Lost in the Forest (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Lost in the Forest (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

3.31 of 5 stars 3.31  ·  rating details  ·  1,731 ratings  ·  208 reviews
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...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published July 25th 2006 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 2005)
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Philip
In Lost In The Forest, Sue Miller inhabits the family. It’s an extended family, of course, extended in the twenty-first century Anglo-Saxon sense of it being stretched and disrupted by divorce, re-marriage and identity-seeking children. The book starts in what seems to be a conventional setting. Mark and Eva have been divorced for several years. Their two daughters, Emily and Daisy, are approaching adolescence. Theo, their brother, is a toddler, the son of Eva’s second husband, John. Eva’s first...more
Liz
I really like Sue Miller as an author. Although this is not one of her best stories, I think she does a very good job exploring the different characters' reactions to the loss of the new husband/step-dad to two girls/father to a young boy. When I picked this book up in the store, I didn't remember that I had already read it, and even in reading it again, I didn't remember most of it. So, either I read it too fast the first time, or it didn't make a lasting impact on me (as has some of her other...more
Nancy
This book was....disturbing. I know it was supposed to be but there were many instances of TMI, just too much information about things you don't care to know. Like when the main character wakes up in the morning and goes to the bathroom....do we really need to know the exact physical feeling of urinating? Well there are many examples but suffice it to say now and then I would just become disgusted and yell, "gross!" and throw the book down for a couple days. But it was interesting enough to keep...more
Shonna Froebel
Needing something to listen to, I grabbed this audiobook last week. I've read one other of Sue Miller's books and enjoyed it, and I found this one a good story as well.
In this book we see the life of Eva, divorced from Mark and now happily married to John, and Eva's three children, Emily and Daisy with Mark and Theo with John.
When John is killed in a car accident, everyone's lives change dramatically. Mark becomes involved in Theo's life. Daisy, who was very close to John, feels resentment again...more
Vic
Ok, I am a Sue Miller fan. I like books that deal with the interior life of the characters in the book and she really does this well. I think of her as being in the genre of Anne Tyler.

Spoiler alert: The following contains information concerning the plot.

In this book, within the first few pages, Eva's husband is killed in a car- pedestrian accident. The book focuses on the transition of Eva, her ex-husband, Mark, and her children through this fallout of the tragedy. But, just saying this lea...more
Heather
Rating: D-

Review: This is the second of Miller's books that I've read, and I'm finding that she has some consistent patterns. Some are good patterns, things that keep you reading; some are bad patterns, things that make you want to throw the book at the wall (or at least roll your eyes hard enough to harm your vision).

The Good Pattern: She loves the theme of messy marriages. And she's right, it's not easy. I like reading about the way she writes marriages. The way she talks about the boring aspe...more
Sharon
I'm so glad that I found this author. Her book is a beautiful and sometimes haunting story of a family and the experiences that shape their lives individually and as a family unit.

Eva is the mom and her story is in the background of the family's lives, though Daisy, the middle daughter, has the most compelling story.

I found myself wanting Eva and Mark to get back together, and I liked them together. They had divorced due to Mark's infidelity and Eva got remarried to John, and the story begins wi...more
Cindy
Feb 11, 2010 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010
I picked this book up in the local library off the shelf that the librarians use to "spotlight" certain books. The story sounded intriguing so I picked it up and gave it a try.

I like books that describe the complex relationships among family members, and in that regard, I would rate this book very high. However, Miller seems to try very hard to cram a lot of complicated story lines into this book, and so some of the details are lost while others are way too descriptive (the relationship between...more
Khim
Goede psychologische roman.
Het verhaal begint met het ongeluk van John, die omkomt. Emily belt haar vader en vraagt of ze met z'n drietjes opgehaald kunnen worden. John is de tweede echtgenoot van Eva. Je leest hoe Eva worsteld met het grote verlies van haar echtgenoot. Theo die het niet beseft wat er eigenlijk is gebeurd, Emily gaat veel op stap met jongens om zo het verdriet te verwerken en Daisy trekt zich meer terug in haar eigen droom wereld. Ze begint later een relatie met de echtgenoot v...more
Bookmarks Magazine

