Thoughts: The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

I recently finished The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey.  This was a beautiful debut novel about a man suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  As someone who is about to begin a career working with older adults, I can say that Alzheimer's Disease is and will continue to be a major problem.  Approximately 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's Disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association.  Alzheimer's Disease has no cure and is the most common cause of dementia. 

The Wilderness is told from the perspective of Jake Jameson, a 65 year old architect who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease.  While it is impossible to truly understand what it feels like to have Alzheimer's Disease, I think Harvey gives a moving portrait of a Jake's mind as it unravels due to the progression of the disease.  I got the sense that Harvey did her research before writing the book as well.  I was familiar with the tests given in the book to measure Jake's mental status, such as the one described in this passage:

"One cannot be expected to remember everything, and in fact remembering everything is a hindrance to living; if an event comes as a thousand details the brain needs to forget nine hundred of them in order to derive any meaning from that event.  So a woman with dyed red hair, coarse skin, and a pen in her hand has explained.  But, she has also explained, too much forgetting is bad.  He had wanted to take her to task over this: Define too much, define bad, who do you think you are, do you think I am a child?  I'm going to say three words and I'd like you to repeat them after me: house, shoelace, picture.  He does not remember what answer he gave, only that he wished for the woman to look away as he strove to meet her ludicrous demands; and he knows that he must, despite an effort, have failed to please her." (page 47)

Given that his memory is deteriorating, the details and stories of Jake's life are not always presented logically, if they are ever explained at all.  Each chapter is in Jake's present, which is why it is sometimes difficult to understand his thoughts or references.  However, the chapters are interwoven with stories from his past, which explain some of the thoughts and memories he tries to remember in the present.

This book is filled with beautiful descriptions and language.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Alzheimer's Disease, but also to others who may not be as interested in that aspect.  Simply put, this is a moving novel that everyone should be able to find a way to relate to their own life.  There are so many passages from The Wilderness that I would like to share, but I'll leave you with this one:

"Since he dragged the police into his disease things have changed; suddenly he is a liability, suddenly nothing he says or does can be trusted, as if it used to be quite an informal kind of illness and now it becomes official.  The timeline is a mass of crossings out and corrections.  He feels to be the supremely unconfident author of his life.  Question marks appear against words, then he deletes the question marks, thinking that if he doesn't question the truth there is no question about it.  It is only him, as the woman says, only him who is confusing things." (page 227)