Book Description
No career in modern American letters is at once so brilliant, varied, and controversial as that of Norman Mailer. In a span of more than six decades, Mailer has searched into subjects ranging from World War II to Ancient Egypt, from the march on the Pentagon to Marilyn Monroe, from Henry Miller and Mohammad Ali to Jesus Christ. Now, in The Castle in the Forest, his first major work of fiction in more than a decade, Mailer offers what may be his consummate literary endeavor: He has set out to explore the evil of Adolf Hitler.
The narrator, a mysterious SS man who is later revealed to be an exceptional presence, gives us young Adolf from birth, as well as Hitler’s father and mother, his sisters and brothers, and the intimate details of his childhood and adolescence.
A tapestry of unforgettable characters, The Castle in the Forest delivers its playful twists and surprises with astonishing insight into the nature of the struggle between good and evil that exists in us all. At its core is a hypothesis that propels this novel and makes it a work of stunning originality. Now, on the eve of his eighty-fourth birthday, Norman Mailer may well be saying more than he ever has before.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful language, remarkably restrained.......2007-09-09
The Castle in the Forest is a fictionalized account of the childhood of Adolf Hitler and his immediate family. I recommend this book to the interested reader on several levels. First and foremost, Mailer has a beautiful command of language. It's a joy to experience the precision of his words and majesty of his phrasings.
Second is his treatment of this controversial subject - how to "explain" the evil of Adolf Hitler? To Mailer's credit, the answer turns out to be we really don't - not cleanly anyway, and not from his early childhood. His treatment of the subject is remarkably restrained. There are no definitive events in Mailer's life of young Adolf Hitler that create a force of evil. In many ways, this could be the story of any of thousands of boys growing up in Austria at that time, leaving the reader to conjecture endlessly how this particular set of forces sowed the seed of Hitler's later evil.
Lastly is the depth of the character portrayals. Mailer clearly researched Hitler's immediate family in depth, and most readers will find themselves wanting to learn more about his mother, father and siblings to form their own conjectures about this slice of history. I found myself frequently turning to Wikipedia to read about Hitler's immediate family.
I listened to this book unabridged on audio narrated by Harris Yulin, who does a magnificent job. His commanding voice matches well with Mailer's language and the complexity of his characters.
Don't bother.......2007-08-25
I wasted a couple of evenings plowing through this simply awful book. Awful not just for the subject matter but because it is so poorly written, clumsy and ridiculous. It's Mailer's self-indulgence at its worst.
Mailer's Story is a Deep Well.......2007-08-22
Everyone seems to get hung up on the notion that THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST is a biography of Adolph Hitler, but I'm not so sure that's the case. You can't read it as history nor gulp it down as absolute truth, both of which are relative, and yet the piece exists beyond the realm of simple fiction. To me the work is a speculation, a meditation on the complexities ... the "ineluctable modalities" of humanity. So, why center the narrative on Hitler? Because, I think, for Mailer's generation and for several since, that dark personality has been--continues to be--the symbol of a vast mystery (a "Mystery of Iniquity?"), which runs like a sinister undercurrent through the nature and history of the human race. Hitler is hapless. The real voice and purpose here comes to us through Dieter (DL). Pay attention to him. There hasn't been a more telling demon since Mephistopheles; however, Dieter has more power, coming at us from our own contemporary sense of self, and he's much more revealing than Faust's creation, for he speaks to us in a modern context. Let yourself sink into the narration, settle into the narrator's tortured spirit, listen to the subtlties and nuances, which some of us may be really hearing for the first time since Eve, so to speak.
This tale is a deep well to which a reader can return often and always find something to nourish the mind and heart.
Don't Bother.......2007-08-16
Well, Norman Mailer writing a new book is normally a reason to celebrate, but this time around I wished I had missed the party all-together. The premise of the book is interesting enough, although it reads like heady science fiction or poor literature - a lover-level devil describes the upbringing of Adolf Hitler and a whole mythology associated with how God and the Devil interact with one another on earth, fighting for and jostling with one another over people's lives and control of the earth. The book is well-researched, the prose is clean and smooth, but then we get to the book itself - it's boring and over-the-top. Mailer spends so much time explaining the way angels ("Cudgels" in the book) war with devils and how they try to guide the course of history that I simply wanted to bang my head against the table. It's one thing to create a mythology, but one that is explained at such a slow pace makes the reading and digesting of it unbearable. The details and intricacies of the Hitler family are wonderful, but there is an over-sensitivity to trying to explain this particular devil's attitude and perspective that any insights into the interplay between Mailer's mythology and the actual events is lost.
