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Wild Abandon

3.2 of 5 stars 3.20 · rating details · 377 ratings · 70 reviews

At a once vibrant communal-living property in the British countryside, back-to-basics fervor has given way to a vague discontent. A place that once buzzed with activity, from the polytunnels to the pottery shed, now functions with a skeleton crew. Founder Don Riley surveys his domain with the grim focus of someone who knows what’s best for everyone—and isn’t afraid to let...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published January 3rd 2012 by Random House (first published January 1st 2011)

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Jun 10, 2012 Emily Sapp rated it 4 of 5 stars

I gave up on Love in the Time of Cholera for the time being. Found this in the Lucky Day section at the library and already like it after 20 pages.

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Jul 05, 2012 Howard McEwen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Telling truths goes a long way with me. In a couple of ways, Wild Abandon did that (although I'm not sure it was intended) then any redemptive aspects fall off a cliff.

There's a bit of truth said about the traditional roles of men and women in society. A woman just won't respect a man who abdicates his traditional role as provider especially while he clings to the perquisites of being the 'head of the household' (or commune, in this case). Oh, and usually, the chick will go with the guy with cas...more Telling truths goes a long way with me. In a couple of ways, Wild Abandon did that (although I'm not sure it was intended) then any redemptive aspects fall off a cliff.

There's a bit of truth said about the traditional roles of men and women in society. A woman just won't respect a man who abdicates his traditional role as provider especially while he clings to the perquisites of being the 'head of the household' (or commune, in this case). Oh, and usually, the chick will go with the guy with cash.

Although there are plenty of people who advocate for remaking society in many ways including turning us all into a commune-based society, almost all remakings of society end badly whether it's the French Revolution or Jonestown. Jacobians always play at being Pandora and are surprised at what happens when the lid is lifted. When they're put in charge, bad things happen.

That's not a political statement so much as a belief that human nature is a constant. Society, in many ways, is a way to deal with the bad parts of our nature. Tear down long-established structures of our society and those evil spirits are released. Wild Abandon shows this decline. It doesn't show the world we want to be but the world as it is.

While these truths are put forth and a story is kinda, sorta built around it, the novel falls flat. Maybe a bit more insight into the characters. It felt as if so many punches were pulled and points suggested but not made.

Maybe a plot would have helped. There wasn't much of one. I believe that shows in the ending which was incomprehensible and fantastic. It's the kind of ending that will garner nominates and awards for book prizes for whatever reason those folks like that sort of thing. Usually it's just a sign that the author had no place to go with the story and may not have even known where the story was going from the beginning.

Wild Abandon is just another example of a rule I'm developing. Very few novels should be written. Most novels should be short stories. Most short stories should be poems. Most poems should be a line on a fortune(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Joel Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, humor

Read this after Submarine in hopes I would like it more and really did. This one's just as if not more funny but also wildly compassionate. It's the tale of a present day commune in Wales - apparently it's still the 70s for some people there, including Kate 17 and Albert 11, the children of two of the founders. They're hippie dippy enough that these two siblings are showering together after messy barnyard chores as the book opens. Everything is on the cusp of change for them, though, and not jus...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Rhys Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed Joe Dunthorne's first novel, Submarine, so was very much looking forward to Wild Abandon. The novel is set in a Gower commune and follows the disintegration of the founding family. It's different from Submarine in that it deals with adult characters and mind-sets, though the adults in the book still have a childlike innocent that gives the novel its charming tone. It's funny and tender and though I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as Submarine it marks Joe Dunthorne as a percepti...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Larry Hoffer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes you read a book and once you've finished it, you know right away whether or not you liked it. And then there are times when you finish a book and you have no idea what to make of it. Joe Dunthorne's Wild Abandon is definitely a book that falls into the latter category for me. Pieces of the story I really loved, but sadly Dunthorne took the story into some really strange places, which definitely tempered my feelings overall.

Freya and Don Riley have lived in a commune-type community in...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I liked this book less and less as it went on... I only finished it because it was such a quick read. It did include a lot of clever writing and quirky turns-of-phrase, and I give it credit for this--it's what attracted me to it in the first place from just having read the first chapter or two. But ultimately, I just ended up not connecting with any of the characters and I didn't care what happened to them. I wasn't curious to see how anyone's story ended up.