Who needs family therapy when one has Sue Miller? Lost in the Forest expertly unfolds to a display of realistic characters and troubled situations, including the sexual initiation (or violation?) of a teenage girl. Yet Daisy's affair represents only one of many challenges the family faces after John's death__and there are no easy answers. In understated, powerful prose, Miller moves back and forth in time, a device critics saw as either artful or interruptive. There were divergent views on the e

...more
Elysabeth
I would have given this 3.5 stars if possible, but it's not so I'm going to round up. I did like this novel a lot more than The Senator's Wife, which is the only other Miller that I've read. I liked the shifting point of view, but was really mostly focused on Daisy. She was an extraordinarily complex character, and as a reader, I found myself navigating her conflicts the best I could. Seeing her sexual relationship (slash abuse?) through HER eyes made me start to question whether or not it was w...more
Hazel
A book I picked up for free on impulse at The Bookthing of Baltimore (www.bookthing.org). It must have been nearly two years ago as that is the last time I can remember going there. So after I gave up on my last read and was struggling to find a book on my shelves that got my attention, the following synopsis from Amazon made this one jump into my hands to read.

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 so...more
Carolyn F.
Audiobook.

First of all, I love Blair Brown's narration. You know exactly who is speaking and the emotion that is being conveyed. I plan on making her a narrator that I seek.

The story itself, wonderful. Heartbreaking at times and full of all kinds of human foibles. It's mostly about a mother, a father and one of their daughters all trying to deal with changes in their lives. I think I've moved from general fiction to chick-lit or paranormal or urban fiction, etc., but the last few contemporary g...more
Diane
I've always been a fan of Sue Miller's writing and this book is no exception. Her story centers on the lives of a family, torn apart by a sudden death. Everyone in that household feels the pain of this loss and must somehow come to grips with it.

Each person's story is told here. Their love, their loss and their journey through it all is superbly written.

Daisy's story is the core of this novel and it is heartwrenching to follow. Her sexual awakening is definitely a cause for concern in its full...more
lee lee
Nov 13, 2011 lee lee rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to lee lee by: Bob & Sally Harrison
I think I enjoyed this book because I'd read Miller's memoir of her father; I understood the themes and her tendencies as a writer better... And I know that Miller is a "good" writer. But I'm still grappling with whether a book such as this has a {worthy} literary purpose. Do I understand more about humanity after reading it? Do I understand more about myself? Probably, on both accounts. So, why does it not feel "good enough" to me? Why can't this be the kind of writing I settle on, and publish?...more
Pam
It was Ok - all her novels seem to be somewhat the same. There is a good sex scene and there seems to be at least one of those in each novel also. Her writing sometimes seems to get too weighty although I know a lot of people would disagree. It is not that the writing is bad; she is actually a good writer - it just sometimes seems as if she gets lost in her own thoughts and it gets tiring.
It is always difficult to go back and try to talk about a book when it has been a few years since I read it...more
Diane
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Debra
Mar 13, 2011 Debra marked it as to-read
Stephen King says: "If I tell you this is a short novel about a 15-year-old girl's affair with a 53-year-old man, you might shrug and say, ''Been there, done that, got the Lolita T-shirt.'' But Sue Miller has a uniquely American voice, and few women have ever written better about families (maybe Jane Smiley, early in her career). Daisy's descent, triggered by the death of her adored stepfather, is so harrowing that I literally had to put the book aside on a couple of occasions. You can call it f...more
Karli
Meh.

Set in Napa...
50-something bookstore owner with ex-husband who works in the vineyards, getting over the death of her second husband who was just a really "nice" guy. One daughter is fine, the other is alone, rejected and turns to an older man for consolation (very Lolita-esque this part).

