What Should Be Wild audiobook

Maybe I'm slightly biased, but I'm a fan.

What Should Be Wild is the book I've been waiting for, maybe since I was a little girl. What Should Be Wild is a promise, a warning, a breath of fresh air, frankly. Julia Fine, in her debut (!!!), deftly draws on fairy tales, seeks out their darkest roots, to craft a feminist story that carefully, almost cautiously, explores the ways in which women have been subjugated time and time again, but she seeks out the chinks of light, the ways in which women have attempted to subvert their forced obeisance, and introduces us to a deft world of magic that is more, and less, than it seems.Our main character, Maisie, is a delight. At once timid and bold, hampered in a neat metaphor for the taboo of the female body by a curse that grants her the ability to kill and revive, whether she'd like to or not, with her touch, Maisie is the heart of the book. While the world and mythology that Fine has created is immersive and compelling, it would be nothing without Maisie, or the other Blakely women we're introduced to in sparse moments, learning them and their stories so intimately but with incredible brevity. Fine has a knack for making her characters walk off the page with only a couple of pages. Lucy, Mary, Emma, Helen, Kathryn, Imogen, and Alys are all fully-fledged, with hopes and dreams and challenges, and yet we see them only in quick, vivid snatches. Part of this is because their stories are all of ours - women who have been stifled by society, by family, by injustice, cruelty, social mores, and ultimately the demands placed upon women by a society who has decided they are always, in some way or another, too much of something. In that way, Julia Fine has succeeded where so many other have failed - she gets to the heart of the feminist issues of her novel without beating one over the head with it, and yet the reader comes out stronger, indignant, hopeful, empowered.While I did feel there were a few places in which the story dragged, in which a bit of careful editing might have cropped out twenty to thirty pages, particularly the scenes with Rafe and Coulter two thirds of the way through, I found the plot points tight and successful. Even the scenes which dragged were worth reading to stay cocooned in Fine's prose, which is atmospheric and, really, just gorgeous. Her fairy tale had a sense of calling back to the telling of a Grimm's tale on a chilly winter night, shivering in a blanket near a fire while your grandmother drops her voice and pulls you into a world completely unlike your own, and yet so like it, because that's what fairy tales are. There is a pull, a lure, to What Should Be Wild, as dangerous and insidious as the wood that forms the backdrop for the novel - just cracking the cover is enough to draw you in and forget that you are not there, with Maisie and Matthew.Hats off to Julia Fine, whose work I'll be waiting for avidly, now. No pressure.

I think Julia Fine's debut novel What Should Be Wild is a fresh new voice for the literary community. The story was a bit confusing in the beginning but everything became clear at the end. Such an inventive, distinct, unique new story. i received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and I am very excited to tell you that I loved this book.This is a "coming of age" story about Maisie Cothay, who comes from a long line of women who are cursed. The story is told in two parts - Maisie and the women who are cursed living in a hidden realm in the forest. Maisie is cursed with the inability to touch another being - she can kill and revive with a single touch. Having lived her entire life without the ability to touch, hold hands, hug another human has affected her emotionally. Can you imagine not ever being able to touch another human being?When tragedy strikes, Maisie disappears for what she thinks is a few hours. Turns out she has been gone three days and her father, Peter, has set off to find her. She embarks on a journey to find her father and discover the truth about herself and the woods.I thought this a very inventive, creative story. Fine's writing draws you on and allows you to emotionally attach to the characters. I loved how different this was from anything else I have ever read.What Should Be Wild releases on May 8, 2018.