I re-read part of the Washington Post...more

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Dec 10, 2011 Marlee Pinsker rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wild Abandon satisfied me from the beginning as it was right in its tiny, visceral details. All those little moments that rang so true were skillfully orchestrated into an interesting novel. I appreciated the odd relationship between Kate, who tries to distance herself from her communal upbringing by being thoroughly hygienic and her brother Albert, who would never wash if Kate didn't make a game of getting into the shower together. I could see the breakdown of the marriage between Don and Freya...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Caro rated it 1 of 5 stars

First off, I was lucky enough to have this be the first book I've ever won in a goodreads giveaway, I was very excited to read it and to start off it was meeting my expectations. Then, slowly but surely, it lost its luster for me. The premise was interesting, certainly different from other things I've read recently. The first couple of chapters were intriguing, but after a while the book simply lost all interest for me. I feel like Dunthorne jumped about a lot between some of the lesser characte...more

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May 10, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Melissa by: Katie

It's so nice when a random book recommended by a co-worker who may not have the same taste as you turns out to have exquisite writing. When Kate's boyfriend's mother gives her lingerie, "Kate hoped her face for stunned horror was the same as her face for happy surprise." Or "Albert had a bad feeling that there was literally no one he could think of who wasn't in some very significant way a letdown." And when Albert gets on the roof at the party near the end to give his speech about the end of th...more

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Jan 08, 2012 John Luiz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wild Abandon offers a fun, slightly satirical portrait of a commune in contemporary Wales. The commune, Blaen-y-Llyn, has been running for twenty years. But in the timeframe of the novel just about everyone is trying to get out of it. The only one trying to keep everything together is Don, one of the founders and self-appointed leader, whose family members are the focal characters of the book. Don is a bit pompous, still dedicated to the virtues of home schooling, sustainable housing, and living...more Wild Abandon offers a fun, slightly satirical portrait of a commune in contemporary Wales. The commune, Blaen-y-Llyn, has been running for twenty years. But in the timeframe of the novel just about everyone is trying to get out of it. The only one trying to keep everything together is Don, one of the founders and self-appointed leader, whose family members are the focal characters of the book. Don is a bit pompous, still dedicated to the virtues of home schooling, sustainable housing, and living off the electrical grid, but his wife, Freya, has had just about enough of his bombastic personality. His 17-year-old daughter Kate, is dying for a chance to live in the normal world, and actually runs away from the commune to live with her boyfriend's family in a standard suburban house for a while, and his son Albert is enthralled with the idea, promulgated by one of the commune's residents, that the Mayans were right and that a cataclysmic event will happen in 2012, and that only those prepared for it will be able to survive. Young Albert wants to start preparing for that event, but mostly in ways that let him act out his anger at his sister's departure, which he experiences as an abandonment. We also get to know Patrick, the moneybags of the operation, whose former success in the greeting card business and as a landlord now mostly bankroll the commune's operation. But after years of smoking too much pot, he's become excessively paranoid. In one funny scene, he goes berserk, running through the commune, thinking everyone's about to kill him, and breaking his ankle in an attempt to escape. In the end, he too is trying to get away from Don and put an end to his decades-long pining for a woman, Janet, who's given him mixed signals through the years but never returned his love and devotion. Throughout the book, there are lots of interesting insights about communal living - Freya the wife, for example, takes on the role of the community's butcher because no one else on the farm where they live, including her husband, has the guts to slaughter their livestock. The only drawback, at least initially, is that there are few sympathetic characters with a real dilemma that makes you want to keep turning the pages. At the outset, it's perfectly understandable why everyone wants to escape Don - he's controlling and full of himself. But, ironically, over the pages, Don becomes the most sympathetic character. His wife and daughter's attempts to separate are somewhat cruel and unfeeling, and over the course of the marvelous closing pages, when Don throws a blow-out party, hoping to lure everyone back, his attempts to win everyone over and then control his young son, Albert, who's gone a little crazy over this end-of-the-world idea and the separation from his sister, make Don the character you root for the most.
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Nov 16, 2011 Susanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, first-look

Did I love the entire aspect of a novel centered around a commune? Most certainly. Did Joe Dunthorne carry out such an aspect rather well? Yes. Was I absolutely gripped into the plot? As soon as I started reading!

