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Our Lady of the Forest
The story of a teenage girl who sees a vision of the Virgin Mary. Ann Holmes seems an unlikely candidate for revelation. A sixteen-year-old runaway, she is an itinerant mushroom picker who lives in a tent. Her past has been hardscrabble. Then one November afternoon, in the foggy woods of North Fork, Washington, the Virgin comes to her, clear as day. Is this delusion, a product of her occasional drug use, or a true calling to God? Gradually word spreads, and thousands converge upon the already troubled town. For Tom Cross, an embittered logger who's been out of work since his son was paralyzed in a terrible accident, the possibility that Ann's visions are real offers a last chance for him and his son. As Father Collins searches both his own soul and Ann's; as Carolyn struggles with her less than admirable intentions; as Tom alternates between despair and hope; OUR LADY OF THE FOREST combines suspense, grit and humour in a story of faith at a contemporary crossroad.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
David Guterson
39 books1,251 followersDavid Guterson is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist. He is best known as the author of the bestselling Japanese American internment novel Snow Falling on Cedars.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 504 reviews
July 14, 2008
So, I know this will make me sound like an idiot, but I hate when writers don't use quotation marks for dialogue when it's a fiction novel told in the third person. Especially when the books are mediocre. So not only am I having to stop to think a bit when reading, I'm having to stop to think for a not good book. Which is lame. I mean, if it's a good book, fine, but get over the pretentiousness of not using quotation marks. Or just eliminate punctuation all together.
I also felt like I read way too much when I really just needed to read the last 40 pages of the book to get the whole story.
I also felt like I read way too much when I really just needed to read the last 40 pages of the book to get the whole story.
December 30, 2007
While reading it, I was compelled to finish, as the author is a good story teller. However, I always was slightly annoyed, and this is probably why - the main character is a two dimensional waif. she is repeatedly noted as virginal yet sexually alluring (and it always went something like this - "her pale skin shone with fever, and it looked like she was about to die. but damn the priest really wanted to fuck her") and starts bleeding the day she has visions of the holy mother. oh yeah, the curse of womanhood, the virgin/whore complex which will never go away. Whatever. Things I did like: being entertained, the backdrop of rural Washington, which felt very real. I had moments where I knew exactly what the author was describing, when he talked about that tiny logging town.
February 13, 2017
There are reasons I'd like to give this a five-star review and reasons I'd like to give it a one-star review, so I've split the difference.
Here are the five-star bits:
--Guterson's use of language is rich & beautiful
--scene setting: I was _in_ the Pacific Northwest on every page. It drips with detail.
--character development: most characters live and breathe and are uniquely multi-dimensional
--background information on characters that ultimately acts as social & political commentary
--specific background about logging towns going bust was particularly intriguing (and bleak)
--a character who is across between an anti-hero and an antagonist, who is as compelling as he is repulsive, and for whom I found myself ultimately rooting.
Here are the one-star bits:
--Alternative title for this book: "Everyone Masturbates and is Still Unsatisfied"
--Call it stylistic (or call me petty), but the indirect quotations are primarily tiresome to read and lend nothing to the telling of the story
--Though the plot is a slow burn that kept me turning pages, when it was over, I felt like it wasn't enough. It was the sort of book that warranted my hair standing on end at some epiphany in the last five pages, but that moment never came for me.
--Though I'll give Guterson the benefit of the doubt and assume he was intentionally creating a priest and an ex logger who looked at women as sex objects, I felt annoyed that every woman described in the book was described in terms of her desirability or lack thereof. There was no benevolent male in the story who saw women as creatures existing outside of their desirability (or lack of desirability). At times, it reminded me of the fiction I read in grad school written by 23 year old males who couldn't quite get outside of their own view of the world to imagine one in which not _everything_ is about sex. (I even tried to give Guterson the benefit of the doubt because this is a book about the corporeal and the ethereal, but it was too much. Had I not liked _Snow Falling on Cedars_ so much, I'd probably put Guterson on my No Fly list because of this reason alone. I'm not a prude. It's just an attitude that is predictable and boring.)
In short, there are elements I admire here, but by the time I reached the end, the most pressing question I had was not "Does God exist?" or "Is religious belief directly proportional to the poverty level at which the believers live?" but instead "If a male writer writes literary fiction in which no one masturbates, is it still literary fiction?"
This novel might appeal to those who are interested in writing about the Pacific Northwest, Marian visions, logging, mushrooming, and bleak, bleak lives.
