Abstract
Reviewed by: Wolfwood by Marianna Baer Natalie Berglind Baer, Marianna Wolfwood. Amulet, 2023 [384p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781419733710 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781683354888 $15.54 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 Indigo’s mom, Zoe, was once a great artist who painted a series of disturbing water-colors of girls being tortured in a jungle, but after having a daughter, she couldn’t bear to continue to depict female trauma; the art world forgot her, and she and Indigo have barely scraped by for years. When the opportunity to make money by exhibiting new Wolfwood paintings at a gallery arises, Zoe still can’t make herself paint them—so Indigo steps in. Surprisingly, Indigo is able to mimic her mom’s style, but at a cost; whenever she paints, she gets sucked into the jungle itself, hunted by monstrous creatures and even waking up with injuries in the real world. Hiding the forgery from her mom, the gallery owner, and the gallery owner’s cute son takes a huge toll, especially as Zoe spirals deeper into depression and Indigo has to act as breadwinner and parent herself. While the sequences in Wolfwood are unexpectedly flat, Indigo’s strong narrative voice takes readers to the depths of her despair as she struggles with the nearly impossible task of keeping up appearances while living in poverty and caring for her mentally ill mother. The danger [End Page 214] she’s in comes not from the monsters in the jungle but from the circumstances that necessitate her returns to Wolfwood again and again. Trauma is explored with sensitivity—both Indigo’s from a violent encounter while unhoused and her mother’s from a dark incident presented through flashbacks—and the hardship of continuing to love and protect an unwell parent is conveyed with complexity and compassion. Readers looking for a character-driven story fraught with emotional suspense should pick this one up. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Published Version
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