Something Wilder

“It didn’t matter how good a deal he was offering her. There wasn’t a single thing she could do to get her family’s ranch back. Once something was gone, it was gone. Lily thought she’d dealt with her sorrow, her longing for that place, but she felt bruised all over again.”

When Lily opens Nicole’s envelope from Jonathan Cross, the narrative shifts into Lily’s interiority. Lily becomes introspective in this scene because Jonathan’s letter is unleashing memories of the life she once imagined for herself. Furthermore, the narrator’s use of words like “gone,” “sorrow,” “longing,” and “bruised” underscores Lily’s emotional discomfort upon seeing Jonathan’s offer.

“Leo laughed at Bradley’s winning grin. ‘Cora’s moving to Boston. You know it was my job to get her through school.’ Get her through school, yes, but also be her brother, father, mother, and benefactor, and make up for every tiny bit of adoration that had been robbed from his baby sister ten years ago.”

The third-person narrator inhabits Leo’s consciousness in order to provide insight into how he sees himself. The narration toggles between dialogue and interiority, too, which reveals how Leo’s thoughts contrast with his modes of expression. The passage offers expositional insight into Leo’s character and underscores the complexities of his relationship with the past.

“Lily’s father had been obsessed with these canyons and spent years chasing the same myths and legends she now exploited to take groups on guided tours and fake treasure hunts. Unlike Duke, however, the wannabe weekend warriors who hired Lily went home at the end of the ride, back to jobs and family and reality. Duke might have physically walked through the door at the end of a dig, but he was never really with his family, always dreaming about finding long-buried treasures while the rest of his life—his wife, his health, and his family’s ranch—eventually fell away.”

Lily’s fraught relationship with her late father continues to dictate how she sees herself and her life in the narrative present. The passage thus illustrates the difficulty of Reconciling the Past and Present when the individual’s past still feels unresolved. Indeed, the narrator’s use of words like “exploited,” “fake,” and “wannabe,” underscores Lily’s frustration and discontentment in the present. These are all emotions inspired by Lily’s sustained frustration with Duke and show how his decisions continue to affect her even years after his death.

“Tall, lean, smooth honeyed neck visible above the collar of his North Face fleece. She’d know that neck anywhere; she’d recognize that posture and that long stride from half a mile away. The rest of him autofilled in her memory, and Lily squeezed her eyes closed, pushing away another deluge of images. It had taken her years to shove them out and here they were, roaring back like a flash flood, uninvited.”

The narrator uses descriptive language to reveal how Lily really feels about Leo. The narrator is inhabiting Lily’s consciousness in this scene and thus describing Leo according to Lily’s perspective of him. She thus uses words like “tall,” “lean,” “smooth,” “honeyed,” “deluge,” and “roaring” to capture how closely Lily is studying Leo and how intensely she feels about him.

“After years of actively working to not obsess about where she was and what she was doing—envious of some imaginary man who got to love her and live the life he wanted—here he was, face-to-face with his first love, in the middle-of-nowhere desert. Leo had no idea how to proceed like everything was fine.”

The author uses the second chance and forced proximity tropes in order to compel Lily and Leo back together. This passage captures how Leo is responding to seeing Lily again and to realizing that they’ll have to spend the next week together. Leo’s thoughts about where they are and his attempts to figure out how to approach the situation convey his overwhelmed state of mind and foreshadow how the setting will impact his and Lily’s dynamic.

“She’d been terrible at having emotional conversations before him. But to be fair, Lily’d been the only daughter of a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon and a woman who couldn’t take the isolation of living in the middle of nowhere with a husband who was never present, even when he was. […] Feelings were never a priority.”

Lily’s internal monologue conveys her attempts to reconcile her past and present experiences. She wants to open up to Leo again but worries that she won’t be able to consider where she came from and what she’s experienced emotionally since they broke up. The passage presents flashbacks from multiple temporal eras at once, which underscores Lily’s fraught relationship with the past.