Here are the five-star bits:
--Guterson's use of language is rich & beautiful
--scene setting: I was _in_ the Pacific Northwest on every page. It drips with detail.
--character development: most characters live and breathe and are uniquely multi-dimensional
--background information on characters that ultimately acts as social & political commentary
--specific background about logging towns going bust was particularly intriguing (and bleak)
--a character who is across between an anti-hero and an antagonist, who is as compelling as he is repulsive, and for whom I found myself ultimately rooting.
Here are the one-star bits:
--Alternative title for this book: "Everyone Masturbates and is Still Unsatisfied"
--Call it stylistic (or call me petty), but the indirect quotations are primarily tiresome to read and lend nothing to the telling of the story
--Though the plot is a slow burn that kept me turning pages, when it was over, I felt like it wasn't enough. It was the sort of book that warranted my hair standing on end at some epiphany in the last five pages, but that moment never came for me.
--Though I'll give Guterson the benefit of the doubt and assume he was intentionally creating a priest and an ex logger who looked at women as sex objects, I felt annoyed that every woman described in the book was described in terms of her desirability or lack thereof. There was no benevolent male in the story who saw women as creatures existing outside of their desirability (or lack of desirability). At times, it reminded me of the fiction I read in grad school written by 23 year old males who couldn't quite get outside of their own view of the world to imagine one in which not _everything_ is about sex. (I even tried to give Guterson the benefit of the doubt because this is a book about the corporeal and the ethereal, but it was too much. Had I not liked _Snow Falling on Cedars_ so much, I'd probably put Guterson on my No Fly list because of this reason alone. I'm not a prude. It's just an attitude that is predictable and boring.)
In short, there are elements I admire here, but by the time I reached the end, the most pressing question I had was not "Does God exist?" or "Is religious belief directly proportional to the poverty level at which the believers live?" but instead "If a male writer writes literary fiction in which no one masturbates, is it still literary fiction?"
This novel might appeal to those who are interested in writing about the Pacific Northwest, Marian visions, logging, mushrooming, and bleak, bleak lives.
September 10, 2017
This novel has made a deep impression on me. I am not particularly religious, but surprised myself by being deeply moved by the religiosity of the mushroom-picking teenage runaway, Ann Holmes, who experiences the Marian visions. The flawed, but very human, not to say humane priest, Father Collins, also attracted my sympathy. The rather cynical and educated societal dropout, Carolyn Greer, acts as an effective foil to the visionary and also manages to inject some dark humour into the novel; her protectiveness towards the visionary is rather touching and clearly sincere notwithstanding the fact that she is also trying to exploit the situation for her own benefit. It is obvious almost from the outset that the ex-logger, Tom Cross senior, who openly admits to hating and paralyzing his own son, and is, on the face of it, unpleasant, mildly racist, and even menacing, yet still eager to be redeemed by his faith, is going to feature prominently in the denouement.
The dark, rain-soaked, mysterious forest provides a wonderful backdrop to the story. The spirit of the place is evoked in very poetic, literate and polished prose that is occasionally, as one reviewer has put it, 'thesaurus-splitting'. One very unusual and rather radical aspect of the writer's style is the fact that he doesn't use apostrophes to report speech; instead the characters' spoken words feature within normal sentences. I cannot recall a book I've read where the author has chosen to do this, yet it works well here.
I think this novel is not only entertaining, and gritilly realistic, if a novel about Marian apparitions can be described as such, but it also touches on some very profound epistemological and ontological questions (yes, both those words feature in the book). And although I don't recall the author mentioning shamanism, I think the experiences of the teenage seer have as much connection to that ancient form of spirituality as they do to Roman Catholicism. Perhaps it is the novel's explicit association with Roman Catholicism that is the reason for some of the totally unwarranted and jaundiced reviews of this book I have seen elsewhere (e.g. on Amazon); some reviewers appear to take offence when characters and events don't live up to expectations they may have because of their own Catholic faith. Ironically, I do not believe that the author presents the Roman Catholic faith, or the Church, in an unsympathetic light at all; his take on religious experience and belief is nuanced and sophisticated.
I loved this haunting and vivid book, and will never forget it.
The dark, rain-soaked, mysterious forest provides a wonderful backdrop to the story. The spirit of the place is evoked in very poetic, literate and polished prose that is occasionally, as one reviewer has put it, 'thesaurus-splitting'. One very unusual and rather radical aspect of the writer's style is the fact that he doesn't use apostrophes to report speech; instead the characters' spoken words feature within normal sentences. I cannot recall a book I've read where the author has chosen to do this, yet it works well here.