When I look back on this book, I keep thinking about the strengths. Mailer structures the book around incest as well as familiar historical events that makes you woder how the book couldn't have been a success. And yet, the story simply plodded on and there was no suspension of disbelief at any point. One critic compared it to Lewis's "Screwtap Letters," but that doesn't quite cut it as the philosophical implications aren't to be taken into account here and the writing simply isn't as good.
For Mailer fans, this will be a good enough read, but for everyone else, go pick out some decent biographies of Hitler and some WWII movies and you'll be much more entertained.
As close to the truth of Hitler as we'll ever get.......2007-07-23
With the exception of THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG, which I read because I found the subject matter fascinating, I have shunned Mailer's books. No matter that SONG was brilliant; it seemed that whenever I read about Mailer, he was either a) physically fighting someone or b) being raked through the coals by some intelligent reviewer. So I figured he must be a loony and a [...] and I didn't bother.
A friend send me CASTLE IN THE FOREST, and, again, because I've read so much on Hitler, it seemed worth a try to see if Mailer had anything new to say on the subject.
Does he ever!
This is a brilliant book. Like most other people, I've been puzzled by the nature of Hitler's evil as long as I've known his name. Was he human? Was he demonic? Is there such a thing as evil? Or Satan?
However you feel about the cosmology Mailer lays out in this book, there is no question that he makes Hitler and his evil completely accesible to the modern reader. This is no easy feat. Many have tried -- some of the most learned Nazi scholars. None have succeeded -- until now, until Mailer.
He does here what great literature should do -- takes a real event and makes it emotionally felt through the power of his themes, ideas and words.
As for me, I am anxious to catch up on all the Mailer I've been missing all these years.
When I think about my previous attitudes towards Mailer and his work, the initials D.K. come to mind.
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Buddha, Volume 4: The Forest of Uruvela (Buddha)
Osamu Tezuka
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Buddha: Volume 7: Prince Ajatasattu (Buddha)
ASIN: 1932234594
Release Date: 2006-11-14 |
Book Description
The Eisner and Harvey Winner
In this fourth volume of the award-winning graphic novel biography, Buddha slowly discovers that his destiny lies in a path not readily available to him. With fellow ascetics Dhepa who has complete faith in the purifying quality of painful physical ordeals, and Assaji, who can predict everyone's death to the hour, Buddha travels through the kingdom of Magadha into the Forest of Uruvela, where The Middle Path and Enlightenment wait beyond a series of death-defying trials.
Awake under the Pippala tree...
Book Description
For nearly two decades, since the publication of her iconic first novel, The Good Mother, Sue Miller has distinguished herself as one of our most elegant and widely celebrated chroniclers of family life, with a singular gift for laying bare the interior lives of her characters. In each of her novels, Miller has written with exquisite precision about the experience of grace in daily life–the sudden, epiphanic recognition of the extraordinary amid the ordinary–as well as the sharp and unexpected motions of the human heart away from it, toward an unruly netherworld of upheaval and desire. But never before have Miller’s powers been keener or more transfixing than they are in Lost in the Forest, a novel set in the vineyards of Northern California that tells the story of a young girl who, in the wake of a tragic accident, seeks solace in a damaging love affair with a much older man.
Eva, a divorced and happily remarried mother of three, runs a small bookstore in a town north of San Francisco. When her second husband, John, is killed in a car accident, her family’s fragile peace is once again overtaken by loss. Emily, the eldest, must grapple with newfound independence and responsibility. Theo, the youngest, can only begin to fathom his father’s death. But for Daisy, the middle child, John’s absence opens up a world of bewilderment, exposing her at the onset of adolescence to the chaos and instability that hover just beyond the safety of parental love. In her sorrow, Daisy embarks on a harrowing sexual odyssey, a journey that will cast her even farther out onto the harsh promontory of adulthood and lost hope.
