Danny, sixteen about to be seventeen, lives with her mom. Her dad is famous but she has little to no relationship with him because he is too busy as a survivalist TV star; her relationship with him consists of watching all of his shows on TV. When her dad calls to invite her to be on his next survivalist show, she hastily accepts. But, the plane crashes, lives are lost, and they are faced with the true wilderness. Danny begins to see her dad for who he truly is, but can she forgive him? Sacrifices are made in order to survive, but does that mean sacrificing human decency? While the group struggles to survive in the Amazon wild, they also struggle to cope with each other.
Family resentment and forgiveness is celebrated through Danny’s tale of survival. She battles the ghosts of her parents decisions: Did her mom keep her from having a relationship with her dad? Why didn’t her dad try harder to see her and form a meaningful relationship with her?
Overall thoughts: The beginning is mostly about the background relationship between Danny, her mom, and her dad until 24%. Because of this, the beginning was slow. Danny’s dad had little to no redeeming qualities throughout the entire story. Danny wants to be part of his life so bad, and wants to be accepted by him for who she is. Manipulative and egotistical, I did not like him and he is a major character. Without him though, Danny could not experience the growth she had in the end. I did enjoy the constant reminder of how manipulated the world we live in is; the insurmountable negation of our natural world even to the state of death itself is echoed in this novel.
Read Hypable’s article interviewing author Nancy Richardson Fischer’s firsthand account with fear.
To view all of Nancy Richardson’s book, click here.