This novel is a stunning exploration of young adulthood's chaos, beauty, and contradictions. Following five Black women across two decades, the story masterfully captures the highs and lows of ambition, love, family, and identity in an ever-changing world. From strained sisterhood to the complexities of relationships, career ambitions, and personal reinvention, each woman’s journey feels deeply authentic and emotionally resonant.

The writing is sharp and immersive, effortlessly shifting between New York and Los Angeles, personal struggles and societal shifts, youthful idealism, and adulthood's sobering realities. As Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia navigate friendships and failures, triumphs and betrayals, their bonds evolve in ways that feel both inevitable and deeply moving.

This novel lingers, offering not just a story but a reflection on the challenges and possibilities of contemporary womanhood.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like this was another case of what could have been.

This story tells of four women from their 20s to the 40s, into the year of 2027.
Desiree steps into adulthood with financial security but no real family, and brings her grandfather to Switzerland for an assisted suicide. January is pregnant and determined to carve out a life on her own, though the father of her child drifts in and out Monique, a librarian with a quiet passion for words, finds her voice amplified when she transitions into blogging, her audience growing alongside her confidence. Nakia, a chef with undeniable talent, finally comes into her own when she opens a small and much loved restaurant.

I felt this book was very wordy, and I had a hard time paying attention at certain points.

Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner for the ebook. A wonderful novel that follows four black women friends from their 20’s through their 40’s and beyond, that covers our time and slightly into the near future. The book starts with Desiree and how she starts her 20’s with money, but no family except for an older sister who has cut her out of her life. January starts out pregnant and wanting to prove that she can live her life on her own, but her partner comes in and out of her life as maybe savior or maybe a crushing weight on her back. Monique is the librarian who becomes a blogger with a bigger and bigger following and Nakia is the chef who’s finally figured out her life once she opens her small, but we’ll received restaurant. In New York and Los Angeles, arguing through the years, the four remain great friends who are there for each other when no one else is.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed in this type of book. The overall feel was everything that I wanted and was invested in what was going on. Angela Flournoy has a strong writing style and was glad I read this.

In The Wilderness, Angela Flournoy delivers a stunning, kaleidoscopic follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, The Turner House. Spanning two decades, this brilliant novel explores the lives of Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia—five women navigating the messy, exhilarating wilderness of contemporary adulthood.

In their early twenties, they stand at the brink of everything: careers, marriage, motherhood, and big-city dreams in New York and Los Angeles. As they grow into their thirties and forties, political upheaval, economic instability, and environmental challenges shape their journeys, but the most transformative force in their lives remains their connection to one another.

Desiree and Danielle, estranged sisters, struggle to reconcile their shared history and heal old family wounds.

January faces ambivalence about her “good” man and an unexpected pregnancy.

Monique, a librarian turned viral sensation, grapples with her sudden fame after challenging institutional whitewashing at her university.

Nakia, determined to succeed on her own terms, fights to establish her restaurant while fending off doubts from her privileged family.

But their lives are also deeply impacted by the raw realities of being Black women in America—the riots, protests, and constant reckoning with systemic injustice. Through their struggles and triumphs, the novel shines a light on how friendship and solidarity endure amid the turbulence of modern American life.

As these friends wrestle with ambition, love, identity, and the everyday complexities of racial injustice and poverty in contemporary America, Flournoy captures their triumphs and missteps with wit, tenderness, and electric prose. At its heart, The Wilderness is a love letter to the enduring, messy, and profoundly real bonds of friendship.

This is a novel that will make you laugh, ache, and long for your own family and friends, while rooting for these unforgettable women to find their way.

#AngelaFlournoy #TheWilderness #FriendshipGoals #ContemporaryFiction #SocialJustice #BlackLivesMatter #LiteraryFiction #mariner

4.5⭐

Disclaimer: This is not my usual genre. I read almost exclusively jaunty, thematically straightforward fantasies; I'm not used to Literature with a capital L with all its symbolism and motifs. But I think I still understood what Flournoy was communicating, which in my opinion is the sign of an excellent author.

Wow, this book. It's the kind of story that keeps churning through your head long after you turn the final page (I reread and rereread parts 3 and 4 for this reason). The Wilderness is ostensibly the story of five women navigating early and mid adulthood together, but runs parallel with the often fraught minefield of social justice, especially the plight of homelessness in America. Flournoy does not shy away from the messiness and complexity of either, and does an incredibly thorough job. I have never seen social issues addressed this way: we see the characters conflicted over how to help, experimenting with what actually helps, digging through their motivations for trying, coping with their anger and desperation. It felt so real and raw.

The characters themselves are just that: real, raw, messy, organic. Flournoy has poured so much life into each woman. Her gorgeous prose brought a special power to the difficulties the women experience that are often not talked about -- the portayal of postpartum depression and prolapse (!!) especially cut me to the core. In the same way that Flournoy gives names and faces to the unhoused humans that we are taught to look away from, she gives color and feeling to real experiences that we rarely discuss.

Although I felt like I really knew the characters, I didn't necessarily love them, which did undercut the emotional power of the Big Event for me. That's my reason for -.5 rating. But other readers might feel differently. The details of the Big Event, when we get them, absolutely tore my heart out. And the final chapter was the most devastatingly gorgeous conclusion I think I've ever read. Pure poetry.

I read this book in two days and could not put it down. I rarely have that experience with books outside my preferred genre. The Wilderness is an earthquake and I enthusiastically recommend it.

This was the last book I read in 2024 and one of my favorites. Desiree, January, Nakia, and Monique are all characters I will remember for a long time to come, and I loved spending time in each of their worlds. They are all drawn precisely and individually, and I thought that the switching timelines were well done too. This novel is clever and funny but also deeply moving - I was particularly affected by the relationship between Danielle and Desiree.