With astonishing sensuality and immediacy, Lost in the Forest moves through the most intimate realms of domestic life, from grief and sex to adolescence and marriage. It is a stunning, kaleidoscopic evocation of a family in crisis, written with delicacy and masterful care. For her lifelong fans and those just discovering Sue Miller for the first time, here is a rich and gorgeously layered tale of a family breaking apart and coming back together again: Sue Miller at her inimitable best.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
Sue Miller is the best-selling author of the novels The World Below, While I Was Gone, The Distinguished Guest, For Love, Family Pictures, and The Good Mother; the story collection Inventing the Abbotts; and the memoir The Story of My Father. She lives in Boston.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Pulled in two different directions.......2007-09-04
If you can get past one of the more disturbing storylines (a 15-year-old girl entering into an affair with an older man, who happens to be a family friend), then this novel is such a fascinating study of people and their motives. There are so many circumstances that change our entire lives as well as those around us. Here we have divorce, remarriage, death, emotional distancing and sexual awakening as some of the topics explored so wonderfully by Miller's skillful writing. Keep an open mind, and you will be treated to a hauntingly provocative book.
Not what was expected.......2007-03-23
I have loved most of Sue Miller's past books. They provide entertainment and quality character development. While the setting in this book was interesting, the plot was lacking. I thought I would be reading about a coming of age girl, yet this tended to be about sexual abuse. I found it disturbing especially because there was not enough information provided to find any sympathy for the characters. This book did not live up to my expectations.
Daisy and Duncan.......2006-11-25
Regarding Mark's discovery of his 15 yr. old daughter's relationship with a 53 year old man:
Yes, the relationship is repulsive and hard to read about. We are forced to open our eyes to something that we know as a society does happen: many atrractive young girls do become the objects of older mens' fantasies and sexual attentions. We know wihtout even thiking about it that the typical response would be that most fathers blow up and reject their daughters in response to having knowledge of such acts.
Although Miller makes Mark's response different, it is not unrealistic in the context of the rest of the storyline. Mark's response is inextricably linked to his ongoing relationship with Eva. As both Emily and Daisy state toward the end of the book, the children's lives were shaped/marred by their "exclusion" from the intimacy that their parents shared. Because Mark still loved her, his first instincts would have been to protect EVA from the knowledge of what happened to their daughter. He knew fully that with all Eva had lost and suffered that this would crush her.
Fortunately for Daisy, over the years, Mark had come to realize his culpability in being an absent father while married, his replacement by John in both Eva's and Daisy's hearts, and even after the loss of his "replacement" through the death of Daisy's step-father. Daisy would not continue to be lost to him, however; she called out to him by crying in the night -- a few days later, he heard her cry in a different way and came to her aid becoming the father she desperately wanted and needed.
Young girls like Daisy do reach out to older/other men when their fathers are absent or have died. The men they find available to them may have other objectives, yet seem to fill a void and shape too many young girls lives. I think Sue Miller successfully addressed a very thorny subject on so many levels that a second reading would intensify an understanding of the strength of her words and message to us as a society.
It Is Not Pedophilia.......2006-11-20
Sue Miller's Lost In The Forest is the story of a family coping with the sudden accidental death of a beloved stepfather/father. The family consists of the widow Eva, teenage stepdaughters Emily and Daisy, small son Theo, and Eva's first husband Mark. The storyline predominantly follows the lives of Daisy and Mark and their dysfunctional relationship and, eventually, tenuous reconciliation. The characters are believable and the book is a quick read at 247 pages. This is an enjoyable examination of family dynamics and highly reccomended. Many other reviewers have commented on the May-December affair of Daisy and family friend Duncan. There are many aspects of this relationship to disgust the reader. Duncan is a self-absorbed adulterous creep who preys on a young woman's vulnerabilities for his own sexual satisfaction with no regard for her well being. But this is not pedophilia. Daisy is not a pre-pubescent child. She is physically developed and therefore, by definition, her sexual involvement with the 53 year old Duncan is not pedophilia. To be sure, it is poor judgement by a man with no regard for his marriage vows and in no way should be condoned. But the fact that Daisy's father Mark, upon learning of the affair, does absolutely nothing is much more disturbing than the natural attraction of a man for a pretty young woman. If she were my daughter, I would personally see to it that Duncan spend the rest of his life as a eunuch.
