Wool by Hugh Howey is the kind of book every author should aspire to write like. Not only is it written with flawless grammatical skill, the context also keeps the reader completely entangled. Vivid imagery allowed me to see through the author's eyes and become these characters while somehow managing to stay as myself. The author carefully balanced the connections forged between reader and character just Enoch to where it could still maintain my own perception while also seeing the characters. Each character is very well developed whether they are a side character or a protagonist. The author forced me to be deeply empathetic of these characters. Their pain was my pain. Their struggle was my struggle. Their joy was my joy. Despite the book taking place in an entirely different society, I could relate to at least one of these characters and even if I couldn't relate, I understood how and why they thought the way they did. That is a pretty remarkable achievement.
I cannot say that I connected to a single character because that is not true. I connected to every character whether it was Bernard who wanted to sentence an entire category of people to death or Juliette who just wanted to know what it meant to be alive because some days she wasn't sure if she was really even breathing. Each character had deep, personal struggle that was not revealed in plain sight. You had to think, and think, and think some more until that final epiphany came and everyone heard me say, "Oh!" With Lucas, I truly connected to his struggle to stay true to who he was despite not knowing who he was but only knowing he wasn't who people wanted him to be. He felt like he wasn't the right person in my opinion. Juliette was able to help him see who he was because for me, she symbolizes life. She told him that this was his life and it was who he was. His memories, his thoughts, his emotions, his pain, his joy, his dreams...they are who he is. This book is filled with struggles woven into deeper struggles woven into even deeper struggles until there is nothing left to see but darkness or light. There is either life or death, joy or anger, happiness or sadness. Wool made me question my fundamental beliefs not only in myself but in the world around me and that is why I love this novel.
