The Wilderness

by Sandra Lim
The Wilderness cover
Good Books rating 4.33
Poetry
Technical:
  • ID: 743
  • Added: 2025-09-19
  • Updated: 2025-09-19
  • ISBN: 9780393243499
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • Published: 2014-09-15
  • Reviews: 3

The Wilderness by Sandra Lim is a daring and exuberant collection of poems that weaves through various themes, including the myths of the American landscape, the fatalism of American Puritanism, family history, and the complexities of contemporary life. The poems delve into the individual soul's struggle with its own meaning, offering a profound and stirring exploration of existence. /n/n From the winner of the 2013 Barnard Women Poets Prize, this collection is praised for its quiet intensity and thrilling depth, as noted by Louise Glück. The poems move from the emptiness of the wilderness to the passion required to navigate the world's unwavering limits, providing a rich and thought-provoking journey.

Reviews
So to Speak Journal · Madeleine Wattenberg · 2024-05-01
intriguing 4.50

The collection attempts to capture fleeting moments and emotions, creating a sense of depth and introspection. The poems blur lines between different themes, making the reading experience both challenging and rewarding.

Madeleine Wattenberg from So to Speak Journal highlights how Sandra Lim's 'The Wilderness' tries to capture the ephemeral—snow, stars, and the past—in her poetry. They appreciate the way Lim's work blurs the lines between different themes, making the collection both challenging and rewarding. The reviewer finds the poems to be deeply introspective, offering a unique perspective on the human experience.

Quick quotes

    In many ways, The Wilderness attempts to capture meaning by catching all the things that disperse—the snow, the stars, the past—and drawing them together.

    The collection is a testament to Lim's ability to blend the abstract with the concrete.

    The poems are both unassuming and deeply profound.

the coffee philosopher · 2017-09-11
affecting 4.50

The collection is described as affecting and emotionally resonant, with a cold and estranged atmosphere. The poems are praised for their depth and searching quality.

The reviewer from the coffee philosopher finds 'The Wilderness' to be one of the most affecting collections they've read in a long time. They describe the poems as cold, estranged, and deeply searching, creating an emotionally resonant atmosphere. The reviewer appreciates the collection's ability to evoke a sense of longing and introspection, making it a memorable reading experience.

Quick quotes

    The Wilderness was the most affecting collection I'd read since Che's Split.

    Cold (physically), estranged, and searching.

    The poems evoke a sense of longing and introspection that stays with the reader.

Ron Slate's Blog · 2014-09-29
remarkable 4.00

The collection is praised for its ability to blur lines and challenge traditional poetic boundaries. The poems are described as remarkable and thought-provoking.

The reviewer from Ron Slate's Blog finds Sandra Lim's 'The Wilderness' to be a remarkable collection that challenges traditional poetic boundaries. They appreciate how Lim blurs the lines between different themes and ideas, creating a unique and thought-provoking reading experience. The poems are described as both unassuming and deeply introspective, offering a fresh perspective on the human condition.

Quick quotes

    Sandra Lim proves that the schism is bogus in her remarkable second collection, The Wilderness.

    Blurring the lines between and pivoting between different themes is one of the collection's strengths.

    The poems are works of great interiority.

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