Lost in the Forest.......2006-11-11
I loved this book, as I do all of Sue Miller's books. This is esentially a WWII story, and the era is provocatively drawn. I've loaned it to 2 friends who've also loved it.
Average customer rating:
- This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance
- We're stuck on this book!
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Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest
Manufacturer: Candlewick
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That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown
ASIN: 0763630543
Release Date: 2007-05-08 |
Book Description
Meet Sticky Burr, his unshakable friends, and his prickly foes! A beguiling graphic storybook guaranteed to grab young readers.
Welcome to Burrwood Forest, where a village of seed pods leads a busy life gathering food, building stick houses, and having extraordinary adventures. There are good friends like Sticky Burr and Mossy Burr, who stick together, and bad seeds like Scurvy Burr, who likes to irritate them every chance he gets. Watch out for wild dogs and maze trees, loyal insects and escapes on the fly in a gently quirky, delightfully detailed graphic storybook that middle-graders and ambitious younger readers are bound to get stuck on.
Customer Reviews:
This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance.......2007-07-10
Sticky Burr is a little forest burr who sets off on an adventure to Burrwood Forest - there to be caught in the trunk of the dangerous Maze tree as Burr Village is being attacked by dogs. Can Sticky escape from his own danger in time to save his friends? This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance and pages of fast-paced adventure; both of which invite kids to read.
We're stuck on this book!.......2007-06-02
My son loves reading this book - and sharing it with any friends and cousins who happen to come along - he loves the comics, pictures and characters, he's a huge fan and keeps checking on the author's website for more news of Sticky Burr - this book is sticking with us all! It is funny and a fun adventure! Great book!
Average customer rating:
- Buddha - Historical manga
- good series on the Buddha's life from a fresh point of view
- Great books to have on your shelf and keep forever
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The Forest of Uruvela (Buddha, Vol. 4)
Osamu Tezuka
Manufacturer: Vertical
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Buddha, Volume 8: Jetavana (Buddha)
ASIN: 1932234462
Release Date: 2004-06-01 |
Book Description
Japanese comics godfather Osamu Tezuka tells the story of Buddha's life like it's never been told before.
Customer Reviews:
Buddha - Historical manga.......2007-01-10
All 8 volumes great reading of fictional account of Buddha's life and philosophy.
Recommended purchase for manga lovers.
good series on the Buddha's life from a fresh point of view.......2006-07-03
I am Buddhist, so I may have a biased opinion about this series. I honestly am not a big comic book/manga fan, but this series caught my interest. I ended up buying the whole 8 book series and very much enjoyed reading them. These books are not for young children, as there is definitely adult themes, language and drawings of violence and sex in them. These books are not for people looking for serious Buddhist dialogue either, but they are fun and a new and interesting way to view the life of the Buddha. I originally got them for myself and will keep them to share with my children when they get in the mid to late teens. They are worth a read and I recommend them to all interested in the Buddha's life, but from a fresh and not so serious point of view.
Great books to have on your shelf and keep forever.......2005-01-18
I am by no means a manga expert, which is probably just the kind of person this book would appeal to. This series was written in the seventies and is now reintroduced to the English-speaking public with a new translation. This is an example of exactly the kind of story that lends itsself so well to "comics". It's amazing how much meaning and emotion can be captured through these beautifully simplified drawings. You can read this as an adult and enjoy it, but teenagers, even little children can understand it (unless you're offended by cartoon boobies) This fourth book is a must have if you have any of the others. It culminates with a very important part of Siddhartha's life, and makes me all the more excited to read the 5th and 6th book!
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Wonder Woman: The Rain Forest (Festival Reader)
Nina Jaffe
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Wonder Woman's Book of Myths (DK READERS)
ASIN: 0060565209
Release Date: 2004-08-03 |
Book Description
When danger threatens the rain forest, only one person is strong enough, fast enough, and smart enough to protect it and the people who live there. Armed with her magic Lasso of Truth and silver bracelets, will Wonder Woman arrive in time to save the day?
Book Description
BLACK SUN, a bittersweet love story, is about a forest ranger -- loner, iconclast, lover of the rugged life -- who falls for an utterly beguiling freckle-faced "American princess" half his age.
