Review: The Natural Way of Things
Gaby Meares
3 1/2 stars
I’m going to stick my neck out a bit here as so many others have raved about how amazing this book is. I’ve given it 3 1/2 stars for a number of reasons, but the main would be the disappointing ending. It just kinda fizzled! And I felt cheated by how little was really explained. However, I do agree with other reviewers regarding how lyrical, brutal and honest Wood’s writing is. Her descriptions of the landscape and the appalling conditions the women find themselves in are searingly visceral. It is a very disturbing novel which illustrates how close we really are to our most base instincts, no matter how we try to distance ourselves. Others have compared it to “Lord of the Flies”; I kept thing of Sachar’s “Holes” with its seemingly senseless hard labor and blasted landscape.
This novel is an uncomfortable and confronting read and not for the fainthearted.