Secrets of the wilderness

In this triptych of linked stories a working class family goes about seemingly ordinary lives on a camping trip or participating in take your family to work day In the hands of Dustin M Hoffman however things are not quite as ordinary as they seem Quickly these scenarios are flung down a surreal rabbit hole filled with bizarre taxidermy museums and an outrageous relationship involving a silverback gorilla Yet amid all of its convention smashing glee Secrets of the Wild reveals a generous and moving portrait of a family a family doing their best to keep it together to play act at normalcy even sanity in an American landscape slipping into madness Secrets of the WildA wonderfully short collection that captures the everyday magic and surrealism of family and work life Secrets of the Wild Secrets of the Wild follows a man and importantly a father and his unrelenting dedication to his family Although it only consists of three short stories we get a detailed picture of who the protagonist is and why he does what he does but one of the most amazing aspects of this story is the humor that is also worked into such a serious thing as supporting your family as a parent Overall this story shows the reader the grueling work that goes into parenting in the modern world but also the immense reward that comes with it A great read and I suggest it to anyone who wants to be a parent Secrets of the Wild I am not really sure what I was expecting when I first started the book but I can definitely say I wasn t expecting the story line In the first story of the book I really enjoyed the story of the father and his family The short scene that was presented was able to show the father s relationship with his family and many of his insecurities Their stop on the way to camping showed how much the father valued his kids and the importance of them learning about nature but it also showed his fears of not being enough for his wife The next two stores is where I was a little taken aback In both of these stories a gorilla is introduced as a character who is with his mother I am not exactly sure what it was supposed to represent but it was definitely an interesting concept Regardless of thiseculiar concept I did enjoy reading the book Secrets of the Wild