Like Lady Chatterley's lover, he initiates her into the rite of sex and the stark, hidden harmonies of his wild wooded kingdom and canyons. She, in turn, awakens in him the pleasures of loving and being loved. Then she disappears, plunging him into a gloom he can barely support.
"If the ending is sad and haunting, the book is not. It's a lyrical romance with the kind of passion and scenery that Abbey alone can conjure up." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)
Customer Reviews:
clunky, but enjoyable read.......2006-01-27
I tore through "Black Sun" in a couple days. I find Abbey's dialogue, both here and in his more famous "Monkey Wrench Gang," to be a bit clunky, but his nature descriptions are spot on.
The main character, Gatlin, is a ranger who works alone on a fire lookout tower in some unnamed western locale (though by the clues given it seems to be somewhere near the Grand Canyon). Gatlin's crisis: Can he leave nature for the love of a woman? For anyone enthralled by wild places, adventure, travel, or any other pursuit that supersedes relationships, this dilemma is remarkably prescient.
Readers looking for the curmudgeonly environmental polemicist Abbey in "Black Sun" will be disappointed. Readers can expect an easy read, beautiful nature descriptions, and a simple, tragic, poetically elegaic love story. Abbey never was very good at portraying the human condition. He regarded our species as a scourge on the landscape. But "Black Sun" is the most human book he ever wrote.
Wilderness and Loneliness.......2005-07-22
This is probably Edward Abbey's least political work, and the cranky old desert conservationist came up with a surprisingly emotional and bittersweet love story. The main character has escaped his painful past by taking up a very lonely job at a fire tower near the Grand Canyon, getting closer to nature and further from other people, as a way to battle his demons. He then unexpectedly falls in love with a younger woman who is working at the park, but can't figure out how to make her part of his lonely existence, which may or may not be bringing him true happiness. But in the end, he has loneliness forced upon him again anyway, as the girl disappears back into nature herself. One problem with this novel is the stilted interpersonal dialogue, which was never Abbey's strength, while he was even less adept at building a believable romance. But on the good side, this novel, based to an unclear degree on Abbey's true experiences, is a remarkably emotional exploration of the true loneliness that can be found when one communes with nature for the long haul, and how this loneliness can both lift and crush one's spirits. [~doomsdayer520~]
black sun.......2002-04-16
Beautiful, lyrical, magical - the best book Abbey ever wrote, in my opinion. I suppose many would argue the point, as Abbey doesn't address environmental issues at all, and the story is strictly a love story. But it is a wonderful story written in remarkable metaphorical prose - fantastic.
You can almost smell the great outdoors..........2001-10-31
An early Abbey work, Black Sun is a very good novel written in a style similar to John D. MacDonald only more alive, more real. Will Gatlin is much like Travis McGee, an imperfect fellow who has learned to live life on his own terms and makes no apologies for it. An entertaining read, this is one you won't want to put down until you've finished it.
An Edward Abbey Romance.......2001-09-30
I could not put this book down. All Edward Abbey lovers will be enchanted with this book. Those of you that skip it are missing out on an all time treasure. This book is an excellent way to distract yourself from the World Trade Center disaster.
Customer Reviews:
Those who can, do...........2006-08-30
those who can't teach. Mr. Hall should stick to his classroom. This book was terrible. It started out with back story, came to the present, slipped into back story before page 70 and I gave up. The characters were flat and uninteresting, I didn't believe for a minute they were real people. There was zero chemistry between Charlotte and Parker and their daughter was a cliche. Much was made in the beginning about Charlotte ability to read faces and then...just disappeared. I almost quite reading on page 16 when Charlie Mears meets Charlotte Monroe! HELLO! There are millions of names out there - try to get some that are different from one another! This guy teaches writing? I'm glad I don't live in Florida!
Another solid effort from James Hall.......2006-01-28
With Forests of the Night, James Hall takes a break from his series of Thorn novels. This book follows Miami cop Charlotte Monroe, a woman with an exceptional ability to read other people. One day she returns from work to find her husband Parker chatting with a young Cherokee named Jacob Panther. Charlotte quickly identifies him as one of the FBI's most wanted, but before she can do much, he gets away and goes into hiding.
