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    The Natural Way of Things
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    The Natural Way of Things
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    The Natural Way of Things
    Ebook242 pages3 hours

    The Natural Way of Things

    By Charlotte Wood

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    “A Handmaid’s Tale for the 21st century” (Prism Magazine), Wood’s dystopian tale about a group of young women held prisoner in the Australian desert is a prescient feminist fable for our times. As the Guardian writes, “contemporary feminism may have found its masterpiece of horror.”

    Drugged, dressed in old-fashioned rags, and fiending for a cigarette, Yolanda wakes up in a barren room. Verla, a young woman who seems vaguely familiar, sits nearby. Down a hallway echoing loudly with the voices of mysterious men, in a stark compound deep in the Australian outback, other captive women are just coming to. Starved, sedated, the girls can't be sure of anything—except the painful episodes in their pasts that link them.

    Drawing strength from the animal instincts they're forced to rely on, the women go from hunted to hunters, along the way becoming unforgettable and boldly original literary heroines that readers will both relate to and root for.

    The Natural Way of Things is a lucid and illusory fable and a brilliantly plotted novel of ideas that reminds us of mankind's own vast contradictions—the capacity for savagery, selfishness, resilience, and redemption all contained by a single, vulnerable body. 

    Winner
    2016 Stella Prize
    2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Award in Fiction

    An Australian Indie Best Fiction Book & Overall Book of the Year Winner

    Finalist
    2017 International Dublin Literary Award
    2016 Voss Literary Prize
    2016 Victorian Premier's Award
    2016 The Miles Franklin Award
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEuropa Editions
    Release dateJun 28, 2016
    ISBN9781609453633

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    Reviews for The Natural Way of Things