“But Terry was gone. Leo was astounded at how fast a human body could fall. He had never—not once in his life—heard such silence. It was as if Terry had pulled all of the sound with him when he plummeted. For two, five, ten heart-pounding seconds, they stared at the empty space that Terry’s body had just occupied. Delicate swirls of dust danced around them in the fading light.”

Terry’s death incites new narrative conflict and augments the narrative tension. His death is a surprising narrative plot point, which changes the stakes and the mood of the characters’ desert adventure together. Furthermore, the narrator’s attention to punctuation and sensory detail enacts the characters’ stunned response to Terry’s shocking fate—namely attention to time and to the dust and light. The moment marks a turning point in the narrative and complicates the characters’ relationships with each other.

“In the end, the answer is yes. You have to go; I have. You hate to go, but you will. You’ll need to go, but never there. But whether you do or whether you don’t, I can assure you that suffer you won’t. If nothing else, you are free, so, search the stump of Duke’s tree at the belly of the three.”

Duke’s riddle at the back of his journal is a narrative device. Duke is an archetypal guide for Lily and her companions and his riddle becomes the key to their adventure. Duke’s riddle also points to Duke’s love for Lily and his attempt to communicate with her in an intimate, albeit cryptic manner. This riddle ultimately foreshadows each of the characters’ coming decisions as they continue to seek out the treasure.

“And yet Duke hadn’t given this diary to her. He hadn’t told her he’d found the treasure, either. He was fine selling her favorite place in the world, leaving her poor and alone. She was tired of her life being decided by Duke Wilder. Still. Was it worth just…looking?”

The narrator combines multiple tonal registers in this passage to enact Lily’s conflicted state of mind. In the opening sentences, Lily is unbending about how she feels about her dad. She makes declarative statements about what he’s done to her and how she feels about his actions. However, the tone shifts in the final two lines, which have a more hesitant resonance and reveal Lily’s curiosity and desire for understanding.

“He felt uncorked, like he’d been shoved into a tiny space and was bubbling over, too large for his old skin. He’d been ripped from his reality, torn from the monotony and routine and loneliness of his life in New York, and despite everything that had happened yesterday—despite the fact that he had no idea what the next few days would bring—there was no way in hell he was ready to go back.”

The narrator uses figurative language and metaphor to enact Leo’s complex emotional experience. The narrator compares Leo’s feelings to a bottle being uncorked or to a fizzy substance overflowing the parameters of his body. These comparisons vivify Leo’s internal experience and capture how trapped he’s felt and how desperate he is to rediscover himself beyond his current reality in the city.

“Those promises we made meant something to me. I get that what happened was just as heartbreaking for you. I get that. But when you do this kind of thing—talk about feelings, touch me? For you, maybe it’s just a vacation romance, but it takes me right back to the hardest time of my life. If you’d been there for me—even from New York—I could have weathered anything. But you weren’t. And I can’t go through that again.”

Lily uses clear, direct language in her dialogue with Leo so that he understands how she feels and what she wants. Lily is internally conflicted about Leo, but is still able to articulate her emotions in a direct and honest manner. Her ability to claim her experience shows that she is growing and enacts her work to claim her identity and to pursue an autonomous, healthy future.

“And yet, the hum in his blood was anticipation, not fear. The adrenaline of adventure and the prospect of being with Lily again coursed through him. He could sense the war inside her—the attraction, the fear—and knew that this had to be her choice. Nearly everything in her life had been forced on her. He wanted her to choose him.”

The narrator uses figurative and descriptive language to immerse the reader in Leo’s emotional experience. Leo’s outlook is changing in this scene, as he’s considering both his and Lily’s feelings. The narrator uses language like “hum,” “blood,” “adrenaline,” “coursed,” “war,” and “forced” to capture the intensity of his desire to be with Lily, to reconcile, and to find happiness.

