This review is a caution, not a recommendation. I usually only blog books I rate as 4 or 5 stars; this one is a 3.

The reason I’m taking blog space to write about it is that Lauren Groff is an astonishingly good writer, which is how this book gets as many stars as it does. But this story is gruesome, and about how many things can go wrong on the way to a slow death. I kept reading because I was looking for redemption, but SPOILER ALERT, it doesn’t come.

It is a commentary on the pestilence of colonialism, how much women can be abused, and the mistake of mankind thinking dominion means domination. But don’t put yourself through this, even though the author is brilliant, and the descriptions of nature are sometimes luminous. Regardless of that, every hope will be dashed, and right now we don’t need to experience how bad it can get. The Black Plague, rape, starvation in Jamestown, cannibalism, murder– and still an urge to survive and outrun it– which frankly just isn’t enough, no matter how many grubs and baby squirrels you eat.

This popular author can surely write, I but I do not recommend this intense book. Skip it and find something that isn’t so excruciating.