1. The Wilderness is written entirely from the viewpoint of a man suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. Through his illness, Jake confronts issues around making and losing memories, personal identity, the passing of time and relationships with others.  Though this is all seen through the lens of Alzheimer’s, to what degree is his experience universal? 

2. To what do you think the “wilderness” of the title most refers?

3. At the beginning of The Wilderness we assume that Jake is a reliable narrator, recounting for us the events of his own life. As the novel progresses, we learn that we can’t trust his view of things. Do you think this compromises his sense of self? How does this affect your response to him, and to the story you are being told? In what ways do our stories about ourselves need to be true to have a full sense of who we are?

4. Interleaved within the chapters are separate stories that illustrate events in Jake’s life. Discuss why you think the author has chosen to develop the story this way. What do you think are the meanings behind each story? In what way do they illustrate the progression of Jake’s disease?

5. Through Jake’s eyes, his wife Helen is a woman with unswerving loyalty, integrity and religious faith. We know that Jake’s judgement cannot always be trusted, and that he uses his wife’s piety to inflame his self-guilt. Given this, in what ways do you think his portrait of Helen is the truth of her?

6. Despite everything, do you think Eleanor has or hasn’t gotten what she wanted in ending up with Jake?

7. Discuss which you believe has been the most important relationship in Jake’s life and why. 

8. War provides two of the turning points in Jake’s life. Firstly, World War II, after which his mother all but relinquishes her - and his - Jewish ancestry; secondly, the Six Day War, which he feels is instrumental to his daughter’s death. When looking back, is it true that our lives tend to be mapped by external, historic events as much as by personal ones?

9. Jake begins his career as an architect in 1960s Britain. Decades later, many of the buildings of that time are condemned or knocked down. How do you think his involvement in that derided period of architectural history affects who he is and how he feels about his life?

10. Jake thinks he has kept his disease successfully hidden from his son Henry. Because the point of view remains with Jake, we never know exactly what Henry knows, when or how he finds out his father has Alzheimer’s, and how he feels about it. Do you have your own opinions on these questions around Henry’s experience?

11. What do you think happened to Alice?

12. By necessity of Jake’s forgetting, many questions are left unanswered at the end of The Wilderness. Do you think the ending is appropriate or were you troubled by not knowing the answers. Discuss whether or not you feel that a novel needs to tie up all its loose ends in order to be a satisfying read?