The Wall: Discover this dystopia addictive from the Vintage Earth series (International Edition)

This is the sort of book that stays with you and haunts you. It brings you deep into another world. I saw the movie, which is very good, and ran out and got the book. In the story a woman, never named, wakes up alone in her friend's hunting cabin to find the area has been walled off by an invisible glass-like wall. Everyone is gone. She presumes some military experiment gone wrong. Somehow she has all she needs to survive and just that. She is left with Lynx a dog, her primary companion and gradually a cow , a cat and kittens that come and go. She has some simple supplies, some potatoes, beans, guns, her hunting lodge and medical supplies. She sets about the business of surviving and caring for her animals. It is a very primitive hunter/gather/farmer existence. She takes only what she needs and protects what she can. Her labors, which are backbreaking and constant. They are what make her human and different from the animals. She is too exhausted to brood about the loss of her old life, her family. It is about the nature and living with it and preparing for the next season. . It's not about escape or return, which makes it unusual. It's about how she adapts, as possibly the last of her kind in this wild area.. Her struggle is constant and transformative. We also know something bad is coming and this is said early and often. This creates tension. The story bounces around in time to the present tense and back, but mostly follows the seasons. She is telling her story. We know only what she knows. Her world is quite large and has forests and streams and meadows. Her pets are complex characters, especially Lynx, who is her main companion. What is given(i.e. the cow for milk, the supplies) and what is taken (all the people the modern conveniences), even the wall itself are all plot devices and one is very aware of that. It isn't sci fi, but more of fable and a survival story. What makes it haunting because she is so alone, her efforts to survive are so exhausting and more loss is coming. This book contains some of the most moving and thoughtful writing about animals and pets and nature and seasons that you will find. You are completely immersed in this world and her struggles, as maybe the last of her kind.. Seasonal changes are major plot turns. It is both a page turner and a contemplative book. I will never forget this world, the animals and this woman.

This novel is thought provoking to say the least. I had never heard of the book or the author but it is one to remember and reread. I tend to read too fast sometimes to "get to the action" or to find out what happens. Don't do that with this book! Take your time and try to become immersed in the world that is created. Put yourself in the character's place and wonder how you would deal with the events that affect her. It will be worth the effort, I believe.

I am almost haunted by this book. The woman in this tale is unlike any, or maybe it is just that she is every woman. She finds herself trapped in a hunting lodge after an unexplainable "wall" has come down around her. She is all alone, except for the animals she cares for. A woman past her prime with kids grown and gone. All she has is memories and new responsibilities. At the core of this story is a woman who knows life must go on. She teaches herself how to stay alive. She suffers great loses and learns things the hard way. She writes her memoir for no one, she writes it all down for us to read and try to make sense of it. She is no hero, she is a survivor. There is no vanity in the woman's story. She takes no credit for her many accomplishments. This is a tale where beauty and the pursuit of the opposite sex is not in the forefront. What a breathe of fresh air that a woman could just have an adventure without other women or a man to distract from the purpose. This book is timeless in that there is no technology to give it away. There is no time stamp on it. I was shocked to find out just how long ago this was written. Don't let the stories age distract you. This woman could live at any time, in any country. I finished this book with a sense of awe. I knew there really wasn't more, but I carry this character with me. She is the woman I hope I would be if I found myself all alone.

OMG! This took FOREVER to arrive! I really wanted the OG cover, so that’s why I opted for this version. It did come in perfect condition, though, thankfully!

This is not an action packed adventure. Rather, this is about the mind and thought processes that this woman went through to survive on her own. Ask yourself, how would you handle it if you were the only one left alive? Could you handle being alone? With only yourself and a couple of animals for company. Would you let the acts of survival drag you down, or do you have it in you to get up and get moving every day of your life to work hard because that is what its going to take to stay alive? Many will think they can do it. I think it is much harder than we can imagine. This book probes into one possibility of one woman's struggle for survival, all alone. I really did enjoy the book.

SPOILERS, do not read until you finish book! (Warning:may contain spoilers). The Wall, I think I know where Stephen King got the idea for "The Dome", which I did not like either, but was done so much better. The Wall is a study in depression and isolationism, much of which is the characters own choosing. The main character (no name is ever given) discoverers an invisible wall around the hunting cabin she is visiting. She does some basic exploration of it to find how far it extends but nothing about how high it is, it might have been just six feet,she never checks. She has observed at least one case of death on the other side of it so that it a good reason to stay put for a while. She soon observes birds flying over, deer that were not there before are noticed. She all too quickly decides to spend the rest of her life behind this invisible wall. She never investigates where the strange man even came from. She observed once that the wall could not be very high because low clouds were going over her. The end has more of the same, no explanation, no hope, just resigned to stay put and not investigate. I think a more plausible ending would be that she had a mental breakdown after Hugo & Luise went into town for the evening. Her story she tells is created by her mind that she is trapped in, probably in a mental institution. Now that is an ending that makes sense to me.

I really liked this one although it was a very quite, lonely, melancholy story. It was so well written though, and I really cared about the narrator and her animal companions and their well-being. It's a story about the last woman on Earth who finds herself surrounded by an invisible wall that borders an area in the Austrian Alps where she had gone to vacation with family. When her family doesn't return the next day and she discovers the wall she realizes she must figure out how to survive all alone. Although she does fairly well, it is still a sad and lonely existence as she worries for the animals she finds and cares for. Although the premise is science fictiony, her predicament isn't discussed much as she mostly just describes her daily toils and the bits of pleasure she finds in nature and being able to survive and the love and joy she shares with her dog, the cats, and the cow and bull. Not for those expecting action and adventure, but very thought provoking and realistic and clearly written by someone quite sensitive and insightful about nature and animals, human and non.

Very relatable book. It's deep and intriguing. Dark and moody - right where I was at the time. Made me think about things. I enjoyed it for that. Saw the movie by randomly searching for something to watch on Netflix. Was so intrigued I had to read the book. I read somewhere that it is a great example of dealing with severe depression. Made sense as I have been there and felt like I could relate.