What would it be like to live with a small group, separate from traditional society? What if your feelings about big business and big agriculture led you to violent action against property? What if those actions ended up costing someone's life?

Morality, money, and meaning may be at cross purposes, and it may be very difficult to choose the proper path.

I read a pre-release copy of this book which is now available for sale.

3.0 out of 5 starsVery slow.
July 23, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
I found this book to be very slow. It took me a while to warm up to the characters as they all seemed to have so many agendas going at the same time. I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion

After a public scandal, millennial anthropologist Mackenzie Johnston changes her name to Mack and leaves the comforts of Brooklyn to rough it upstate off-grid with a band of dedicated environmentalists led by hot-tempered, red-head Louisa and including delicate Chloe, handsome Beau and Jack, and some other people to make confusing love triangles with.

There are various complex story-lines and mysteries which are all complicated by a sort of general incompleteness: whatever happened to Mack to cause her such shame, the Homestead's feud with the Monsanto planting neighbors, a historical diary of a former homesteader who either lived on their property or that of the Collective, and another feud between the Homestead and the Collective. Also, why do these people talk like time traveling Victorian era steam punks? Why does blue-collar Mack from Michigan call her mother "Mommy," and Louisa call her New York lawyer father "Daddy"?

After some deliberation, I'm lowering my rating from 3 to 2. There really was not much I liked about this book. The characters are entitled millennials who decide to start a small commune. Ugh, even the premise makes me cringe. They were all incredibly unlikable and I had a hard time connecting with any of them. The story is told through Mack's eyes and she's just awful. She's been villified over something stupid (<spoiler>Yes, it was crappy what she did. No one deserves to be outed by someone else. My SIL did it to my BIL to their grandparents. But c'mon, who cares. They were on reality TV what did they expect? Isn't that the whole point of reality TV? To talk shit about each other, stir up drama, and divulge secrets?</spoiler>) which makes her run away like a scared little whiny baby instead of being the adult she is supposed to be. I was waiting the whole book for the REAL reason she was escaping the real world. But no, it was just that stupid little incident.

So she meets some other millennials who invite to her live with them in a commune-like setting in the woods where they will grow and raise their own food and live without electricity. But they keep their cell phones charged whenever they go into town. So phew. 🙄 The only one that isn't from wealthy stock is Mack. So it's even more of a joke. Plus there are so many unanswered questions at the end of this book. SO. MANY. I finished it feeling so unsatisfied. And the whole book has nothing to do with the ending, really. What a mess.

I went through this one quickly because I really wasn't feeling it. I feel obligated to finish ARCs even when I don't like them. Parts were ok but it felt too disjointed.

I was really excited to get approved for this title, but I'll have to say its a bit slow going for me. And I didn't really care for the beginning as it just draws out forever what exactly the protagonist did that was so embarrassing and she wanted to get away from. In the end, it was just kinda "meh" for me.

Not for me. I wish it was. Really wanted to like this book. Pretentious millennials in the woods is exactly what the book should be called.

Mack is trying to get away from the embarrassment of a failed stint on reality TV. When she meets Louisa and Beau, they tempt her with an answer to getting away from it all. Along with Chloe and Jack, they embark on building a homestead for sustaining themselves instead of relying on the selfish world around them. This story takes you through the trials and tribulations of trying to build a modern day commune, along with the emotions of living with only five people in your group.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read the first few chapters of this book, but I was not able to finish it. It did not grab my attention and it took me nearly a week just to get less than 30% through. I appreciate being given this book to review and I look forward to working with this publisher in the future.

For a book that was compared to The Secret History, this one was quite disappointing. I found it hard to care about these characters, and the story developed so slowly that I could never quite engage fully. It all just felt like the author was trying too hard, and it just did not resonate with me.

Mack is living back at home, and taking catering work to have a bit of cash flow. She catches the attention of Louisa at one of the gigs, and soon finds herself joining a small group of twenty-somethings who are going to try and live "off the grid" at a primitive property owned by Louisa's father. Mack is all too happy to escape the recent scandal in her past, and the group wants to break from a capitalistic and greedy society.

So, I thought there would either be more drama between the group, or some sort of shocking mystery revealed about the nearby similar property, The Collective. But somehow Mack never seemed to really touch any of the issues that presented themselves, and unrealistically never pushed all that much. Even when civil disobedience turns into criminal acts and the truth about the leader of The Collective comes out, it just didn't have any satisfying revelation. When the ending came, I didn't really care much what happened to anyone in the book.

I received a ARC from NetGalley, and am sharing my opinion of the book.