    4/5

    129 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Oof. Angry, brutal and memorable - I'll be thinking about this one for ages.
    • 5/5
      Interesting mixture of almost lyrical writing and grubby, sordid brutality. A group of eight women find themselves abducted and brought to a farm in outback Australia, where they are dehumanised and made to do arduous physical labour while being brutalised by the two male guards. It transpires the only thing they have in common is that they were all involved in sex scandals with powerful men. Two of the women, Verla and Yolanda form a fragile friendship while each in their own way attempting to subvert the conditions of their captivity. As the food gives out and the conditions worsen, Verla and Yolanda more or less take charge of the camp, but when rescue comes, both realise it is really no rescue at all and elect to take their chances beyond the electrified fence. The book is rich with symbolism, rabbits, horses, mushrooms, and flows with lyrical grace, only interrupted by blunt and brutal descriptions of violence and degradation. Despite the confronting subject matter, this is ultimately a feel-good story, of friendship, survival and empowerment, enthralling and horrifying by turns from beginning to end.
    • 5/5
      I bought The Natural Way of Things for my mother and I to read on Christmas Eve, in the Icelandic tradition. What a book to choose! It is difficult, engaging, confronting, terrible, and brilliant.The story unfolds from the perspective of two very different women, who wake up imprisoned and have to navigate their new reality. Bit by bit, we learn more about the small group of women being kept in an isolated location and subjected to an array of cruelties and violence, all seemingly aimed at teaching them their place, and punishing them for their sexual "transgressions".The dynamics between the women and their gaolers serve as a microcosm of our own world. They judge each other by the internalised standards of society, whether it be for their actions, their appearance, their relationships within the new situation, or the perceptions arising from their notoriety. As many have commented, there is a lot of anger in this novel and perhaps I'm jaded and cynical, but it is difficult to see that as unwarranted. When feminism is treated as a dirty word, and victims of sexual assault or harassment are continually blamed for their own experiences by other women and men alike, it is hard not to be angry.This is not an easy read by any means. It is beautifully written with an economical but evocative style, though stands in stark contrast with the violence, brutality, and rawness of the narrative, itself. Its confronting nature will make it difficult for some people to read but to me, it felt like an important, pointed story that needed to be told. If nothing else, it should make us all think about our own behaviour and opinions of women whose sexual experiences become news, for whatever reason.
    • 4/5
      Two young women wake up in an ugly prison dressed in very coarse old-fashioned clothes. They don't know how they got there or why. It gets worse as they realize that there are other young disoriented women in this grimy compound in the Australian outback surrounded by an electrified fence. As the story unfolds, the hunted become the hunters and it's not pretty. It's also disorienting for the reader as well as the characters which kept me turning the pages. I'm not sure that this book would be good for a tender reader but it certainly has a lot to say.
    • 4/5
      A group of variously fallen women are taken to a remote location and slowly unravel.
    • 4/5
      Charlotte Wood's impossibly grim novel tells the story of a group of women who find themselves imprisoned on an old sheep ranch in the Outback. Each has been involved in some sort of sex scandal, from the girl who was gang-raped in the toilets of a nightclub to a the girl who had been sexually abused by a priest. Each carries both notoriety and the aftermath with her into this make-shift prison ruled over by a small group of utterly untrained people. Yolanda was the girl in the nightclub. As her shock at incarceration fades, she learns to assess her situation and to make the most of it. She forms a tenuous bond with Verla, who had a relationship with a married politician when she interned for him. As conditions at the camp worsen, both women learn to rely on themselves and find themselves changed. This isn't a story where a group of teenagers band together to defeat the bad guys. It's certainly set in a dystopian world, but one only a small step removed from our own. There's no great lesson learned (at least none that these women hadn't already learned when their stories became media fodder) and no grand triumph at the end. But while The Natural Way of Things sometimes makes for uncomfortable reading, it was a well-written and superbly imagined novel.
    • 5/5
      I want to say so many things about this book. I want to talk about it as allegory, as fact, as reportage, as fucked up fairytale. But equally I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to take away from anyone the experience I've just had. This book contains an important truth. It is brutal and grubby and horrifying. And yet it is gentle. It doesn't bludgeon. It doesn't preach. It just tells the truth. I want everyone to read this book. It is important, and it is beautifully written.
    • 5/5
      Breathtakingly beautiful and haunting. Brought up deep emotions from my own days of captivity of a different kind and how freedom can appear in the most unlikely places, even in the absolute depths of despair.
    • 4/5
      I have decidedly mixed feelings about this book. I think it was a mistake to sell it as a dystopian fantasy - there is nothing in it that requires any imaginative leaps, but instead we have a moving and well written story set in what is almost the real modern Australia.The plot centres on two young women Yolanda and Verla, who wake up from a drug-induced sleep in a bleak prison camp in rural Australia where their heads are shaved, they are forced to wear bonnets that restrict their vision and uncomfortable old fashioned clothes, while being locked into converted dog kennels at night. It soon emerges that what links them and their fellow captives is that they have all spoken about their sexual relations with rich and famous men. The guards are the brutal but weak Boncer, the apparently hippie-ish but self-serving Teddy and "nurse" Nancy who appears to have no medical knowledge.The book gets more interesting when it becomes clear that the guards have also been deceived, food and power supplies run out and they only survive because the resourceful Yolanda discovers how to use some abandoned rabbit traps to hunt for food. Yolanda becomes increasingly wild, and Verla gradually loses her conviction that her politician lover will rescue her.While the relentlessly bleak storyline makes this a difficult read, I thought it worked very well, and it is not difficult to imagine this kind of thing happening in a world so driven by hate-fuelled populism.