I think this novel is not only entertaining, and gritilly realistic, if a novel about Marian apparitions can be described as such, but it also touches on some very profound epistemological and ontological questions (yes, both those words feature in the book). And although I don't recall the author mentioning shamanism, I think the experiences of the teenage seer have as much connection to that ancient form of spirituality as they do to Roman Catholicism. Perhaps it is the novel's explicit association with Roman Catholicism that is the reason for some of the totally unwarranted and jaundiced reviews of this book I have seen elsewhere (e.g. on Amazon); some reviewers appear to take offence when characters and events don't live up to expectations they may have because of their own Catholic faith. Ironically, I do not believe that the author presents the Roman Catholic faith, or the Church, in an unsympathetic light at all; his take on religious experience and belief is nuanced and sophisticated.
I loved this haunting and vivid book, and will never forget it.
June 17, 2018
Tedious and grim, with no payoff at the end to make it worthwhile. Guterson's theme is an interesting one, but he fails to deal with it in a way that is either interesting or thought provoking. Family, work, friendship, faith, love -- various characters fail at one or more of them and nobody succeeds at any, which is depressing to read about and leaves one wondering about the author's own philosophy of life. I liked Father Collins for most of it but not by the end, was irritated equally by the credulous hordes of "pilgrims" and Guterson's mockery of them, found Carolyn increasingly loathsome, and pitied Ann and her sad little life.
And oh my god the absence of quotation marks to denote dialog drove me nuts. To any author out there considering writing dialog without the use of quotation marks: Don't. Just don't. It's pretentious, annoying, and confusing.
And oh my god the absence of quotation marks to denote dialog drove me nuts. To any author out there considering writing dialog without the use of quotation marks: Don't. Just don't. It's pretentious, annoying, and confusing.
December 22, 2016
How you can write a book about a sighting of the Virgin Mary and make so many references to sex in the same work is mind boggling. But Guterson did it.
June 23, 2008
This is a dark book indeed but I thought it was a worthwhile read. ALL of the characters are pathetic creatures but I suppose it is said God uses the most unlikeliest people. Man, they don't come more unlikely. Even the priest gave me the creeps. Everytime I read a chapter, I felt covered in mildew it was so damp all the time. I really liked how it delivered a message of redemption with no real definitive conclusion why things happened the way they did. It relies on the readers own belief or lack of belief. All the elements of a resurrection story were there: sacrifice, repentance, redemption and miracle.
January 20, 2016
Very disappointing and quickly abandoned. I have loved reading Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars and East of the Mountains, so this was a surprise for me. I had to read the blurb on the back to convince myself that I hadn't gotten him confused with someone else in picking up this book. I read enough to know I didn't want to read anymore, though.
November 15, 2022
Well I must have missed something along the way - I honestly can’t say I really enjoyed or understood this book. It was a decent concept for a book, but the author could have taken it sooo many other routes. So much time was spent on building the characters, but the story never went anywhere. Ann was so devout to the point where it was starting to become annoying and I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I’m not sure why so much time was spent on building Tom’s character/story. I would have hoped at least his character could’ve been transformed by interacting with Ann which would have led to a rekindled relationship with his estranged family. I was really hoping that there would be some sort of revelation or something exciting to happen (I genuinely was hoping for this), but was sadly disappointed. If I happened to miss something major, please enlighten me in the comments 😂 otherwise, I wouldn’t waste your time with this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2012
This story revolves around a character who is a vital presence at the outset, with disturbing memories, and then, as she is seen more and more from the perspective of others, gradually becomes objectified. Ann is an adolescent runaway with a domestic situation behind her that would inspire just about anyone to flee. She now has no home other than a sagging tent pitched at a campground outside a down-at-the-heels logging town in Washington, and one day when foraging for mushrooms she sees the Virgin Mary.
Her chance companion, Carolyn, is older and very cynical--not just about the repeated Mary sightings but about everything. Father Collins, the young priest Ann seeks out, wants to believe her but cannot (truth be told, he wishes he could relate to her as a man). The most problematic character might be Tom Cross, one of many out-of-work loggers in the area. Tom can swing between fits of rage (he crippled his own son) and hopelessness, but mostly he just tries to cope with an unrewarding life.
