The New Wilderness by Diane Cook is a dystopian novel chronicling the journey of Bea, her daughter Agnes, and their Community members as they navigate the woods after fleeing the City and its increasing pollution. Through the tropes and cliches, it is apparent that Cook is really taking a stand against some of the social issues that became prevalent in the time this book was published. Overall, The New Wilderness uses a mother- daughter dynamic in an unfamiliar setting to explore the conflicts and repercussions of climate change, immigration, and incompetent governments. 

I went into this novel knowing I was not going to be its biggest fan. Dystopian literature has long gone out of fashion for me and Menon’s review pinpointed some factors of the book I knew would ultimately annoy me such as the ambiguous naming of places and things, and the several unexplored plot lines. Though I majorly did not like it, there were some parts that truly did shine. For instance, when Bea first leaves the Wilderness to grieve her mother’s death and we get to explore Agnes’ point of view more I was genuinely more engaged with what was happening as I thought it was interesting how almost feral Agnes was and how she was dealing with her mom leaving. Another high point was part six. Watching the “repair” of Agnes and Bea’s relationship was captivating and very well written. As a person who is the most interested in books that explore interpersonal relationships and connections, that part really stuck out to me and I felt it was extremely important as it finally showed that no matter what Agnes is still a child who loves her mother dearly. 

A lot of the points and themes in the novel interact with each other. At the surface, this is a story about a mother losing connection with her daughter because she decided to save her life. However, if you start to dig deeper you will see that Cook is really making a sweeping commentary on a lot of the social problems that came to a head in 2020. The  most prevalent were climate change, government incompetence, and immigration. Through her novel, Cook explores how the continued ignorance of climate change will eventually ruin our planet and what the outcome of that will be. She outwardly describes the world as a smog infested wasteland with rats, increased crime rates, and lots of unnecessary deaths. The entire point of the Community venturing into the Wilderness was to escape the poor conditions of the City. Less apparent is her commentary on immigration. By the end of the novel, Agnes and others are in a resettlement complex where they are forced to wear striped uniforms and cannot leave-  a mirror of what some immigration detention centers look like. Lastly, a running critique of the government and social class. Throughout the novel, the audience is told that there is a Private Lands, a place like the Wilderness but only for those who can afford it. By the time the novel concludes, we see that the Wilderness is actually being turned into the Private Lands by installing apartments in the previously untouched woods. Nonetheless, the most prominent is the mother-daughter relationship between Bea and Agnes. We are privy to the push and pull that makes up their relationship. It becomes obvious that since their move to the Wilderness both parties are unsure of how to navigate their relationship. On one hand, Bea is willing to do anything for her daughter except to be honest with her and give her the affection she obviously craves. On the other hand, Agnes struggles with how much she loves/wants her mother and her desire for independence. It isn’t until Agnes ends up with a pseudo child of her own that she finally begins to understand the complexities of motherhood and the ambiguity her mother often inhabited. Finally, Agnes is able to come to grips with the different facets of motherhood and how important it is to sometimes let kids be ignorant.

I feel this book is very pedestrian and that is perhaps what contributes to the critique it receives. The only places I felt truly captivated were towards the end, which is not helpful in a 400 page book. Nevertheless, it was a decent read and I genuinely enjoyed the exploration of Agnes and Bea’s relationship – I just wish it were more focal.