I didn’t know enough about this book going in and knew nothing of the author. It was just something offered to me as a widget from the publishers based on previous selections and well, it had a commune Which is oh so close to a cult. Cults being a plot aspect virtually irresistible for me. Seriously, though, there must be some noncultish communes out there, right. Or is it always inevitably reduces down to men trying to have sex with either underage women or too many different women or both. Ulterior motives. Seems to be an unavoidable feature of what otherwise appears like a very noble enterprise. In this case, to step away from societal restrains, live intentionally, off the grid, grow your own food, mind your carbon footprint and all that. It’s a lot of work, but it does provide a fairly viable alternative to the consumerism based social media obsessed society. It’s certainly kinder to the Mother Earth. Basically, for a certain person of a certain mindset (say, a burned out millennial)it’s a pretty easy sell. And so our main protagonist, Mack, is sold. And she sets off with her newly found best friends to live differently. To the woods they go. Everyone’s got their own reasons to be there, but from the very start we are told the grand communal living experiment didn’t quite go to plan. Then Mack takes us back in time to see exactly why. You’d think this can be pretty self explanatory…after all, how long can young white privileged first world entitled young people from arguably the worst generations on record can thrive getting by on their own, dealing with all the privations and challenges off grid living has to offer. And sure enough it isn’t their actual skillsets or enterprenurialship that does them in, it’s the self righteousness. And, of course, the inevitable sexual politics. Mack’s sticking around, though, she has a past she’s trying to get away from, a public shame. The way it’s set up in the book, you’d think she’s the new Amanda Knox or Michele Carter or Monica Lewinsky, in fact when you finally find out the real story, it’s quite underwhelming. Mack has done something unethical and not entirely moral, but it is only in our progressive modern age of oppressing political correctness and oppressing prevalence of social media that a promising young woman would be prosecuted this way for something like that. And so, at first, the commune seems like a lovely, not to mention practical, solution, and then slowly she (utilizing her anthropology education) observes it all go south. What’s interesting with this novel is that neither Mack nor her friends, associates and lovers are all that likeable of characters. They are mostly the sort of people you’d expect them to be given their age and chosen lifestyle. Which, conveniently enough, excuses them from being the more conventionally engaging cast of players. So this isn’t necessarily a character driven, but there is so much more to it. The writing is so smart, so emotionally intelligent, so psychologically on. And the story itself is so compelling. It draws you in completely. I mean, I found the characters mostly a bunch of tedious twats (albeit to varying degrees), I’d never want to spend any time with them in real life and yet in book form, I was completely engaged in their narratives. And that’s the power of awesome storytelling. There seems to be some redemption toward the end, some newly found awareness of personal smallness on the global scale, the humble pie isn’t quite being served up yet, but it might be baking. So yeah, a great story. Even if you’re not especially interested in cults and communal living, you’ve got to admit the psychology behind it is fascinating. But then again, much like socialism, mostly only a good idea on paper. This book, though, read this book, it’s so good. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I’m not sure what I expected when I started this book. I felt it started out slow, but the tempo was necessary to build the tension to drive the story. The characters were well developed, but not really likable, to be quite honest. This tale is a slow burn, cozy at first, but the heat grows until it scorches.

Published by Random House on July 2, 2019

We Went to the Woods begins one year after “the accident.” It is narrated by a young woman named Makenzie who messed up her life and future, changed her name to Mack Johnston in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid notoriety, and started working as a part-time caterer. Mack meets Louisa, who introduces her to Chloe, Beau, and Jack. The five of them decide to create a sustainable, self-sufficient community of five in the woods as their own small contribution to creating a better world.

They live without electricity or plumbing in a farming co-op they call “the Homestead” on property owned by Louisa’s father. Mack discovers a diary that speaks to the utopian aspirations of a failed community that might or might not have existed on the same property. Using the diary as inspiration and given her educational background in anthropology, Mack decides to chronicle her experience with her four new friends, perhaps taking a larger view by making comparisons to the earlier commune.

Mack tells us that she joined the co-op to feed “that dark hungry part of me that needed purpose” and to assuage a “fear of purposelessness that left me panicking each night I spent alone.” The others have a mix of philosophical or political motivations for joining, some claiming they are following Thoreau or trying to learn how to live a better life. One is anti-capitalist, another pro-environment, but Mack tells them that individual motivations need not align to pursue common interests. A neighboring co-op member reminds them that they are “relatively well-off white kids,” not oppressed revolutionaries, a grounding message that some take to heart more than others.

Mack spends the first part of her joint living experience trying to figure out who is sleeping with whom. She only desires people who do not desire her, so sex seems unlikely, as much as she would like to partake. She notices tension between Chloe and Louisa, who sleep together when they aren’t taking turns sleeping with Beau. Women at other communes gather at the Farmer’s Market, where Beau seems to be a popular shopper, to the consternation of Louisa and Chloe and even Mack.

We Went to the Woods has a plot, but the story is driven by personalities. Jack is a mixture of “crotchetiness” and innocent joy. Beau’s mysterious absences are assumed to be a product of his devotion to bedding as many women as he can find. Chloe is a peacemaker while Louisa is abrasive and unsettled, always one spark short of conflagration. It is Louisa who wants to fight the neighboring landowner, who may be encroaching the co-op’s land with pesticides and nonorganic fertilizer.

