The Wilderness: A Kirkus Prize Finalist Following Five Black Women Through Friendship and Motherhood

This was a story of friendship between four African America women across a couple decades. It was very millennial-coded, as it touches on so many of the social and political issues that plague our generation. Their friendship felt too careless, confrontational, and disjointed to me. Lovely prose, but the overall story didn't feel very cohesive.

I saw someone say that this book is written as if you are looking through a kalidoscope at these characters lives over time, and I think this the perfect description. I listen to this book on audio, which made it feel disjointed at times, but overall I was able to follow along. I do feel like we never got a full picture of any of the characters, least of all Monique, Danielle, and January, and the book could have benefitted from being 100-150 pages longer. There were moments in the story and through the writing that I felt like the writer perfectly captured thoughts I've had or moments I've experienced and it felt good to be seen. I'd rate this book a solid 3.5 star, but I feel like once I get a physical copy and reread it could be a solid 4 star read.