Dunthorne's novel provides an interesting setting for what's basically a combination coming-of-age and middle-age-crisis tale. Though I couldn't identify much personally with breakaway Kate, maturing Albert, in-control Don, or tired Freya, I could easily see where most of their actions...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Pamela Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I, like others it seems, found Wild Abandon to read having just finished Joe Dunthorne's first book Submarine. I understand Joe is also a poet and found him on the web reading,or rather playing out, his poetry! It was very amusing and he would add comments as he read it in case that audience didn't get the humour. Hoping this novel is just as good.

I've now finished Wild Abandon and had a funny time reading it. It is completely different to Submarine as there are so many different characters with...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: england-ireland-scotland

Smart, moody people living on their own sort of commune in Wales. Hippies are not always easy to live with. This book is about people growing out of things, letting go of things. Freya wants out of her marriage with Don. Patrick wants out of the commune. Teenager Kate wants to go to college. And eleven-year-old Albert is convinced the world is ending. Albert's lack of coping skills eventually takes over the story, and I'm left feeling incredibly sorry for him.

This reads like a screenplay--lots o...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Meghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, england, commune

Gently satirical novel about the discontented existences of a group of people who have dedicated their lives to living in a commune in the English countryside. Some parts of this are sharply drawn and humorous, but other parts flit around too much instead of staying with the perspective and actions of a single character; this has the effect of painting a portrait of a place, but it also inhibited my ability to care about what happened. Although the story is centered on the children of the arroga...more

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Dec 10, 2011 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comedy, read-in-2011, contemporary

I saw and enjoyed the film of Submarine and was tempted to get the book but got this instead as I wanted to read something I didn't know.

It's about about a group of people who live in a commune in Wales. The community has dwindled and is may or may not be dying. The story largely follows the family of the unspoken leader of the group - his teenage daughter who increasingly just wants to pass her A-levels and have an normal life, his disaffected wife and his son who believes the end of the world...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I thought its biggest strength was the characterizations: I thought the main characters (Don, Patrick, Freya, Kate, and Albert) were interesting, unique, and strangely real. I thought the relationship between Don and Patrick was particularly compelling. I thought the novel was well-written, and parts of it were very funny. However, I found the plot and storytelling to be somewhat boring and disjointed, and my biggest critique is that the characters end...more

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Jul 14, 2012 liz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary

I had read Submarine and really, really enjoyed it (even if I can't quite understand why anyone would want to turn it into a movie). Even before I realized they share an author, I was interested in Wild Abandon for the plot alone.

So: What happens to communes now that the '60s are long over? Wisely, Dunthorne focuses mainly on the kids in the community, particularly a teenage girl who goes to public high school (and is well aware of how different she is) and her much-younger brother (who is still...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had high hopes of this novel as I had so enjoyed Dunthorne's first novel "Submarine." This novel I found much harder to get into for some reason. I thought that it might be because it was written in the third person, but to be honest I am not sure. The book did pick up as it went on and I liked it more towards the end - but having lived in a commune I found the characters and settings a little cliched. I think that one of its fundamental flaws was that I didn't really engage with any of the ch...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Maya Panika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Raised in a commune, Kate chooses to rebel by running away to suburbia. Her younger brother, Albert, feeling rejected, feeling lost, rebels in truly bloodthirsty fashion. Like submarine, Dunthorne’s magnificent début, this is a story about teenagers growing up and trying to distance themselves from their parents.

