Like the Great Gatsby - but less romantic and more woke – Wild Abandon follows a lonely outsider finding his place in a late-capitalism world
Emily Bitto’s Wild Abandon is a sprawling novel, easy to read, with characters that are generously written and full of life. It is easy to get lost with Will, as he flees the shame of his small-town upbringing and the heartbreak of first love, leaving Australia in search of meaning and release. But from the hedonistic indulgences of New York City to the primal wilds of Littleproud, Ohio, all Will finds beneath the fantasy of the great American road trip are shattered dreams.
The Strays, Bitto’s Stella prize-winning first novel, was a tense and tightly crafted reflection on art, love, family and obsession. Wild Abandon is much looser, and with the additional scope comes a sense of greater ambition. Bitto turns her attention to larger, more disparate themes of war, family, capitalism and freedom, although the novel again follows the journey of a solitary outsider and his desperate desire to fit in.
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