Wilderness By Roddy Doyle

 

A novel of mothers lost and found. Grainne's Mom disappeared years ago when her parents were divorced, and Mom moved to the U.S. Now, bafflingly, she's reappeared and wants to meet. What could she be up to?
To get out of the way of this mysterious reunion, Grainne's half-brothers, Johnny and Tom, go with their mother, Sandra, on an "adventure holiday" in Finland. But before they're more than a few days into the snowy north, the boys are separated from Sandra, taking impossible risks to save her life. WILDERNESS is part-adventure, part-family drama with a charm that's all Roddy.

 

Our book for April was "Wilderness" by Roddy Doyle, we all had a really good talk about what we liked and thought about the book. Johnny and Tom go on holidays to the Artic Circle in Finland with their mother and become friends with the husky dogs who are going to be pulling their sleighs on their expeditions. Meanwhile their half sister Grainne stays in Dublin to meet her mother. There are two stories in the book really, one set in Finland with the boys and their mother and the other back home in Dublin with Grainne and her mother.

 

Some people felt that the story went a too smoothly as it has a happy ending, others had read some of Roddy Doyle's other books which are quite funny and expected more laughs but "Wilderness"  is a bit more serious. Kalle the man who looks after the huskys was a favourite character. All in all I think we liked the book. We also watched a Wilderness book trailer  and filled in maps of the countries where the boys went and the route they took to the Artic Circle.

Our book for May is on the way! Will let everyone know once it arrives