It’s not a particularly original theme and in less capable hands, would doubtless have been peopled with stereotypical, cliché characters, clumsy comedy and predictable situations, but...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

I didn't really have much of a reaction to this novel one way or the other, and I'm at a bit of a loss as to why. It certainly kept me turning pages, but didn't leave me with any particular idea or feeling once it was done. Perhaps it's that even though some of the characters are intriguing, I never felt I had enough investment in them to be too concerned — many of their crises begin so immediately there's no chance to to see them sympathetically before they become frustrating through later acti...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Ian Young rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wild Abandon is the second novel by Joe Dunthorne, after the very successful (and funny) Submarine, which was also made into a good independent film. Submarine was about adolescence, and Wild Abandon in part is set in similar territory, reflecting the fact that Dunthorne is still a very young writer. It is a comic novel set in a commune in South Wales - Kate is the adolescent daughter of the founders and leaders of the commune (Don and Freya), and Albert is her pre-adolescent younger brother. Th...more Wild Abandon is the second novel by Joe Dunthorne, after the very successful (and funny) Submarine, which was also made into a good independent film. Submarine was about adolescence, and Wild Abandon in part is set in similar territory, reflecting the fact that Dunthorne is still a very young writer. It is a comic novel set in a commune in South Wales - Kate is the adolescent daughter of the founders and leaders of the commune (Don and Freya), and Albert is her pre-adolescent younger brother. The Commune is a large house in the countryside with various dilapidated outbuildings, which is in a state of steady decline. It is populated by a group of eccentric inhabitants, some of whom we get to know in the course of the novel whilst others remain ciphers. The plot is fairly lightweight, and meanders along with a few funny set pieces – the main interest of the book is the characters themselves and their various entwined relationships.

One of the main strands is Kate’s desire to escape into a more conventional life, which involves her running away and moving in with her boyfriend’s family in suburbia. Kate is probably the main character of the book, and its most articulate voice. Her younger brother Albert’s growing conviction that the world is about to end is also important, along with the gradual breakdown of her parent’s relationship. Patrick is a longstanding family friend of Don and Freya and the main funder of their lifestyle – his longstanding unrequited relationship with Janet provides a more emotionally convincing strand to the plot, as he eventually realises that the relationship will always be one way. And a host of other characters who we do not get to know so well dip in and out to provide comic moments, leading up to a climactic party/rave at the end when the various plotlines are drawn together and resolved.

Second novels are difficult, and although I enjoyed Wild Abandon, at times I thought that Joe Dunthorne was straining a little too hard to be funny. This is an off-beat, quirky book, and there are some very funny moments, but I did not think it was either as assured or as funny as Submarine. There is such a thing as too zany, and at times Wild Abandon strays a little over that line. Nonetheless, Dunthorne is clearly a very talented writer and this book is an entertaining read, if not always as engrossing as I had hoped. (less)

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Sep 05, 2011 Michele rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fiction, format-arc, own, for-swap, 2011-50bookpledge

This unconventional coming-of-age story takes place on a Welsh commune and follows the stories of the residents as they deal with the disintegration of their "community" living situation. Following Kate & Albert, a teenage girl and her eleven-year-old brother, their unusual upbringing is causing internal questions and confusion in Kate as she grows up and attends school outside of their commune. Albert, a precocious young boy who believes one of the commune residents' rants that the world is...more This unconventional coming-of-age story takes place on a Welsh commune and follows the stories of the residents as they deal with the disintegration of their "community" living situation. Following Kate & Albert, a teenage girl and her eleven-year-old brother, their unusual upbringing is causing internal questions and confusion in Kate as she grows up and attends school outside of their commune. Albert, a precocious young boy who believes one of the commune residents' rants that the world is ending, resents his sister for wanting to live a life outside of the one that they've grown up with. Their father, Don, is the leader of said community who is quite the dislikable character, loving the sound of his own voice seemingly more than his family. He is frustrated over the allegations of said commune member, seeing the effect it has had on his young son. What ensues is the dissolution of friendships, a family, a marriage and a community.

An interesting subplot is the idea that Don & his wife Freya have started this commune-type "self-sustaining" living community, with its strict rules and practices, seemingly stifling the children vs the brainwashing of Albert to the notion that the world is ending and all must prepare. Both involve affecting one's way of thinking and, where Don was constantly pushing for Albert to remain in the commune for school rather than be out in the world, it's that very "home school" method that shapes the young boy's mind to think he needs to learn some survival skills with a weapon.

