The Wilderness

Wonderful read for anyone having Alzheimer’s in the family

Samantha Harvey has written a most powerful book. It's not an easy book as most of this happens, that happens, happy ending fiction is. The Wilderness, the word, encompasses a co-inherence of time, character, place and plot. In the wilderness the facts like smoke shimmer and change shape, focus and fade. The language is full of wonder. You will not read a more stirring book on the wages of Alzheimer's disease- or the meaning of survival.

Samantha Harvey captures the essence of the devastating affect of Alzheimer Disease, on a man's mind, in her debut novel "The Wilderness." The novel is written in the first person. Ms. Harvey paints a word picture of a man who finds himself in a tangled web of uncertainty in a downward spiral of confusion. This is Jake Jameson's story, a story which gives the reader a look inside his mind. Jake is caught up in a subtle decline of his mental abilities. Although often deep in denial Jake recognizes the progression of entropy that is taking place as his brain erodes leaving him in a state of confusion and uncertainty, with an unexplained heaviness and sense of guilt. As his mind deteriorates he finds himself in midst of a battle mixing reality with imaginary, and an ambiguity of truth and delusion. In eye opening realism Ms. Harvey adds a unique dimension as she focuses on Jake's mind processes as he deals, with the uncomfortable and difficult issues created by dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Harvey's writing is sensitive and strong. By telling the story from Jake's viewpoint she has created a masterpiece which gives the reader a sense of experiencing that very confusion. Jakes' story has provided me with insight that will help me empathize with those caught up in the difficulties of the disease, allowing me to offer them understanding and comfort. This is a story that will linger in my mind in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

But oh no, not an easy read. I'm used to racing through books, but who can race through the tangled wilderness of a deteriorating mind. And who would even want to skim quickly through the rich landscape of imagery created by this most-talented author... Ms. Harvey deftly flips back and forth through time and memories as Jake's mind and world erodes. If we are lost, consider poor Jake-- or perhaps your mother, or your father-in-law, or your great-aunt Charlotte --as they wander through the tangled wilderness of their failing brains. Per Jake: "Time speeds up, rushing headlong into conclusions, then it stops. There is something teenagery about it. Something uncomfortable and maladroit as if it has not learnt how to pace itself with space." And what is the nature of memory after all, when, in fact, the act of remembering irretrievably alters the memory. What's real in Jake's meanderings, what's manufactured? And what's with all this wandering around on the moors through blinding snow or fading yellow light to the jarring noise of random gunshots? With prose worthy of Ian McEwan and the creepy imagery of Tim O'Brien's "In the Lake of the Woods", and finally and most completely, with her own talent and style, Samantha Harvey has created a masterpiece.

Having a parent presently in the deep stages of dementia , I was reluctant to delve into this book's similar subject matter. It was through this book , though that I found comfort and solace. Alzheimer's like any disease affects not only the patient , but all those around as well. The book told a very courageous story of the impact of Alzheimer's. I would recommend this book to anyone with aging parents , to provide insight as well as comfort

Samantha Harvey does a magnificent job of taking us inside the mind of a man, Jacob, who is slowly losing his touch with reality due to Alzheimer's Disease. The story and the circumstances, are from his point of view, and we come to realize after a while that they are sometimes confused. Things that are seemingly facts don't always match and the reader has to try and sort out the real from the imagined. But in Jacob's mind the events which cover parts of his childhood, his marriage, his children, and one or more possible affairs are all perfectly real for much of the book. Certain thoughts are strong and common throughout the book and others are only touched on and one wonders how they fit in. As the disease progresses, he too becomes more confused, but we are left with only his thoughts, not knowing which are of actual events and which are imagined or tangled with other thoughts and not entirely accurate. When I first selected this book, I was drawn to the subject matter, a disease that is so hard to understand, but then turned away because I thought it would be depressing. I came back out of curiosity and the thought that this could be a unique story, wondering how the author would handle it. The subject matter is, of course, depressing. But Harvey is a very insightful and talented writer and the end result is a book that is both interesting and somewhat of a mystery at the same time as the reader tries to distinguish facts from increasing confusion in the character's mind. The book that made me empathize with the character as I tried to sort through his memories and come to my own conclusions about what was real and what was not. It's a story that won't leave me for a long time.