What Should Be Wild had me hooked from the start, carefully layering in the mysterious elements of a fantastical world and its fascinating characters. Julie Fine's narrative pacing is brilliant, painting a vivid, satisfying picture that draws you into her world while leaving enough questions to keep the momentum of the story. The twisty, darkly beautiful atmosphere of the book reflects the inner lives of it's characters as the plot unfolds carefully, leaving the reader hungry for answers while relishing the building suspense.What Should Be Wild tells the story of Maisie, a teenage girl with the strange ability to give and take life with a touch. Raised by her father in the her mother's remote ancestral home, Maisie's loneliness and confusion is palpable and her desire to see what else the world offers feels universal, even to those of us without magical curses. While the heart of the story belongs to Maisie, the book takes time to explore the stories of her maternal ancestors, women who are each cursed in their own way. These women's stories add depth to Maisie's with their painful depictions of women's souls battling the societal expectations that could destroy them. I couldn't put this book down, racing to get to the gripping conclusion, then sad to pit it down for the last time. I would highly recommend this book for lovers of realist fantasy, feminist fairytales, specific yet universally relevant coming-of-age stories, or just great books.

A dark, imaginative fairy tale that kept me enthralled! Very highly recommended.

Thank you so much Harper Books for my free copy of WHAT SHOULD BE WILD by Julia Fine - all opinions are my own.This is a dark, unique, and creative debut that combines the style of an age old fairy tale with modern nuances. Maisie Cothay is sixteen years old and leads a cursed life. She has the rare ability to resurrect the dead and kill any living thing. She’s had to live her entire life without touching a single soul. Growing up, her only company is her father and a housekeeper until one day she disappears. Maisie believes she’s only gone for a few hours but it’s actually days. When her father goes to look for her, he disappears as well. This is a coming-of-age story where Maisie looks to the past for answers.I devoured and savored every page of this book. Maisie is such an interesting character and I am completely fascinated by her story. But I am mostly enraptured by the women in the woods, by their stories, and how they came to be there. They are all waiting for the girl with incredible powers to set them free. The character development is outstanding and the writing is elegant and really draws you in. I was completely invested and attached to the characters. And can we please talk about this cover?!! It’s stunning! WHAT SHOULD BE WILD is inventive and I was swept away in the story.

Little Maisie Cothay was born from her mother’s dead body. Right away (thankfully) her father discovered that the touch of her bare skin would kill- or resurrect. It could even happen repeatedly- she killed her father several times before reaching toddlerhood. She could even resurrect the long dead, which necessitated coating all the bare wood floors and trims in the house she grew up in with several coats of varnish, and making sure she only wore synthetic fiber clothing. She grew up in her mother’s decrepit Blakely family mansion in a large forest, with only her anthropologist father (who seems to see her as a long running experiment) and the housekeeper for company. Her father educated her and she read everything in the large library- being careful to wear gloves, of course. But one day the housekeeper dies, she accidently runs into the housekeeper’s nephew, and her father disappears. This is when she decides she must go on a quest to find her father. She’s not the first girl of her mother’s family to go into the forest, which was forbidden to her. Through the years, many have gone in and not returned. Maisie also finds herself going into the city and meeting new people for the first time. It’s a very abrupt and sudden coming of age as she explores both areas, and finds that evil can wear an attractive face. The story is a fantasy, coming of age, fairy tale. Unlike in most fairy tales, the girl is the hero, not the princess in distress. There is a sleeping beauty, but she isn’t waiting for a prince to kiss her. It’s well written, and I liked the back stories of the Blakely women in the woods. I enjoyed the book, but I can only give it four stars; there were some problems with pacing, and something lacking in the Blakely women in the woods.

Since the Time Traveler's Wife is one of my favorite books I was excited to read anything Audrey Niffenegger strongly endorsed. Overall, really a wonderful read.The basic premise is that a girl, Maisie, is born with the ability/curse to kill or being back to life anything she touches. The book made me reconsider my perspective on physicality in a new way. After her dad disappears, Maisie is forced to leave her safe hideaway. During her explorations of this well-built world, we are introduced to other intriguing women in Maisie's family who have gone missing in the woods along her house. The characters are written with depth and complexity and the writing is tight yet unique. Once I got going I finished it in one sitting!