“They reached the shore in a tumble, and Leo rolled Lily over onto the grass, crawling after her and cupping her face as she coughed out water. She felt hysterical now that they were on land, hiccupping and gasping for breath as the shock wore off and understanding hit her: if Leo hadn’t gotten to her when he did, she would have drowned.”

The novel uses Lily and Leo’s experience crossing the Green River as a metaphor for their evolving relationship. In this scene, they are rejoicing in their survival. The verbs “tumble,” “rolled,” “crawling,” “cupping,” “hiccupping,” and “gasping” activate the scene, granting it an energetic atmosphere. This is also how Lily and Leo feel being together. They are overcoming obstacles with one another’s help, which makes them feel alive, engaged, and present.

“A weight rolling over inside left her mute for a second. She wanted him to try something. If she was being honest, she wanted every moment of downtime they had to be spent touching. But that was the infatuation talking, and Leo was right—she shouldn’t do anything if she didn’t know what it meant. Because what could it mean? What was he going to do? Turn down a promotion, leave New York, and move here? How would she even adapt to that? The idea of having him in her life every day, of growing dependent on that connection, made her pulse rocket, her body instinctively rebelling.”

Lily’s internal monologue affects a simultaneously urgent narrative atmosphere and searching narrative tone. Lily is trying to acknowledge her feelings for Leo but is also trying to understand if they can in fact have a future together. The succession of questions in the latter half of the passage conveys Lily’s worried, eager mind and foreshadows her coming work to pursue Love, Trust, and Forgiveness with Leo.

“I need you to understand that I can’t shape my life around someone else ever again. Every day has been dictated by another person’s shitty choices, or my own circumstances resulting from another person’s shitty choices. I realize I’m being rigid here, but I have to be. I can’t bend to suit what works for you.”

Lily’s tone is honest, blunt, and direct. She uses plain, conversational language with Leo so that she doesn’t disguise her desires, needs, and fears. She is owning her experience by articulating her feelings to Leo. The moment also reveals how safe Lily feels talking to Leo in comparison to the other characters.

“‘I don’t understand.’ But Lily was worried that she did, in fact, understand. They’d already known that Terry came to get Duke’s journal. But to think Terry had accomplices? That their group was being followed? A shiver ran through her when she remembered the cigarette butt, the rustling at night. She’d been so distracted by Leo and the possibility of what Duke had done that she’d let down her guard. ‘Son of a bitch.’”

The narrative marries dialogue and internal monologue in this passage to intensify the narrative atmosphere. Lily and Leo are making discoveries about their protracted treasure hunt—those that augment their internal tension and cause Lily to both ask herself questions and to talk to herself out loud. This moment also marks a plot twist in that Lily and Leo thought their troubles with Terry were over.

“If they had been in a hurry before, it was nothing like this. The competitive fever that blew through them was palpable, turned Leo’s vision wavy as they scrabbled down the cliff. Ankles, knees, and elbows collided with rock and thorny brush—skin and joints be damned. They’d been through too much to lose, and knowing someone was on their tail—knowing someone else believed just as fervently that there was treasure to be found—lit a white-hot fire under their asses.”

Lily and Leo’s race back to the cabin accelerates the narrative pacing and heightens the narrative stakes. The narrator employs language like “hurry,” “competitive,” “blew,” “wavy,” “scrabbled,” “collided,” “thorny,” and “fervently” to create an urgent tone and atmosphere. This moment in turn foreshadows the discoveries the couple will make and the obstacles they’ll face before finishing the hunt.

“‘I hated that journal,’ she said, ‘but it’s worse that Terry’s asshole friends have it now. It was all I had of Duke’s.’ He didn’t know what to say. Her relationship with the journal was complicated as hell, and Leo couldn’t pretend to understand the extent of it. Instead, he squeezed her hand.”

