Something Wilder

The novel uses Lily and Leo’s adventure in Canyonlands National Park as an extended metaphor for their journeys to find themselves and claim autonomy over their lives. When Lily and Leo set out on their “hunt for fake treasure” (11), they each have different goals and expectations for the tourist expedition. Lily thinks that she’s simply taking another group of “city slickers out into the desert to team-build and ‘rough it’” (11). Meanwhile, Leo is simply taking another “annual trip with his two best friends from college” to get away from his busy life in New York City (19). Therefore, neither of the protagonists is expecting to emerge transformed from their desert adventure. The wild landscape and treacherous terrain challenges them in physical, emotional, and spiritual ways that gradually change how they see themselves, their lives, and each other over the course of the novel.

Each of the obstacles and challenges Lily and Leo face in the desert grants them a revelation about who they want to be and what they want to do next with their lives. At times, the trip feels like a “downright clusterfuck” and the characters feel lost, confused, or overwhelmed (146).