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There are currently 22 member reviews
for The Wild Girl
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Karna B. (Long Beach, CA)
The Wild Girl
The Wild Girl is a fascinating tale with well-developed and memorable characters. The plot is filled with intrigue and as a result carries the reader along. Extremely well-written and an enchanting way of learning how the brothers Grimm created their fairy tales. My only complaint is that at times a felt bogged down in some of the side stories of the minor characters.
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Peggy K. (San Diego, CA)
Magical Tales
This was a very interesting book in so many ways. Most readers know a bit about the Grimm brothers but it is safe to say that few may know the story behind those books of fairytales.
Dortchen Wild grew up in Cassel and though she knew the Grimms there was some restriction by her father in association. Both families were poor but the Grimms were already trying to put together a book of tales and Dortchen Wild provided many of them.
Napoleon's Army was laying siege to Europe and fighting was a constant. This might account for the desire by the Grimms to save the folk tales and for Dortchen it may have been part of her love for Wilhelm.
This is a book about that love but it is also a story about growing up in a small town like Cassel. Dortchen's father did not like her association with the Grimms and certainly not her attraction to Wilhelm but this is a very strong willed young woman and she was determined to have that love.
Readers will enjoy watching that love unfold and at the same time learning about how Napoleon changed Europe forever. The characterization in the book is wonderful and you get a real feel for the times.
Book clubs can discuss the war and what it did to the common folk and why these fairytales came to life as they did and how they still matter today. We see them as sweet and romantic tales but in truth they were anything but that.
So pick up the book and be prepared to lose yourself in this world and fall in love with Dortchen and Wilhelm.
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Shirley L. (Norco, LA)
Excellent Story But a Bit Slow Moving
I was intrigued with the subject matter of this book and enjoyed the author's ability to provide historical details in an entertaining manner. I thought the characters were well drawn and I cared about their experiences throughout the book. I don't need an action packed thriller, actually I prefer character driven stories such as this one. However, on several occasions while reading this book, I had the sensation that somebody had moved my bookmark back and that I was rereading passages. I would recommend editing some of the repetitive sections about how difficult life was under Napoleon's rule. This would make a good read even better.
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Barbara R. (Lander, WY)
Wished for more
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I was not impressed by Wilhelm. Despite the reality of his poverty, he seemed to be an "ivory-tower" academic, preoccupied with his work and insensitive to anything real. Because of this, I could never believe that Dortchen's love was more than the crush she never outgrew, that she clung to in order to survive her own reality.
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Mary B (CT)
An entirely new perspective
The beautiful book cover and the promise of an "untold love story" made me start reading this book immediately. I should know by now not to judge a book by its cover; this was a much more serious novel than I expected. Dortchen Wild's family lives in the same German village as the Grimm family in the early 1800s. Life is hard for everyone in the area during the Napoleonic Wars, but especially difficult for Dortchen and her sisters, who have a cruel, abusive father. Wilhelm Grimm is determined to document the folk tales of his people, to preserve the German culture despite invading military forces. These folk tales are dark, disturbing stories, not the "happy ending" tales that I remembered from my childhood. Many of the tales are told to Wilhelm by Dortchen. Some of the most interesting scenes in the book take place when Dortchen tries to communicate her feelings for Wilhelm and her painful situation at home through these stories. The book is well-researched (the author is studying for her PhD in "Fairy Tale Retellings") and gave me an entirely different perspective on Grimm's fairy tales.
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Maggie S. (Durango, CO)
The Wild Girl
I found that the premise of The Wild Girl" by Kate Forsythe was very interesting. The novel told the story of the brothers Grimm, who they were, how they found the fairy tales, the times they lived, and the story of Dortchen Wild who was the main character. I love historical fiction as I end up doing my own research on the times that I don't know that much about. This book definitely does make me want to learn more about the Napoleonic wars especially with Russia and I want to read the Grimm's fairy tales as well. Having said that, it was a bit of a slog for me and I think it could have been much shorter. The book was just not written very well which was surprising because I enjoyed her first novel "Bitter Greens" which did not take me days to read like "The Wild Girl" did.
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Rosanne S. (Franklin Square, NY)
The Wild Girl
Unfortunately, The Wild Girl did not deliver what I had hoped for. I love historical fiction and look forward to learning historical facts in a fun way. While I learned facts about the Grimm Brothers and the world they lived in , I felt that the delivery was a bit juvenile . At times, I felt like it read like a fairy tale.
I did learn about the Napoleanic era and the affects it had on the people of Germany. The information about how the Grimm Brothers formulated their published tales was fairly interesting too but all of this was just not enough for me.
Dortchen's story was a sad and disturbing one. Her childhood was nothing short of horrific.
In total, I found The Wild Girl just an average read with somewhat of a weak in delivery.
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