The bombshell of having this man in her house is followed by an even bigger one from Parker: Panther is apparently his son from a teenage romance. Parker, a criminal defense lawyer by trade, refuses to accept Panther's guilt, leading to a major conflict with Charlotte. In the middle is their sixteen year old, schizophrenic daughter who has run away in search of Panther.
Indeed, there is more to Panther's story than is initially presented, and it's all linked to an event that took place back in 1838 and is described in the prologue. (There is one historical error in this prologue, as Andrew Jackson is referred to as president; actually it was Martin Van Buren.) It is Charlotte's role to find out what this link is, even as she acts to get her daughter home.
This is a very good, well-written crime novel, although a little atypical for Hall. In most Hall books, the villain is a rather off-beat character who is warped in a unique way. In this book, the villain is a bit plainer and actually remains faceless through most of the story. Also, although Hall's books are never comic (unlike fellow Florida writer Carl Hiaasen), there usually is a touch of humor that this book doesn't have. That is not to say this book is flawed, but it is just a little different from other Hall books. However, whether you've read Hall or not, this book should not disappoint.
Incredibly bad........2006-01-23
I can make this short; it was awful. There wasn't a single character about which I cared; the plot was just plain absurd and the ending silly. I kept reading to learn more about Charlotte's talent, which isn't employed in the story until the very end by which time I was no longer interested.
Basic premise is flawed, which was distracting for me.......2006-01-07
If you don't give it too much thought, you'll probably really enjoy this thriller. Others have already adequately covered the basic plot, so I'll skip that exercise.
The author made one serious mistake, which for me detracted from an otherwise good story. Namely, he had a genetic defect being passed on from father to son, though it involves a defective "X" chromosome ("Fragile X"). As almost anyone knows, the father can only donate an "X" chromosome to a daughter (otherwise, if he donates a "Y" rather than an "X" chromosome, he ends up with a son). If he can't pass on an "X" chromosome to a son, then he obviously can't pass on a genetic defect linked to the "X" chromosome to a son either. Since this error affects the entire plot, I can only give this book 3 stars (I would have given it 4 otherwise).
Aside from that, I found the story to be rather enjoyable, although not really what I would call a page-turner until it got toward the end.
A COMPLEX, FASCINATING BOOK.......2005-12-31
This was an excellent book. I love how we are given seemingly irrelevent information, which is made clear and all fits together by the end of the book. The dialogue is real, which is something i find lacking in many of these suspense novels today. The storyline is complex and interesting, and makes for a great read.
(It would make an awesome movie, too)
Amazon.com
Jean Hegland's prose in Into the Forest is as breathtaking as one of the musty, ancient redwoods that share the woodland with Nell and Eva, two sisters who must learn to live in harmony with the northern California forest when the electricity shuts off, the phones go out, their parents die, and all civilization beyond them seems to grind to a halt. At first, the girls rely on stores of food left in their parents' pantry, but when those supplies begin to dwindle, their only option is to turn to each other and the forest's plants and animals for friendship, courage, and sustenance. Into the Forest, an apocalyptic coming-of-age story, will fill readers (both teens and adults) with a profound sense of the human spirit's strength and beauty.
Book Description
Once in a generation we come across a novel that offers a voice and a vision that have the power to change the way we look at ourselves and our world. Here is such a novel by Jean Hegland, an extraordinary fiction debut...Into the Forest.
Eva, eighteen, and Nell, seventeen, are sisters, adolescents on the threshold of womanhood--and for them anything should be possible. But even as Eva prepares for an audition with the San Francisco Ballet and Nell dreams of her first semester at Harvard, their lives are turned upside down and their dreams are pushed into the shadows. In a nation suddenly without electricity or communications, Eva is compelled to dance alone to the music of memory, and Nell's education consists of reading the encyclopedia, devouring knowledge as if it were her last meal. Theirs is an age of darkness and terror.
A distant war rages overseas. Resources society had depended on, such as gas and electricity, are no longer available. Riots spread through the inner cities, while deadly viral infections spread across the countryside. Isolated in their home in the northern California woods, Eva and Nell live in a world without television or phones, in a time of suspicion and superstition, of anger, hunger, and fear. Perhaps one day the lights--and their dreams--will return, but orphaned by their parents' deaths and by society, Eva and Nell have been left to forage through the forest, and through their past, for the keys to survival. As they blaze a path into the forest and into the future, they become pioneers and pilgrims--not only creatures of the new world, but the creators of it.