When these people speak, the dialog is wonderful. It should be read aloud. The story should be enacted. To me, it feels almost more real than actual life. (But I will say, as I recently did regarding a Saramago title, that the refusal to set off dialog with normal punctuation is a needless distraction.)
The setting of the story almost qualifies as a character, as well. Not having been to the Northwest, I wonder if the forests there are truly as perpetually dank, dripping and cold as North Fork is depicted on virtually every page. In the midst of that, Ann's constantly mentioned pallor and feverishness stand out even more than they would otherwise.
It's a complicated story, somewhat similar to Lying Awake as far as the question of possible divine revelation goes. Not being a Catholic, I don't get the idea of Mary as an intermediary between God and man. I've never given a moment's thought to reported Marian apparitions, and so feel bemused by the multitude of Mary followers (I almost said groupies) who descend on North Fork. That did not interfere with my admiration for how the story is handled.
I'm not sure the conclusion is as satisfying as I'd hoped it might be, but overall this is a remarkable philosophical novel that is also an intense page-turner. What else might I have expected from David Guterson?
Her chance companion, Carolyn, is older and very cynical--not just about the repeated Mary sightings but about everything. Father Collins, the young priest Ann seeks out, wants to believe her but cannot (truth be told, he wishes he could relate to her as a man). The most problematic character might be Tom Cross, one of many out-of-work loggers in the area. Tom can swing between fits of rage (he crippled his own son) and hopelessness, but mostly he just tries to cope with an unrewarding life.
When these people speak, the dialog is wonderful. It should be read aloud. The story should be enacted. To me, it feels almost more real than actual life. (But I will say, as I recently did regarding a Saramago title, that the refusal to set off dialog with normal punctuation is a needless distraction.)
The setting of the story almost qualifies as a character, as well. Not having been to the Northwest, I wonder if the forests there are truly as perpetually dank, dripping and cold as North Fork is depicted on virtually every page. In the midst of that, Ann's constantly mentioned pallor and feverishness stand out even more than they would otherwise.
It's a complicated story, somewhat similar to Lying Awake as far as the question of possible divine revelation goes. Not being a Catholic, I don't get the idea of Mary as an intermediary between God and man. I've never given a moment's thought to reported Marian apparitions, and so feel bemused by the multitude of Mary followers (I almost said groupies) who descend on North Fork. That did not interfere with my admiration for how the story is handled.
I'm not sure the conclusion is as satisfying as I'd hoped it might be, but overall this is a remarkable philosophical novel that is also an intense page-turner. What else might I have expected from David Guterson?
March 7, 2008
Summary: Our Lady of the Forest is great book that allows a great plot and the characters to expand themselves. The book spans over a short time of less than a week, telling the story of a young girl, Ann, claiming to see the Virgin Mary, while picking mushrooms. Ann is a poor girl, who lives by herself in an old car that does not run, in a campground, and suffers from severe asthma and allergies. She is a teenage runaway who was born to a teenage mother and a drug - addicted father. She picks mushrooms in the woods, and lives off the money she gets when she sells them. Ann is also notorious for taking several anti - allergy medications and asthma pills.
One day while in the national forest, Ann claims to see the Virgin Mary. At this time, another girl in the same campground, Carolyn Greer, comes forward. An atheist, and a person who yearns for wealth, Carolyn befriends Ann. Soon, the sighting of the Virgin Mary attracts thousands of people to accompany Ann on her sightings. The people treat Ann like royalty and are loyal to follow her. The people believe the Virgin Mary can offer them redemption through Ann. Father Collins, the local catholic priest, is skeptical of Ann's visions and does not allow himself to fall into their belief of seeing the Virgin Mary. Soon, a trial is put into place by the Catholic church. Ann is interviewed numerous times about her sighting of the Virgin Mary. During this time, Ann's allergies worsen, and it is evident she is not doing well. At the church one morning, a man comes claiming he needs to see Ann. After a rough altercation Ann begins to choke badly. Wanting to protect Ann, Carolyn offers a can of pepper - spray to Ann insisting it is Ann's asthma inhaler, hoping she could spray the man. Unfortunately, because of Ann's severe asthma, Ann ends up choking to death on the pepper spray.
The story then transports the readers to one year after the death of Ann In the town of North Fork, life is slowly getting back to "normal". The people who came to see Ann left after she died and the town became another small - town on a map in Washington. The town is also left wondering if Ann's sighting was real. Questions arise as people realize Ann was a pill - popping teenage. The town's people are divided as some believe she was hallucinating from the drugs she took, while others believe it was a true sighting.
