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The Natural Way of Things Paperback – 23 September 2015

by Charlotte Wood (Author)

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Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in an abandoned property in the middle of a desert in a story of two friends, sisterly love and courage - a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted.

Joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2016 - Fiction category Winner of the 2016 Stella Prize

She hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, 'I need to know where I am.' The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised. He says, almost in sympathy, 'Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.'

Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of nowhere. Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, forced to wear strange uniforms, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious armed jailers and a 'nurse'. The girls all have something in common, but what is it? What crime has brought them here from the city? Who is the mysterious security company responsible for this desolate place with its brutal rules, its total isolation from the contemporary world? Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: in each girl's past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man. They pray for rescue -- but when the food starts running out it becomes clear that the jailers have also become the jailed. The girls can only rescue themselves.

The Natural Way of Things is a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted. Most of all, it is the story of two friends, their sisterly love and courage.

With extraordinary echoes of The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies, The Natural Way of Things is a compulsively readable, scarifying and deeply moving contemporary novel. It confirms Charlotte Wood's position as one of our most thoughtful, provocative and fearless truth-tellers, as she unflinchingly reveals us and our world to ourselves.

'As a man, to read it is as unsettling as receiving one piece of bad news after another. It is confronting. Yet anyone who reads it, man or woman, is going to be left with a sense that a long-hidden truth has been revealed to them. The Natural Way of Things is a brave, brilliant book. I would defy anyone to read it and not come out a changed person.' Malcolm Knox, author of The Wonder Lover

'This is a stunning exploration of ambiguities - of power, of morality, of judgment. With a fearless clarity, Wood's elegantly spare and brutal prose dissects humanity, hatreds, our ambivalent capacities for friendship and betrayal, and the powerful appearance - always - of moments of grace and great beauty. The book's ending undid me through the shape of the world it reveals as much as its revisions of escape and survival. It will not leave you easily; it took my breath away.' Ashley Hay, author of The Railwayman's Wife

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Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Allen & Unwin
Publication date

23 September 2015
ISBN-10

1760111236
ISBN-13

978-1760111236
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Product description

About the Author

The Australian newspaper has described Charlotte Wood as 'one of our most original and provocative writers'. She is the author of six novels and two books of non-fiction. Her bestselling novel, The Natural Way of Things, won the 2016 Stella Prize, the Indie Book of the Year and Indie Book Award for Fiction, was joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction, and was published throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and North America. She has been twice shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, as well as many others for this and previous works. Her non-fiction books include The Writer's Room, a collection of interviews with authors about the creative process, and Love & Hunger, a book about cooking. She lives in Sydney with her husband.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin (23 September 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1760111236
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1760111236

Best Sellers Rank: 599,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 62,364 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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2,784

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Charlotte Wood
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Charlotte Wood has been described as one of Australia's most original and provocative writers.
She is the author of six novels and two books of non-fiction. Her latest novel, The Natural Way of Things, won the 2016 Stella Prize, the 2016 Indie Book of the Year and Novel of the Year, was joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction, and has been published throughout Europe, the UK and North America.
Her non-fiction books include The Writer’s Room, a collection of interviews with authors about the creative process, and Love & Hunger, a book about cooking. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper, among other publications.
Her new novel THE WEEKEND will be published in Australia in 2019, and the USA and UK in 2020.
More info, news & updates at https://www.charlottewood.com.au
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Charlotte Wood
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Ruth Stewart

A carefully observed dystrophia

Reviewed in Australia on 15 October 2016

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This book sucks you into a place you don't want to be, into a world that is just over there.....but not. Wood's characterisation is finely observed. These are people we have met somewhere, but not here and then the story gets under your skin and you feel as if this could be happening somewhere and you are just too head in the clouds to notice and you start looking around you in a different way hearing the misogyny that surrounds us that we breathe every day.
But what Wood does is show us the strength that is there even in extreme deprivation.
I recommend you read this book. It is a challenging read, but worth it.

Reviewed in Australia on 20 August 2017

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This novel has been lauded left, right and centre, so I felt a bit of pressure to go ga-ga over it.

But I can't and I won't.