Into the Forest is the gripping, unforgettable story of these remarkable sisters as they struggle to redefine themselves and their life together. It is a passionate and poignant tale of stirring sensuality, chilling insight, and profound inspiration--a novel that will move you and surprise you and touch you to the core.
Alison Elliott's film credits include Wyatt Earp, The Underneath, Wings of a Dove, and The Spitfire Grill, which won the Sundance Film Festival's Dramatic Audience Award.
Customer Reviews:
Into the forest - seriously impacts how you view your surroundings.......2007-08-03
This is an amazing book. I became totally engrossed in the characters and their life choices. The ending was astonishing and perhaps not the way I would have gone, but up until that point, I began to listen to the news and see just how possible this scenario could be and wonder how I'd react. It forces you to look around at all you have and wonder what life would be like if you didn't have the most basic of modern conveniences. Great story - great book for discussion - I highly recommend.
Poignant and beautiful.......2007-06-16
Hegland writes with the ease of one who is a born writer- someone who makes language flow with grace, beauty and richness. Her story is relevant and important for Western culture to ponder as the continued waste and destruction of natural resources becomes common place and we no longer question the magnitude of loss. Prophetic and pragmatic, Hegland creates solutions to tribulations of place, time and person that we may find helpful, if not guideposts, to living through crises.
Tangible and poignant, Hegland's story could be our own. As an aside, it is interesting and refreshing that she includes homeschooling as a non-religious, but philosophical, intelligent, realistic, matter-of-life choice for her characters - a rare and inspiring find for those who teach at home. Hegland's book is a page-turning pleasure.
all time favorite.......2007-06-07
This book goes on my list of all time favorites. It is beautifully written, has a unique interesting story and great characters. It really made me think about how we live, what we take for granted and how life might be different in the future. I highly recommend it.
Very readable and well written.......2007-05-03
First of all, this is a very readable book. I voraciously consumed it. You quickly sink into the world that it creates: What happens to two young women, living at the edge of a forest in Northern California, if the social and economic infrastructure of the modern world gradually collapses? This is a book about survival and adaption, but by its geographical and cultural isolation is a pretty limited view of the world. I don't think that these sisters would make the decision they make at the end of the book if they were living in Alaska or Montana, for example.
I'm not sure the book does justice to the civilization (and social structure) that has been left behind, although I think it does an excellent job of chronically the wastefulness of our culture.
All in all, a wonderful first novel, not perfect, but left me wanting to read more of Jean Hegland.
I can relate.......2007-01-22
I am somewhat mystified by the negativity of some of the reviews, but I guess that's people.
As an American Soldier who just came back from Iraq (chaos), who grew up on the edge of a beautiful forest in northern Arizona, who tended to a rather large garden in childhood, and is currently experiencing emotional isolation due to my wife still being in Iraq, I can say that this story had a strong emotional impact for me.
I realize that not many people may be in a position to cry all the way through this book like I did. And there are always the fundementalists who reject it entirely because the sexuality falls out of the norm for a brief instant.
And I don't understand the intense criticism of the end. It seemed to me that they were simply making a commitment. It was ceremonial.
I really liked this book. If you think the electricity is going to shut off someday, forever, you might like it too.
Book Description
More panoramic in scope and more realistic in its details than Crane's Red Badge of Courage, this is one of the first and best novels ever written about the American Civil War.
Drawing on his own combat experience with the Union forces, John W. De Forest crafted a war novel like nothing before it in the annals of American literature. His first-hand knowledge of "the wilderness of death" made its way on to the pages of his riveting novel with devastating effect. Whether depicting the tedium before combat, the unspoken horror of battle, or the grisly butchery of the field hospital, De Forest broke new ground, anticipating the realistic war writings of Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, and Tim O'Brien.
A commercial failure in its own day, De Forest's story was praised by Henry James and William Dean Howells, who, comparing it favorably to War and Peace, acclaimed the book "one of the best American novels ever written."
Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Gary Scharnhorst
Customer Reviews:
from the editor of the book.......2005-09-18
I appreciate the favorable comments made by all of the reviewers. For the record, however, in response to Peter George: my note on Stonewall Jackson accurately observes that the Confederate forces under his command repulsed the Union army at the first Bull Run and forced their retreat to Washington. I elsewhere add (chapter V, note 14) that J. E. Johnston commanded all Confederate forces in the battle. Peter Bridges also seems to object that my notes are too detailed, even "demeaning" to "educated Penguin readers," yet that my note re. Bailie Jarvie is not detailed enough. I can only reply that my notes are intended to aid precisely those undergraduates who require them, not the pedants who are perfectly entitled to ignore them.
A minor masterpiece.......2005-03-06
This is perhaps the best novel with the worst title ever written. Set during the Civil War, the novel depicts the war in all its sordidness: the blunders, the incompetence, the poor leadership. Miss Ravenel is a Southerner who falls in love with a Union captain and gradually sheds her rebel coat for the Northern cause. De Forest's realism is admirable, his writing ability even more so. It's hard to think of a better novel about the Civil War than this one, the first to treat the war realistically. This is truly a minor American masterpiece and should be much better known.
A great civil war novel........2005-01-09
Written shortly after the end of the Civil War this novel covers all of the bases -- politics, battles, social issues, and personal relationships -- affected by the war. It does this with a depth not usually seen in Civil War novels and particularly those written in the 20th century. De Forest does not insult the reader's intelligence and his characters are not just stereotypes but have real flesh and blood. (Well, except maybe for the heroine!) If you enjoy this book try A Fool's Errand for a good novel about Reconstruction also written shortly after the end of the Civil War.
A Union veteran's novel.......2003-10-27
Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty may have a cumbersome title, but it is an enjoyable read. It tells the story of Lillie Ravenel who with her father are exiled from Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil War. Lillie is an ardent Confederate, but her father's loyalist sympathies force them to take refuge in New England. In the fictional city of New Boston, they meet two men who both fall in love with Lillie. These men fight for Lillie at the same time as fighting for the Union. It is through these relationships and through her experiences on returning to occupied Louisiana that Lillie's gradual conversion occurs.
John De Forest's novel is part romance and part war story. These strands of the story are interweaved well and are fascinating for the insight they give into life in the 1860s. The romance is at times quite conventional with Lillie constantly blushing and occasionally swooning, but the story also contains unusual elements for a 19th century novel. The story includes a woman seeking an affair with a married man, a man keeping an apartment for his mistress and a Union officer conquering not only a Southern town, but also two of the women in it.
The battle scenes are well told and are clearly based on De Forest's experiences during the war. He is not afraid to show the consequences of battle, describing soldiers horribly mutilated with rotting wounds. The actual battle scenes are quite few in number and are mainly skirmishes. The only large-scale engagement in which the characters are involved is Port Hudson. This is a pity for with De Forest's writing skill, it would have been interesting if he had been involved in and given an account of one of the really great battles. Nevertheless he provides a detailed account of army life during the Civil War showing the bureaucracy and boredom, the frustration and pettiness, the bravery and the cowardice. His account is extremely one-sided and he has scarcely a good word to say about the Confederacy, but this adds to the fascination of the novel, for it gives the reader first-hand insight into the attitude of a Union veteran towards his beaten enemy and why it was that he fought against the South.
The Penguin edition of the novel has a good introduction with some helpful information about De Forest and the reception of his novel. It also has many useful notes especially those which translate phrases written in French and Latin. However it must be said that a lot of these notes are superfluous for most readers, e.g. explaining what the Mason Dixon Line is, or what the dodo was, and some of the notes are mistaken such as the statement that Stonewall Jackson commanded the Confederate forces at first Manassas.
Underappreciated Classic That's Great Fun.......2003-02-18
When I read "Miss Ravenel" several years ago, I did not fully appreciate it--now that I'm very much into The War, I have a new outlook. Yes, it's dated, and to modern readers, the dialogue at times is corny and silly (as is DeForest's hesitancy to be more explicit about certain sexual matters). To me,though, that's part of the charm, along with its Victorian sentimentality. It's too bad it was not appreciated when it was published in 1867. Anyone interested in The War needs to read this--and keep in mind the fact that I'm a blue-blooded Southern boy.
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