Selected Quotes -
"His (problems) were enough to ruin somebody and that made her want to pursue him again, to find out if Tom was someone she could talk to, a person she could peel open, reveal, because of all his wounds (85)"
I enjoy this quote that Guterson wrote because I feel it expresses the truth about people today. I think people want to know about other's secrets and problems because it makes them feel better about their own. It gives others pleasure to know someone else is going through pain.
My Personal Review:
I enjoyed reading "Our Lady of the Forest" because it made me realize a lot about things I did not really know about. The novel revolves around catholicism and the question of whether to believe or not. This book forced me to ask myself questions about today's society. Thousands of people came to North Fork to see Ann, only because she claimed to see the Virgin Mary. This made me question who the people were actually worshipping...the Virgin Mary or Ann? Guterson also uses strong characterization in the novel. I was able to "believe" in the characters as they seemed to have reality in them. His characters are very honest and exude the true emotions that people have. Guterson does not use quotations when using dialogue. I felt this only added to the tone in the novel. It made me concentrate more on the interaction between the characters. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a thoughtful book that will leave them with questions about today's culture and faith.
One day while in the national forest, Ann claims to see the Virgin Mary. At this time, another girl in the same campground, Carolyn Greer, comes forward. An atheist, and a person who yearns for wealth, Carolyn befriends Ann. Soon, the sighting of the Virgin Mary attracts thousands of people to accompany Ann on her sightings. The people treat Ann like royalty and are loyal to follow her. The people believe the Virgin Mary can offer them redemption through Ann. Father Collins, the local catholic priest, is skeptical of Ann's visions and does not allow himself to fall into their belief of seeing the Virgin Mary. Soon, a trial is put into place by the Catholic church. Ann is interviewed numerous times about her sighting of the Virgin Mary. During this time, Ann's allergies worsen, and it is evident she is not doing well. At the church one morning, a man comes claiming he needs to see Ann. After a rough altercation Ann begins to choke badly. Wanting to protect Ann, Carolyn offers a can of pepper - spray to Ann insisting it is Ann's asthma inhaler, hoping she could spray the man. Unfortunately, because of Ann's severe asthma, Ann ends up choking to death on the pepper spray.
The story then transports the readers to one year after the death of Ann In the town of North Fork, life is slowly getting back to "normal". The people who came to see Ann left after she died and the town became another small - town on a map in Washington. The town is also left wondering if Ann's sighting was real. Questions arise as people realize Ann was a pill - popping teenage. The town's people are divided as some believe she was hallucinating from the drugs she took, while others believe it was a true sighting.
Selected Quotes -
"His (problems) were enough to ruin somebody and that made her want to pursue him again, to find out if Tom was someone she could talk to, a person she could peel open, reveal, because of all his wounds (85)"
I enjoy this quote that Guterson wrote because I feel it expresses the truth about people today. I think people want to know about other's secrets and problems because it makes them feel better about their own. It gives others pleasure to know someone else is going through pain.
My Personal Review:
I enjoyed reading "Our Lady of the Forest" because it made me realize a lot about things I did not really know about. The novel revolves around catholicism and the question of whether to believe or not. This book forced me to ask myself questions about today's society. Thousands of people came to North Fork to see Ann, only because she claimed to see the Virgin Mary. This made me question who the people were actually worshipping...the Virgin Mary or Ann? Guterson also uses strong characterization in the novel. I was able to "believe" in the characters as they seemed to have reality in them. His characters are very honest and exude the true emotions that people have. Guterson does not use quotations when using dialogue. I felt this only added to the tone in the novel. It made me concentrate more on the interaction between the characters. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a thoughtful book that will leave them with questions about today's culture and faith.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2018
My my. After finishing this book I read some of the other reviews many of which were very well written and captured my take on this novel. Initially the main character is somewhat multi-dimensional, but as the novel continues she essentially disappears as a real person. You never get to know who she is, while with many of the other characters you get to know who they are and dislike them. Guterson describes the setting so well that you feel that you are there, but what a dismal place he depicts. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest I understand, as a person strongly affected by lack of sunlight. I appreciated that he addressed some larger social themes such as the problems that occur when a main source of industry dries up but there is nothing to replace it; that the higher ups in the industry in question take little to no responsibility in the tragedy that they helped create and use double-speak to portray themselves as stewards of the land; the commercialism of much of modern religion; the double standard of the church - female as saint or whore, and not as ultimately believable as men. However, some of the characterizations were a bit too stereotypical for me, too classist: the unemployed blue collar workers as racist, sexist, bigoted, and sots. Also, why so much emphasis on sex? It was annoying and didn't add any value to the story. I also knew half-way through the novel what the outcome was going to be for the main character yet had to read on to the bitter end. Really disliked the last minute appearance of the "visionary's disciple" confirming that she was deplorable. Only saving grace was the church and, apparently, the fellow who could once again see his son. Nevertheless, Guterson is a gifted writer and even though I didn't like the story line that much, what there was of it - scattered and inconsistent - I still like the way he writes. Crazy I suppose. And, the book did leave a strong impression on me.