Wild Abandon is full of vivid well-developed characters, so much so that I found myself really detesting the type of man Don is and really disgusted by Albert's inappropriately clingy behaviour to his sister. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. For me, it started off a bit jumpy & I wasn't quite sure where it was headed, but the story picks up quickly once the back story is explained further in the 2nd chapter. The characters' stories are easy to follow and even with the ending that seemed a bit confusing or off-putting (or thought provoking!), it really pulled the reader into the lives of the residents of Blaen-y-llyn.

My review can also be found here (less)

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Jan 04, 2012 Jennifer Bell rated it 3 of 5 stars

51/100

This is well written, but not as tight as Submarine. The characters lacked dimension, and the book was very slow paced. It took me a long time to read. This is completely opposite to gripping. Being interested in sustainable lifestyles myself, I couldn't connect - it didn't feel genuine at all. This is lacklustre in general. But Dunthorne can write, and there are some amazing passages. I just don't think this worked as a novel, it would have made a better short or novella.

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Apr 13, 2012 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fun read and decent writing about a group of people living in community (or, more properly, falling out of living in community) in Britain. I found most of the characters, except the two little boys, to be rather annoying and plagued with minor mental health problems. Some of the conflicts and story lines were resolved, but others weren't. The ending was not bad, but somewhat unsatisfying - but perhaps in keeping with the soft personalities of many of the characters.

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Feb 28, 2013 Lane Ashfeldt rated it 4 of 5 stars

So, I never read Submarine or saw the film that was made of it, though I may yet do both of these things. I got this second novel, 'Wild Abandon', from my local library in Wales on a day when I was working to avoid chilly crime books (of which they keep plenty in stock). I wanted something different and I guess I got it. I really liked bits of this book, the shower scene at the start was great, and after a while I was sure it would end with another shower scene. (It did.) Joe Dunthorne has a way...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Lynn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Ugh to this book. I did not like the dysfunctional, unappealing and often-dirty (literally) characters; the story (or lack thereof); or the icky commune setting. The writer is quite talented but he needs to find a more compelling story to tell with characters you want to know more about (not less, as was the case here).

And...where the heck did the title come from? At least, with a title like "Wild Abandon" you might expect to get a hot romance novel with a fiesty heroine and a dashing pirate. N...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Robert rated it 1 of 5 stars

It seemed to me that the author really resented all of his characters. I could feel the hostility and it was very unpleasant. What's worse, it seemed Dunthorne hated them more and more as the novel went on.
Another thing, I really disliked Albert. I mean I REALLY disliked that kid. I wanted to see him badly injured. He was a disgusting, horrible little pig who I had no sympathy for.
The book was written rather tediously. I liked Submarine a helluva lot more because at least the characters (while...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars

I couldn't wait to ABANDON this book for many pages, and I didn't understand what happened in the end, and didn't really care. However, the conflicts are many and rich and interesting: the membership dwindling at the commune and the four founders trying to hang on to their utopia; the misguided children; the rebellion of Kate, the teenager; marriage troubles, lust and love.

Perhaps this was a satire and I missed it. Oh well.

At least it was a different sort of novel, creatively done.

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Jun 01, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fortunate enough to win an ARC of this book, unlucky enough to lose it for months, and lucky enough to find it again. There is something so wonderful about reading a book and finding yourself feeling strong emotions towards the characters. Kate confused and frustrated me for most of the book, Almost every time Don opened his mouth I would wince just knowing he'd be saying something ridiculous, Albert brought out the worry I feel when I watch kids in my life slipping out of reality, and Patrick.....more

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Oct 17, 2012 Clementine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This book was completely different from anything I've ever read and not what I was expecting. However, I enjoyed it quite a lot. I thought the writing was interesting, very evocative and laden with metaphors. The characters were also intriguing, their relationships with each other especially of interest to me. The community was described brilliantly and I really got a feel for that sort of life, as well as the strain it placed on Patrick, Freya, and Kate.

I never got a fantastic feel for any of t...more

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About Joe Dunthorne

Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea, and is a graduate of the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing MA, where he was awarded the Curtis Brown prize.

His poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies and has featured on Channel 4, and BBC Radio 3 and 4. A pamphlet collection, Joe Dunthorne: Faber New Poets 5 was published in 2010.

His first novel, Submarine, the story of...more

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