It was far from terrible, but as far as I am concerned it didn't blow my mind away, and worst of all, it didn't touch me on an emotional level, and I have a big problem with this, especially when it's supposed to be a dystopian novel, with misogynism at its core. I consider myself a staunch feminist, so I am perplexed by my apathy, especially given how easily I get fired up. Yes, this novel was brutal, horrific things happen to these ten young women, who are clueless as to why they're imprisoned on a secluded, derelict property somewhere in the Australian desert/bush.

Besides the fact that I never cared for any characters, there were way too many questions left unanswered, and I do not like that! Maybe if the novel were set in a completely dystopian time, I would have had fewer issues with this book. But with the exception of the lawlessness of the women being imprisoned and their mistreatment, everything else was contemporary and known to me - therefore it was more difficult to suspend my disbelief and just go with it.

Because of the lack of answers, I couldn't help but think that Wood tried to dazzle us with some shocking imagery without putting together a cohesive, credible story.

3 people found this helpful

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jessica

Disturbing

Reviewed in Australia on 25 March 2023

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This book has so many questions left unanswered, but it was fantastically written and one of those books that you will find hard to forget. I really enjoyed reading this, loved the main characters....I would recommend.

Reviewed in Australia on 8 April 2020

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I must be very unintelligent for I really didn't 'get' this book.
Well written? I presume so. Believable plot? Not really. Allegorical? I have no idea. Enjoyable? Not for me.
I bought the book based on reviews that extolled its virtues and I have to confess I really don't see them. A dispiriting tale of woe without a single likeable character.

One person found this helpful

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Kate K

Great writing of a stagnant story. Boring.

Reviewed in Australia on 17 August 2016

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This went nowhere! Sure, there was some great writing there but the plot was totally stagnant and in the end I just skimmed it looking for some kind of storyline.

3 people found this helpful

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Debra

Haunting

Reviewed in Australia on 8 January 2017

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This is a haunting story about a group of women being held against their will. The two main characters are wonderfully written, but a bit more background on them - and the other girls - would be good. I didn't get to know them enough, I think, for the story to have full impact. The writing is brilliant, although a bit too "purple" at times - simpler language would be more effective to convey their isolation. The ending left me with questions and I would have liked things to be a tied up a little more... but a captivating, disturbing read nonetheless.

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Student

This book about a group of young women who have ...

Reviewed in Australia on 8 January 2016

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This book about a group of young women who have been imprisoned in an out back environment is interesting and well written
It certainly has an impact and leaves you wondering.

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Cassandra

especially when one considers that something like it has happened before

Reviewed in Australia on 10 September 2016

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I devoured this novel over the course of two days.
Wood's writing is entrancing, with a deep sense of setting and description that pairs with stark shocking events. It's a deeply metaphorical text, layered with meaning, subtle and obvious alike, confronting at times, unsettling at others. The most lingering aspect of it is the plausibility of events, especially when one considers that something like it has happened before.

It's a book that will linger with me for years to come and something I will definitely read again.

One person found this helpful

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Client d'Amazon

trash

Reviewed in France on 8 November 2022

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just like M.Atwood except it is not, so what is the point ?

ZandaraZ

Left wide open for you

Reviewed in Canada on 24 December 2017

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I enjoyed reading the book although I found too much left unanswered or open for interpretation. The author does not create clear pictures of the story that it left me with alot of questions.

Ron K

Abandoned in Captivity

Reviewed in the United States on 30 October 2016

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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 208 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.

2 people found this helpful

Antoinette Cosway

Powerful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 August 2016

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Very powerful book. The slut shaming was physically painful, and the fact that they continued to do it to each other despite their shared circumstances was a twist of the knife.

**SPOILERS**

These points are more book club than review but I need to share them.

Why didn't they kill Boncer sooner? They outnumbered him. He didn't have a gun. I don't understand why they let him have power over them. It didn't seem realistic to me.

I don't think it's coincidence that the power came on as Boncer died. Hidden cameras?

Why was Verla the only one to question what was going on at the end? They all went through this life changing experience. Why would they all fall on the bags of goodies without question? Why weren't they demanding justice and answers? Again, it seems very unrealistic.

One person found this helpful

W. A. Burt

Graphic and haunting.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2020

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I have no criticism to offer regarding this book apart from the fact that I wanted it to go on longer.
I was immediately drawn in from the start and captivated throughout by the characters,their interactions and ultimate transformation.
The spare prose and slow backfill were perfect,no wasted words here.
At times raw and visceral but always interesting and evocative.
One to savour.

2 people found this helpful

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