    • 3/5
      Pitched by most reviewers, inevitably, as like ‘The Handmaid's Tale in the Outback’, this is an engaging feminist paranoid fantasy about male violence and control, quick to read and more nuanced than it initially appears. It starts in medias res and we have to piece things together as we go; which is fun, but Wood never quite delivers on the intriguing set-up, and it's not even really clear what exactly we're being asked to believe has happened, let alone how believable that might be. But watching our characters get broken down and discover their inner reserves of strength (or not) is grimly satisfying – indeed, sometimes a little too inspirational – and Wood cranks the plot developments confidently. So if this is the sort of thing you like, then…well, then this is the sort of thing you'll like.
    • 4/5
      This was a harrowing survival story about ten girls who are drugged and taken to an abandoned sheep farm in the Australian Outback, where they are kept imprisoned by an immense electrified fence circling the compound. The girls' only commonality is that they were all involved in public sex scandals. Their captor is an impersonal corporation, which has imprisoned them for unspecified reasons, and their guards turn out to be as much prisoners as they are when the power is turned off and the food stores start to run out. The ordeal takes a different psychological toll on each character, with some breaking down and others learning how to survive off the land they are stranded in. This was often a difficult read, but also sometimes quite beautiful in its description of the landscape and the animals living it, and the transformation of the two main characters as they rejected the misogynist narrative that had landed them in this place and reverted to their more essential selves was very compelling. I did want to know more about the why of the girls' imprisonment, what the company's reason was for punishing these particular women, and how this was perceived in the outside world. Still, by keeping the focus narrow and keeping the reader in the dark as much as the characters are, we feel like we are imprisoned as well.
    • 1/5
      Awful book - kidnapping, imprisonment in barbaric conditions, sexual abuse, physical violence, mental anguish, suicide, murder, .... and a unicorn!The gorgeous Australian flowers on the cover and the innocuous title does not prepare you for the plot.
    • 5/5
      The Natural Way of Things - Charlotte WoodGosh. Wow. These were the only two words that spring to mind after reading this book. But I have a feeling that they don’t constitute a credible review. I found this to be an extraordinary book and possibly not for the faint hearted for it is not a feel good read. My understanding is that the book has already won an award in the author’s native Australia and I’m not surprised.It is a disturbing, dystopian work with a premise that should alarm us all. Several girls are kidnapped and imprisoned on what seems to be an abandoned sheep station in the outback and spiral down into degradation and abject desolation. The redemption is ambiguous with intention. For this is not a tale that should leave the reader comfortably believing that they all live happily ever after. It’s almost a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century.It is an exquisite piece of writing, well crafted descriptive prose and to a certain extent you have to distance yourself from the actual storyline, which is harrowing, to fully appreciate it. I found the story to be almost allegorical, a parable of our time,s which doesn’t make for comfortable reading. There is an undercurrent of anger as much on the part of the writer, I feel, as her characters. None of them, the abducted women nor their jailers, are especially likeable. But the situation into which they all have been thrust defies belief. I suppose one of the infuriating things about this book is that it poses questions that maybe have no answers. That isn’t intended as a criticism but it places a high demand on the reader to respond rather than remain passive. It has lot to say about bigotry, feminism, sexism.This is a very powerful book and I’m not sure I’ve done justice to it with my powerless words. It is a remarkable piece of work which I won’t forget in a hurry.
    • 5/5
      Two women, Verla and Yolanda, wake up from a drugged sleep to find themselves captives at a dilapidated sheep station in the Australian Outback. They are wearing 19th century style clothes, and upon waking, their heads are shaved. There are eight other young women there in the same situation, but information is scarce as they are brutally beaten if they speak or ask questions. Slowly they settle in to their bleak existence under the ever-watchful eye of their jailors, the creepy Bonsor, the dreadlocked yogi Teddy, and the crazy pseudo-nurse, Nancy. The whole lot of them are held inside the vast property by a powerful electric fence. Eventually, the young women figure out that the one thing they share is that they were all involved in a public scandal—one that included powerful men. For example, Barb was an Olympic hopeful until she went public about the sexual assault by her swim coach. Things go from bad to worse. It appears they are abandoned in this prison, they begin to starve and both the captives and the jailors begin to go insane. Different women try different approaches to survive, and Yolanda and Verla gain agency by learning to use the nature surrounding their jail. This is one aspect of the title The Natural Way of Things. The title has a double meaning, as it also refers to the misogynistic order of the world. I’ve read that The Natural Way of Things is a combination of Lord of the Flies, The Handmaid’s Tale, and “Mad Max.” I can see that, but it’s also very different from all of those. And I’d further add that it’s also just a little bit like “Orange is the New Black,” and also “Rabbit Proof Fence.” The writing is sparse and beautiful, especially the way the author uses the nature of the Outback. It’s structured in short chapters, which makes the novel highly readable. I would like to hear more from Charlotte Woods, but I’m not sure if her earlier novels are published outside of Australia. [The Natural Way of Things] won the 2016 Stella Award (for Australia women writers), was nominated for the Miles Franklin Award, and has been optioned for a film. It was inspired by true events that happened in the 1960s (now I’m off to learn about that hidden Australian history). Rating: Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year, but I can’t quite give it 5 stars because1.It took me about 40 pages to get into it (5 star books have to grab me right away)2.I’d have liked more information on the faceless corporation that took the women captive. I think the anonymity and lack of details is most likely purposeful because it’s irrelevant, but I find the concept interesting and want to know more3. I’d have loved more detail on each of the women’s background stories. I was looking forward to a short chapter, or even a page, on how each of them ended up there, but it was all just too vague and I think a missed opportunity4. I wanted to know the background story and motivation of the three jailors—their lives were no picnic either
