![]() Readers of many beliefs will be able to relate to the feelings that surface when religion is a vital part of life.For a while, "The Forest" defies expectations. OUR LADY OF THE FOREST is an emotional look at revelation in a modern setting. Still, the story is told with passion and will lead to much discussion about holy apparitions within any faith. The characters are interesting, but OUR LADY OF THE FOREST did not make me a Guterson fan. If the subject had been more appealing, I might have been more accepting. I was annoyed by Guterson's writing style, using no quotations for dialogue. Her frailty lies not within her faith but in the confines of her sickly physical body. ![]() Church leaders scrutinize Ann's story with minute detail. Ann reports that the Virgin wants a church built in the forest and ministry commenced by the faithful. When Ann's sightings of the Virgin become widespread topics of conversation, Tom hopes for his own redemption.Ĭommercialism enters when followers set up shop to sell trinkets, jewelry and Catholic memorabilia, and hover at the campground. The man curses God but hungers for redemption and forgiveness from his family. Tom Cross is a tortured former logger who is responsible for his son's paralysis. Word spreads and local priest Father Donald Collins accompanies the women to document Ann's contact with the Holy Virgin.įather Collins ministers to a dried-up logging community that cries for work. Ann alone sees the figure again, but Carolyn is witness to Ann's bodily movements and reaction to the apparition. Greer is skeptical but agrees to accompany Ann back into the woods for another look. She races back to the campground and takes refuge in Carolyn's van. Scared by the experience, she witnesses it again and sees a human figure that glides toward her. Frightened, she picks up her bucket and runs, says an Our Father and three Hail Marys, then finishes her rosary at lightning speed. She notices a strange bright light that hovers between two trees, with the brilliance of a halogen light bulb. The first apparition comes when Ann brushes dirt from the gills of a mushroom. The tattered, wheezy child is reminiscent of the conduits for a holy message chosen in the first century A.D. Ann's occupation is appropriate for her daily sojourns deep into the forest, however unseemly for a girl hiding from the world. Guterson's imagery gives his audience a clear sense of his setting, the aroma of fallen cedar needles a rich reminder of his successful first novel. Carolyn Greer is a mushroom picker who lives in a van in the North Fork Campground and takes Ann under her wing. ![]() She's small, skinny, has jagged cut hair and wears a hooded sweatshirt that shrouds her features. A severe asthmatic, she leaves her abusive background and forages for mushrooms, her sole source of income. By fourteen, Ann has been repeatedly raped by the addict and has aborted two fetuses. She is the daughter of an unmarried teenage mother who lives with a methamphetamine addict. ![]() ![]() He uses a most unlikely subject to reveal messages to the contemporary faithful who come to hear her words.Īnn Holmes is sixteen, an itinerant runaway who gathers mushrooms in the woods near North Fork Campground, Washington. Guterson researches his subjects like a bloodhound on the scent of a criminal. His latest, OUR LADY OF THE FOREST, is the story of a teenage runaway girl who claims to see the Virgin Mary. SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS deals with the injustices done the Japanese-Americans living in the Northwest during World War II, while EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS analyzes a man's confrontation with terminal illness. David Guterson tackles lofty subjects in his novels. ![]()
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