giusto. Detestava sentirsi sempre sotto accusa. Provò un senso di rabbia. Cercò di ripensare alla piacevole sensazione di qualche minuto prima; cercò di farla tornare. Ma stava svanendo, e adesso non sapeva più che farsene. Voleva essere arrabbiata, almeno la rabbia era una cosa di cui poteva fidarsi, una cosa che conosceva bene. Se la sentì crescere in corpo".
December 7, 2017
I thought this book was fantastic. Written in a simple way, telling us how the characters thought and felt. Really appreciated the way the story switched from one set of action to the next and the way they complemented each other. The only thing I thought could have been improved was the ending, I expected an improved interaction between them.
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