Some of the novel’s intrigue results from the delayed revelation of just what Mack did while participating in a reality TV show, The Millennial Experiment, that screwed up her life and angered just about everyone. (It doesn’t seem that awful to me, but I’m not a Millennial.) The conflict with the nonorganic neighbor also contributes to the tension, although the novel avoids simplistic portrayals of farmers as good or evil depending on whether they use pesticides.

The plot begins to build steam in the second half, when it becomes clear that another collective, not far from Mack’s, is engaging in activism that includes property destruction. Mack is clueless about their conduct but begins to suspect that one or more of her co-op members might be participating in the activism, placing the rest of Mack's group at risk of reprisals. They are also at risk of felony arrests, given that prosecutors equate vandalism with terrorism when it is committed by activists.

Toward the novel’s end, Mack learns surprising information about the neighboring collective that helps her reinterpret events that take place early in the novel. The revelations also inspire the reader see key characters in a new light. By the end, the activism has placed some of Mack’s friends (and even Mack) in a dangerous position, largely because of their ineptness.

The novel invites readers to think about tradeoffs between the harm caused by fracking and unsustainable farming methods, on the one hand, and comfort, on the other. Living in the woods with no electricity and eating only locally grown foods is laudable but, as Mack comes to appreciate, difficult. Spending Christmas with her parents, on the other hand, is enough to make her yearn for a return to the woods. At the same time, the novel provokes thought about how activists can best confront fracking, groundwater pollution, and other socially harmful behavior that the law condones.

The story also asks readers to consider whether collectives are destined to fail, at least if they promote free love, because humans are wired to be possessive and jealous. Perhaps the story cheats a bit when it asks that question. One particular example is plainly destructive; not all communes are cults that are driven by charismatic but exploitive leaders. Yet the novel makes the valid point that utopian communities are less than utopian when members are sexually exploited or when they feel a “duty” to follow rules prescribed by community leaders about their sexual behavior. Whether a truly egalitarian community based on free love could thrive is an interesting question.

A few supporting characters might be dismissed as stereotypes, but the protagonist and a couple of other characters are complex. The philosophical questions the novel poses add meat to the stew. Where We Went to the Woods is going remains a mystery until the novel nears the end. Its unpredictability as suspense builds is its strongest virtue.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you to NetGalley, Caite Dolan-Leach and Random House for this ARC.

I couldn't get into this book, which is a shame because I readlly enjoyed Dead Letters. I will still read any future novels by Caite Dolan-Leach.

This book was a slow-burner for me, similar to The Immortalists (which is no surprise since they are recommended to complement one another). However, I still enjoyed this book more than I did The Immortalists.

Loved the writing style, but this book may not be my cup of tea. A group of Millennials decide to live off the land of a farm they all move to. I guess I'm just not a huge fan of Millennials and their life complaints, even though I am supposed to be a Millennial (insert shoulder shrugging emoji here!)

Remember the 60's communes with their off the grid lifestyle, free love, nights around the campfire, etc, etc? We Went to the Woods is kind of like that except we're dealing with millennials. The story opens with a bit of a mystery, and does a fair job of pulling you in. It's also somewhat misleading. From that beginning, I expected something a little creepy, not quite a thriller, but with at least some tension. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the book waiting for something to happen. Maybe it's just me, but reading about a group of people trying to grow a garden, turn compost, repair a cabin, and get used to less than sanitary facilities just wasn't that interesting. The free love is there, but it's more like a guessing game of which bed is that guy in tonight, at least for Mack. There are secrets, everyone in this group has them, but they really aren't that earth shattering, and the characters aren't all that likable. Things do eventually start to happen, but it wasn't anything to cause me to sit up and take notice. Some of it was tragic, yes, but given the circumstances, it was expected. In the end, I think this one was just a bit too slow for my tastes and can be chalked up to not the the book for me.

I can only say that We Went to the Woods by Catie Dolan-Leach is not the book for me. I tried to enjoy the book but couldn’t finish it . The premise of millennials leaving mainstream society to live in their own commune setting sounded intriguing, however I wasn’t able to care enough about the characters to finish the book. Perhaps others will enjoy it, just not me.
I received the book for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of We Went to the Woods by Caite Dolan-Leach.

Mackenzie has just been publicly shamed after a stint on a reality show. Getting death threats and nasty phone calls on the daily, she is desperate to escape her new reputation. Changing her name to Mack is a start, but what really looks promising is joining her new friends, a bunch of high society New Yorkers, on their outdoor socialist commune called the Homestead. There, they will buck against their bourgeois ideas and live off the earth, with the help of their parent's money of course, because that sh*t is expensive! Getting involved in other close commune's, stuff gets sticky pretty quick.

When I started this, I was curious to find that it had fairly low ratings for such a new release. Especially since I quickly drawn into the premise. But good grief. If you want to run off and live off the land, be my guest. But when you're living off the land that your rich parents bought in order to thumb your nose at people like your rich parents, I don't need to hear about it. Especially when you're deliberately sabotaging and committing crimes against people like your rich parents, who I again remind you, paid for you to be a bum in the woods until you get bored. Check your privilege kids, and go do something worthwhile with your lives.