    • 5/5
      The Natural Way Of Things by Charlotte Wood is a multi-layered novel with many complex and well-developed characters. It begins as a mesmerizing tale of women in captivity. How did they get there? Who are their captors? Why were they selected for capture and extended confinement? The reader will be immediately presented with all these questions. Some will be answered as details are presented slowly and in an obscure manner as a tale of survival unfolds. Questions about some of the captives’ backgrounds will only be answered by reader imagination. This tale of captivity, survival, and human cruelty is a modern-day horror story.The number of characters is large. Charlotte Wood develops each character to illustrate a set of human frailties. How will each character react to extreme, life-threatening adversity? Will each character be able to appreciate her own change? The changes come about primarily to the women captives although there is one female captor as well as two males. The female captor character is well developed, the two males less so. Looking at the characters, we have:Yolanda: She had a boyfriend, Robbie, who was only interested in himself. He may have had a hand in her captivity.Verla: the political girl A lot of her time will be spent self-interpreting her dreams. This may have something to do with mushrooms. She feels superior to the other captives and is sure she will soon be released.Isobell (Izzy): the airline girl.Hetty: the cardinal’s girl.Maitlynd: the school principal’s head girl.Barbs: the rough, independent girl. She is injured early in the captivity to serve as an example to others.Rhiannon: the gamer girl.Lydia: the cruise ship girl.Leandra: The Army girl.Joy: The Asian girl, a singer.All the captives have been judged to be promiscuous, loose, sluttish women with no morals. It is hinted to be the reason for their captivity. They have all been “handed over” by some significant other.Nancy: She is not part of the captives, instead she works with Teddy and Bonce as a captor. Her role seems to be a nurse, that is the good news. The bad news is she has no medical training.Teddy: One of the captors, a diver who likes his own company as he meditates. He can’t avoid occasional interactions with Bonce and Nancy as they work together to manage the captives. Teddy and Nancy will have a romantic relationship; Teddy will not attempt to molest the other captives (at first).Bonce: A captor and a thoroughly unlikeable guy. He would like to molest all the captives but is prevented from doing so by his boss, the unknowable and never to appear “Hardings.”The captive women wake up to the reality of their captivity. When they are finally able to communicate with each other, they relate to each other the moments just before they are “handed over” to an agent that transported them to the camp. They are initially under the control of Bonce and Teddy; the existence of Nancy is a rumor. The women are kept apart, their heads are shaved, they are locked daily into separate compartments, and are fed barely enough to keep them alive. Most of the food is in the form of unrecognizable gruel; taste is not a factor. On a tour of the facility, taken when they are chained together on a type of chain gang, they are allowed the knowledge that the compound is surrounded by electrified fencing which will kill any attempting to get over it. The captives are frequently gratuitously hit, kicked, and tortured by Bonce with something resembling a leather sap. Teddy observes.At some point, electricity to the compound fails although that is not true of electricity to the fence. Food begins to run out. The length of the captivity can be deduced from the chapter titles: Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Somewhere in mid-Autumn the food is all but gone and the captives are eating plants and anything they can scrounge. Yolanda finds some animal traps and begins to trap, kill, and eat rabbits. Vera discovers mushrooms to season the rabbit stew. By this point, it should be obvious to the captors that they are just another type of captive but they never explicitly admit this. They just share in the misery.As the women begin to scramble in a search for food, they each develop a way to deal with their captivity; they choose a favorite activity to fill the day. The captors are reduced to the role of observers; the torture and punishments decrease. Yolanda retreats into and is consumed by trapping rabbits. Vera gathers mushrooms of all types and, knowing that some may be poisonous, keeps a record of the types she believes them to be. Joy, Izzy, and Lydia spend their time grooming each other in a setting without showers, or soap. Maitlynd takes care of her pet frog and collects moths. Hetty spent time in prayer until she got the doll. Leandra chopped kindling for the cooking fire. Barbs tended to the stockpot in which everything was dumped into and cooked. Rhiannon sat for hours in the skeleton of an abandoned vehicle.Through all of this, relationships change. No one wants to sleep with Bonce but it becomes obvious that someone must be sacrificed for the common good. Remember Hetty and the doll? How did she get it in the middle of a situation that did not include toys? Captives will get sick. Who will take care of them? It must be a volunteer captive. People will die. How will captives and captors relate to death?The action is fast paced for a novel that seems so constricted in terms plot and scene. The complexity of the characters makes for slow reading in a novel that is 320 pages. That is because the reader is forced to think and contemplate background scenarios only hinted at. The conclusion will not please all and, in its vagueness will stay with the reader for a long time.