I’m a survivor, I’m not gonna give up
Three books about not getting voted off the island.
Thanks to the combined and tireless efforts of my husband and my friend Emily, I’m a big, big fan of the reality survival show Alone. On this limpet-encrusted program, survivalists get dropped into the wilderness—alone!—with a bunch of cameras and a button to push when they’ve had enough. The last person standing wins.
During the first few days, they stress about hungry bears. Then phase two is about figuring out shelter and food. And then, my favorite, the long, slow descent into madness. During this last period, the men tend to cry over revelations of how much their families mean to them. Moms fare well mentally during this period, because, I theorize, they were prepared for these revelations. Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate!
Anyway, I am fascinated by this show and now, by extension, survivalist stuff in general! If this describes you too, you can take this week’s theme literally and immediately start reading the first book on my list. The other two are a little more figurative—one’s for those of you who like weird stuff and one’s for those of you who are into the classics. EELS welcomes all types.
Check out all my past recommendations, linked to all the past EELSes, in one easy-to-scan spreadsheet!. Click here, hit “request access,” and if you’re on my subscriber list, it’s yours for the taking.
📹 Small Game
Blair Braverman, 2022
Blair Braverman is a dogsledder (is that the word), has penned an excellent memoir called Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, and is a delightful Twitter/X personality. And now, kind of infuriatingly, she writes very good fiction? Blair, save some talent for the rest of us!
Inspired by her own experiences as a contestant on survival reality show Naked and Afraid, Braverman’s novel follows a somewhat reluctant participant in a fictional show called Civilization (NOT the rousing computer game I spent many hours playing as a teen). But things go south for the cast members in a scary way—like a “not even covered on the waiver fine print” way. It’s a page-turner, and really beautiful in a lot of ways. You probably don’t hear that too much regarding novels about reality TV.
Thanks to Ross for the recommendation for this. And Hayley for the recommendation for Braverman’s memoir!
Recommended for: Those who have seen more than one survivalist show and looked up a “where are they now” after.
Recommended format: I really liked the audiobook!
😺Open Throat
Henry Hoke, 2023
A mountain lion narrator. The Hollywood sign. A trip to Disney. The taste of flesh. What’s not to like about this very short novel you can knock out in one weekend?
The conceit is so fun—LA told through the eyes of a starving big cat who’s observing a culture of excess and thinking, “What?” There are some flaws, for sure. It’s a little heavy-handed and a lot inconsistent, but who cares? We’re a mountain lion. Making fun of Angelenos. Who we desperately wants to eat because we really, really want to survive. A mountain lion’s personal goals are simple, and humans are idiotically complicated—or at least, they pretend to be.
Recommended for: Those who want a quick, strange read that doesn’t demand much from them. You’ll get the point easily and you’ll feel satisfied.
🌺 Work
Louisa May Alcott, 1873
When I went to Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House in 2022, I asked the staff what Alcott book I should get, and all of them enthusiastically directed me towards Work.
Work follows Christy, a young woman who wants to support herself—no easy feat in the 19th century—through a number of jobs, both reputable and non. She even deeply befriends a sex worker and kind of understands or at least is sympathetic to her life choices!
Fiction is my favorite way to learn history, and this was an intriguing read. It shows just how limited options were for women who only want to eat and sleep and not be abused, as, at first, those are Christy’s sole ambitions. One misstep, or even perceived misstep, and doors shut right in your face. But this isn’t just a history read—things take turns I didn’t expect, and I was fully invested in the plot.
Alcott came from a progressive, hippie family, and working was important to her, so it’s worth reading up on her first—perhaps with the Annotated Little Women (see EELS: The real monster)!
Recommended for: Those who want to learn and cry at the same time.
And now, a bonus recommendation
🥛Milk Fed — Melissa Broder, 2021
“A woman with a severe eating disorder meets a woman who works at her family’s froyo shop. It starts off very triggering and then becomes healing.”
Recommended by: Sudie, who wrote an entire guest EELS once! The last three books she loved were The Latecomer, Big Swiss, and The Force of Such Beauty.
That was the forty-first EELS! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply.
📚 Susan