I Am Still Alive
"This tense wire of a novel thrums with suspense. . . . [this book] just might be the highlight of your summer.”–The New York Times
Cheryl Strayed's Wild meets The Revenant in this heart-pounding story of survival and revenge in the unforgiving wilderness.
After: Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn’t act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive—for now.
Before: Jess hadn’t seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.
After: With only her father’s dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she’s stronger than she ever imagined.
Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father…and she wants revenge.
Cheryl Strayed's Wild meets The Revenant in this heart-pounding story of survival and revenge in the unforgiving wilderness.
After: Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn’t act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive—for now.
Before: Jess hadn’t seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.
After: With only her father’s dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she’s stronger than she ever imagined.
Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father…and she wants revenge.
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Community Reviews
Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop
I Am Still Alive is a survival story that begins in a non-linear fashion before transitioning to traditional linear storytelling. It follows Jess, stranded in the backwoods of Canada with winter fast approaching. She is alone, with only a dog as her companion and disabilities she must overcome.
The non-linear opening makes for an excellent entryway into the story because it gives the reader a sense of the world the character is in, while hinting at what happened without giving anything away. It allows the tension to flourish as it goes between the past and the present to establish how Jess got stranded in the unforgiving wilderness. It allows the reader to understand what the character is experiencing, how she is experiencing it while allowing the reader to get a handle on the direction of the story.
Jess is not an entirely likable character. It is easy for the reader to understand her anger considering her life has gone through profound changes (i.e., losing her mom, becoming an amputee, moving to the remote wilderness with the father she has never known). However, while understandable, the tone and narrative still do not make it easy to empathize with her. Jess’s whining and complaining fills most of the story, and her hard-headed stupid mistakes make the story irritating to read.
Thankfully there is character development, but it takes a while, making it a struggle to capture the reader’s attention, especially given the slow pace of the novel. While also a survival story, the story is a revenge story, so the reader is waiting for something to happen, making the slow pace of the novel unbearable given the character’s voice.
Ultimately, I Am Still Alive is a noteworthy novel. It does suffer from poor characterization and a slow pace, but in the end, it makes up for it.
I Am Still Alive is a survival story that begins in a non-linear fashion before transitioning to traditional linear storytelling. It follows Jess, stranded in the backwoods of Canada with winter fast approaching. She is alone, with only a dog as her companion and disabilities she must overcome.
The non-linear opening makes for an excellent entryway into the story because it gives the reader a sense of the world the character is in, while hinting at what happened without giving anything away. It allows the tension to flourish as it goes between the past and the present to establish how Jess got stranded in the unforgiving wilderness. It allows the reader to understand what the character is experiencing, how she is experiencing it while allowing the reader to get a handle on the direction of the story.
Jess is not an entirely likable character. It is easy for the reader to understand her anger considering her life has gone through profound changes (i.e., losing her mom, becoming an amputee, moving to the remote wilderness with the father she has never known). However, while understandable, the tone and narrative still do not make it easy to empathize with her. Jess’s whining and complaining fills most of the story, and her hard-headed stupid mistakes make the story irritating to read.
Thankfully there is character development, but it takes a while, making it a struggle to capture the reader’s attention, especially given the slow pace of the novel. While also a survival story, the story is a revenge story, so the reader is waiting for something to happen, making the slow pace of the novel unbearable given the character’s voice.
Ultimately, I Am Still Alive is a noteworthy novel. It does suffer from poor characterization and a slow pace, but in the end, it makes up for it.
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