What Should Be Wild is an incredibly unique and intriguing story filled with the perfect mix of magic and adventure. This story has a wonderfully dark edge that makes the mythical elements more real. Maisie is written so that you somehow relate to her lonely and isolating upbringing and root for her along the way. The characters she meets in her search for her father increases the mystery of her existence and add to her background. Highly recommend for those that want a different kind of story.

What Should Be Wild is a darkly enchanting story about a young woman who kills or resurrects everything she touches. It takes the essence of so much contemporary anxiety around childhood, gender, sexuality, and the natural world and pours it into timeless, haunting characters, distilling and exposing the conversations I have with my closest friends about what it means to be repressed, free, obedient, alienated, loved, or truly *wild.* The novel layers storylines and then blends them all together, making the book complex without being confusing, and dense without moving slowly. Also, the prose is just gorgeous. It’s the kind of book that I can open to any page and find a line that I want to chew over for 24 hours. Highly highly recommend.

I received this from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.I was almost hesitant to read this one - a girl who can kill or resurrect with just her touch. I felt like it could go either way - it could be a fantastic or a very trite fairy tale. I'm glad I took a change with this one because it was fantastic. It honestly blew me away and there was so much depths and layers to the story. The writing was great, and the world development was great. Highly recommended.

I can't say I'm typically a fan of the books folks categorize as magical realism, but this....this felt both real and was like magic in its ability to transport me into its little world.Maise has never felt a kiss on her cheek, a warm hand in hers, skin-on-skin. With a simple touch, she can kill. Or, alternately, she can revive. There's a beautiful description of her toddling across a lawn, leaving a brown trail of dead grass behind her; they even had to coat the wood used to build their old home or else it would come alive with her touch. Maise's mother died while carrying her and her scientist father most certainly loves her but also treats her as more of a study subject than a daughter. The woman who serves as a housekeeper, nanny, grandmother, and more loves Maise too but also, as Maise learns, has a life outside her job too.While this is mostly Maise's story - a coming-of-age tale about learning about the worlds and about herself - it is also the story of women who came before. For centuries, there have been women who simply vanished into the woods. We meet them too, women who never felt quite like they fit in the world and are now trapped in someplace other.To say much more might be to say too much. I might already have done so. But this book captured me. The language was lovely. The women were strong and powerful, but also flawed and uncertain of themselves. The love is flawed too, from the father-daughter relationship to the relationship with oneself. I can't easily voice (read: type) what it was about this book that captured me, but I was drawn into its world and wanted to know what happened to every character. There were a few places/subplots that I didn't care for, but this still ranks as the best book I've read in some time. You need to be willing to suspend disbelief, but you'll be rewarded it you do. 4.5 stars, happily rounded up to 5 when that isn't allowed (but still 4.5 given the few pieces that didn't work for me). I can only return to where this review started, the book finds real (fleshy, full) characters and real internal struggles (loving, fearing, growing) in a world with a bit of magic.(Review based on an advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review)

Cursed. Maisie Cothay has never known the feel of human flesh: born with the power to kill or resurrect at her slightest touch, she has spent her childhood sequestered in her family’s manor at the edge of a mysterious forest. Maisie’s father, an anthropologist who sees her as more experiment than daughter, has warned Maisie not to venture into the wood. Locals talk of men disappearing within, emerging with addled minds and strange stories. What he does not tell Maisie is that for over a millennium her female ancestors have also vanished into the wood, never to emerge—for she is descended from a long line of cursed women.I received this as an E-Arc from Edelweiss and fell in LOVE with this story. From birth, not being able to touch another person. Never to feel the comfort of another's arms or the warmth of a hug. Especially being a child and denied that contact that is so important in the early years.  I loved the characters and the world that was created in dimensional to ours. The interloping stories between the main protagonist and the characters set throughout time was beautifully written. The bits and pieces of history intertwined with our main story was like icing on the cake. Maisie's journey to find herself and find the cause behind this curse is such a unique and spellbinding story.  The ability to kill and resurrect anything living is a disturbingly different plot than I have ever read before.   The character building and plot twist kept me absorbed from the very beginning. I NEEDED to know what would happen to Maisie, Peter, Matthew ! Why were these women trapped in the woods? What would happen if they were freed? Where does the Maisie fit in ?   All these questions are answered and more.  This deliciously dark novel is something totally new and exciting.  I give it 5 Stars and recommend picking it up and your earliest convenience. 

