Wir hier draußen: Eine Familie zieht in den Wald

I don't know what to think about this book. On the one hand, the author is just short of unbearable on the negative attitude scale. Absolute darkness, nothing is good, everything is hopeless, her husband is an asshole (though really, he does seem like an asshole). On the other hand, the book makes for compelling reading, in no small part because of her struggle to make sense of her own horrid attitude.

When I step back and think about it, there seems to me to be a need on the author's part to crush into dust any illusions people might have about it being nice to live in the wilderness. She doesn't want to come off as some blissed-out hippie who has bought into the dream, she wants to prove that she is better than that by focusing only on the hardships, the failures, the fights. Of which there are plenty.

I want to note that as soon as they move into the woods, this modern family immediately reverts to gender stereotypes. He works on building the cabin (the heroic, cool project) while she is in charge of the cooking, cleaning, and watching the children (invisible work, only noticed when not done). Why is that, I wonder. She is clearly unhappy about it, and bitches to the reader about it continuously. When she FINALLY talks to her husband about it, he blows her off and that's the end of it. Why is it that this gendered regression happens once they leave society and set off on their own? I find it very disturbing.