The movement between Lily’s lines of dialogue and Leo’s internal monologue provides insight into the characters’ identities and relationship. Lily is speaking openly about Duke, the journal, and Terry’s friends, which shows that she trusts Leo. Meanwhile, Leo is acknowledging Lily’s pain without demanding that she explain herself. The image of him squeezing her hand shows that he supports her even if he does not fully comprehend her frustration.

“Lily imagined that in any other circumstance Leo would walk over and embrace his friend. But he didn’t move from her side—and she didn’t lower her knife. She also couldn’t shake the weird feeling that coiled in her gut like a rattlesnake. Why would Bradley risk coming into the canyon alone? Why, if he trusted Leo, wouldn’t he meet them back in Hester, as planned?”

The narrator inhabits Lily’s point of view in this scene in order to provide perspective on Leo’s and Bradley’s interaction. Bradley’s appearance in the desert is another plot twist and takes Lily and Leo off guard. In this moment, however, Lily is beginning to realize the emotional significance of this moment. Her thoughts reveal her empathetic nature and concern for Leo.

“Lily had never been a trusting person. In fact, except for Nicole, there wasn’t a single human she’d trust with her horses, never mind her life. But it occurred to her that when they’d heard Bradley’s voice at that stump, she’d never considered that he and Leo might be in this together. Instead, she was scared for Leo, and beyond the obvious danger, she was scared for his heart and what it would mean that the man he considered family betrayed him so deeply.”

Lily and Leo’s time in the cave with Bradley and his friends grants Lily time to reflect on her and Leo’s relationship. The insular space lets her mind wander and in turn offers her perspective on her feelings for Leo. This passage of interiority marks a turning point in Lily and Leo’s relationship and Lily’s personal growth journey.

“But even when she laid out the justification for pulling away, she realized—objectively—it wasn’t healthy to be so unwilling to try. She heard Leo’s arguments in her head, saying they could figure it out, that there was a way forward. She knew Nicole would yell at her that if she was so miserable without him, why not come up with a solution. But Lily wouldn’t, and when Leo opened his eyes and sleepily blinked at her, and then smiled in relief, she knew exactly why: because when he’d left her before, what was hardest was the way it let a tiny voice take up permanent residence in her mind, telling her she wasn’t worth it.”

The narrator delves into Lily’s complex emotions in order to capture how her character has grown and changed. This is another passage of interiority that has a reflective and contemplative tone. The moment reveals Lily’s newfound ability to examine her own emotions, to interrogate her own biases, and to reconcile with her own fears.

“But inside, it was clean, tiny, and surprisingly sweet. Her furniture was a simple navy blue sofa, two chairs, a battered but carefully polished coffee table. What looked like a hand-crocheted rug made out of strips of fabric decorated the scratched hardwood floor in front of the fireplace, giving the room a homey feeling. The dining room was small; the four-seater pine table looked handmade. Her kitchen was tidy and bright, appliances old but clean, fridge whirring loudly.”

The narrator’s detailed description of Lily’s living space reveals Lily’s longing for home, family, and stability. Lily is living in this diminutive space by herself, but she has made it cozy and comfortable. The care she’s taken to organize, decorate, and clean the space thus gestures toward the home life Lily wants in the future.

“Leo’s smile softened, and that thing that had been knotted inside Lily as long as her earliest memory seemed to loosen a tiny bit more. I love you, his expression said. I’m not ever going to leave you. Maybe by the time next summer rolled around, it would sink in that this was real and that anxious knot inside her would be a loose rope, or even better still, a skein of cashmere, a soft strand of silk.”

Lily and Leo’s rekindled relationship offers the characters comfort and support as they continue their self-discovery journeys. This scene from the last chapter of the novel provides insight into how Lily and Leo have changed since renewing their relationship and starting a life together. Indeed, Lily is acknowledging how Leo has helped her to open up again and realizing that he’ll continue to change her the longer they’re together. The references to knots, string, cashmere, and thread also make Lily’s internal experience more vivid.