All the fairy tales warn children of going into the woods alone. Nothing good ever comes out of it. "What Should Be Wild" has the eerie quality of all those lovely Grimm fairy tales and an off kilter feel to it. A child is born, the mother dies leaving the father to raise her alone in the old secluded family home. He keeps her and her secret hidden so her only companions are her dad and the housekeeper.Her touch can kill and a retouch can bring back life. Maisie hungers for the touch of another human - a hug from her father and later, the same from the young man who will help her. Meanwhile, deep in the hidden realm of the wood, all the women in Maisie's family exist waiting to be freed. Classic Gothic fairy tale blended with a fantasy world that borders on horror and a mysterious curse. Beware your next walk in the woods alone. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Five magical, feminist, bewitched stars! I started this book two years ago. TWO. YEARS. I devoured the first half and fell so in love. I was excited every time I opened the book. I couldn't wait to pick it up again.And then...I beta read for a friend, and then had to read an ARC to review, and before I knew it, this book was collecting dust on my bedside table and it kept getting pushed off by things I HAD to read.Jack and I booked a weekend getaway in a cabin in North Georgia for my birthday last week, and I brought this book with me, and once again, I found myself swept away in the story within the first chapter after I picked it back up. I devoured the rest of it hungrily in just a couple of days.I'll never forget the feeling of reading this all cozied up by the fire after a long day of hiking.

This book completely swept me away! It's gently unpredictable, yet all my questions were answered, no stone left unturned. Great tension-building and impeccable pacing from the first to very last page, and an actual, solid ending. This dark, magical fairy tale-like novel is right up there with Aimee Bender-level perfection, but Julia Fine's style is all her own. Love, love, love!

This was a good read. It had a magical feel to it that gave it a dark fairytale feeling.

What Should Be Wild was a captivating read from beginning to end. As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, my interest was piqued. If I may be perfectly honest, the stunning cover was what first caught my eye. Gorgeous, and so fitting for this dark tale.It’s difficult to imagine a life in which you can’t truly experience touch – such a basic human interaction that we crave from the moment we take our first breath. Maisie Cothay was not your basic, average girl. Her slightest touch could snuff the life out of a human being or other living thing, but another swipe, poke or brush could also bring it back to life. While I can’t blame her father for being cautious around Maisie, I can blame him for his lack of fatherly behavior and affection. He was more interested in treating his only daughter as a subject in one of his studies than in nurturing a real relationship with her. This resulted in Maisie living an extremely sheltered and lonely life. My heart broke for Maisie’s unusual life and condition, and I was completely invested in her and her story throughout the book’s entirety.What Should Be Wild drew me in with its unique and richly descriptive story. It brought me back to my own youth and all of the stories that I remembered reading when I was a child. The fairy tales and lore that were not always the happily ever afters that we have been subjected to in more modern day retellings. No, these were the stories that warned children of the dangers of the world and what could possibly be lurking out there beyond the safety of their own homes and surroundings. Julia Fine created this grim, dark feeling of foreboding and executed it superbly.This was an intriguing, entertaining, and alluring read. Brimming with curses, family heritage, determination and human spirit, Julia Fine’s debut was a great introduction to her originality and beautiful, vivid writing. I’m looking forward to reading more by her in the years to come.*I received a copy of the book from the publisher (via Edelweiss).