BORING!
Best parts were the descriptions of the California country-side which of course made me miss home but then I wouldn't have my own bookstore in Napa, living in a fixed up Victorian or dining at Auber...more
Laurie
This book was pretty formulaic and the writing was just ok but with little flashes of style/poetry scattered about. But there is something about Sue Miller's books that totally capture my attention while I'm reading her. I remember reading "The Good Mother" a while ago, and despite the same ordinary writing, there was a moment of such pure and utter sadness that I still think about it today. Maybe that's the point of her writing--to present the truly mundane lives us humans live and punctutate t...more
Sarah
some parts felt weird, but being a child of divorce i can 100% agree with the idea that kids get left behind when parents divorce. they do live their own lives. and the kids end up for a while on their own...no matter what age. my dad never wanted to intervene as much as mark did. i can also identify with daisy's interest in an older man...i liked older guys too. growing older and going through your own relationships does make you understand your parents as people, not as an inhuman unit...just...more
Marnie Kaplan
After finishing this book, I thought: "Why have I never read Sue Miller before?" As someone who is inherently interested in families, I found this book a fascinating window inside a reconstituted family. It is the story of Eva, a divorced woman who is happily remarried with two teenage daughters and a young son from her second marriage. Her new husband dies in a tragic accident and this dramatically alters the family. In many ways the book is focused most on the story of Daisy, the second daught...more
Gretchen Schaefer
I thought the character development in this book was great, i was very involved and invested. The story contains several plot lines and I thought the author could have done a better job balancing them. The story concerning the younger daughter started late and then went on for quite some time, leaving me anxious to get back to the story concerning her parents. In the end i see why things were weighted the way they were just they order and way there were presented left me annoyed rather than symp...more
Ginnie Leiner
One in four female children report being sexually abused to their parents or another adult. Many more go unreported and countless number of girls are not unbelieved when they do tell an adult. 90% of those abused know the perpetrator; he or she is a family member or a friend of the family. In her usual insightful way, Sue Miller tells the story of a 15 year old abused by a family friend in the midst of several years of family crisis - her parents' divorce and her mother's remarriage and subseque...more
Kolleen

***SPOILERS*** This book was neither outstanding or terrible, it just was. Overall, I liked it, it just wasn't a page-turner, and I'm not exactly sure I would recommend it. The story is ulitmately about the heartbreaking reality of the mundane, everyday life... about how sometimes, life isn't happy or end happy, life just is. Although this story was about death, I feel it centered on the infidelity of Eva, the main character's, former husband. The affair led to the demise of the entire family, a

...more
Brianne
I hardly ever write reviews on books. For this one, I had to. I don't even remember why I got this book, I guess because the jacket made it sound interesting? However, this is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. I just didn't get the point. The description sounds great - I don't think the book really went into any of that; at least not in any sort of detail to make you think you know the characters. I forced myself to keep going with it. I skipped some of it though. I don't think t...more
Jen
This book was very well-written, and the story was compelling. I had a hard time putting it down sometimes, and so I couldn't allow myself to read any in the morning before work because I would have been late. Despite this, I gave the book only 4 stars because of how it made me feel - meaning that it's just a book about being sad. At least the first two-thirds of the book are all about how different family members are sad about a tragic death. Well, yeah - of course they are! It turns out that t...more
Jeanne
When her stepfather is killed in a car accident, Daisy is lost. Her mother is overwhelmed by grief and her younger brother is oblivious. Nobody considers Daisy's loss. After all, she loved John more than she loved her own father, Mark.

Daisy's coping skills are not great. The teen will lie, steal, and engage in a sexual relationship with the husband of her mother's best friend. Nice, huh? Very sordid.

Miller's novel focuses mostly on the period in which Daisy is "lost." Of course, she is rescued....more
Holly
I'm pretty sure Lost in the Forest went on my TBR list because Donald Maass used it as an example in one of his books. If not, who knows what I was thinking. These are my opinions only and in no way reflect on the inherent value of the book, or the author, or people who enjoyed the story.

Don't you just hate it when you come across a book you know you should like, and you just can't, no matter how hard you try? That's how this one was for me. The beginning was terrific, started off with a bang a...more
Wormie
In “Lost in the Forest”, Miller explores a family in transition. Eva and her three children, Emily, Daisy and Theo are shocked by the sudden death of Eva’s husband, John. Eva’s first husband, Mark, the father of the two girls, steps in to help as the family tries to cope with their loss.

As one would expect each family member deals with their grief in a unique way. Eva, initially paralyzed with emotional pain, slowly learns to return to normalcy. Emily, takes control and tries to guide her famil...more
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Lost in the Forest (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Sue Miller (born November 29, 1943 in Chicago) is an American writer who has authored a number of best-selling novels. Her duties as a single mother left her with little time to write for many years, and as a result she did not publish her first novel until 1986, after spend...more
More about Sue Miller...
While I Was Gone The Senator's Wife The Good Mother Family Pictures The Lake Shore Limited

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