October 21, 2017
I usually adore David Guterson's work: the well-written, well-researched, sweeping stories of my beloved Pacific Northwest make my heart sing. But I skipped the last few chapters of this one. Maybe he was going to wrap things up in some truly profound way that would make the rest of the book instantly fall into place and I'd fall in love with it after all, but I highly doubt it. The essential elements of this book can be summed up in the cataloguing data on the copyright page: Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- Apparitions and miracles -- Fiction. Runaway teenagers, mushroom industry, clergy, loggers, etc. It turned out to be too much of a hodge-podge: of people complaining about the weather, doing various drugs, and clergy lusting over an unwashed, drugged-out teenage visionary. Too much banging over the head with Catholicism and miracles. And the way he wrote the dialogue was very confusing - long sections of it with no quotation marks or any indicator of which person was talking at any point in time. No thanks! This one will sit on my shelf between "East of the Mountains" and "Snow Falling on Cedars" and be a reminder that even David Guterson doesn't get straight A's...
March 13, 2008
"No atheist, Carolyn thought, is ever firm." What does one do when presented with spiritual insight, revelation, and direct contact with deity. This book depicts the events surrounding a fictional Marian siting in northern Oregon by a troubled young girl with a tumultuous past. I was interested in how this writer would portray a modern visionary or someone who believes to have received revelation from God, or in this case Mary, the mother of Jesus. Although thought provoking, this book was difficult to read, as was the pervasive baseness of human behavior.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : Our Lady Of The Forest - Nevisande : David Guterson - ISBN : 747568219 - ISBN13 : 9780747568216 - Dar 336 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2003
November 17, 2022
I assume this is a work of fiction. But, it could really happen this way. The bulk of the book takes place in the space of a week or so, but the reader spends a considerable amount of time in the memories and thoughts of various characters. One character, Tom, is so disgusting a person-- a misogynist, bully, the list could go on-- and I took a star away from my review for having to spend so much time in his head. The back and forth between the priest and the bishop is entertaining.
One of the main characters is a wise cracking atheist-- and despite some major character flaws, I liked her anyway. The main character is not especially likeable, but her story is very interesting. I didn't see the ending coming-- that was a surprise. Very well written book, high on atmosphere.
One of the main characters is a wise cracking atheist-- and despite some major character flaws, I liked her anyway. The main character is not especially likeable, but her story is very interesting. I didn't see the ending coming-- that was a surprise. Very well written book, high on atmosphere.
August 19, 2014
David Guterson has obviously done his homework in depicting this appearance of the Virgin to a bedraggled, asthmatic teen-age mushroom gatherer in a soggy northwest rain forest. There have been numerous purporrted sightings of the Virgin throughout history, the two most famous ones occurring at Lourdes in France and at Fatima in Portugal. What North Fork, a depressed lumber town in the Pacific Northwest near where the sightings take place, has in common with the other sites is that they are all in a poor region. The people who live there lead hard, trapped lives and are looking for something better. They are eager to believe that Ann Holmes has really seen the Virgin. The Virgin of course bestows miraculous powers to people who are seeking various kind of "cures".
The novel is as much about the "believers" as it is about Ann who is never too specific about what she has seen, except to say that she saw a luminous incandescent figure within a ball of light appear to her in the forest. Ann is a runaway, a victim of child abuse and rape,she has stolen, used drugs, experienced hallucinations. The Virgin's message to her is vague, asking people to answer Mother Mary's call through Christian service founded on Jesus. But there is also one specific request - a church should be built on the spot, one that "will be a beacon to unbelievers and bring them into the presence of God."
Why would anyone believe this forlorn waif? For one thing, the bones of a long lost child are found in the forest and this is attributed to intercession on the part of the Virgin. She benefits from a smooth-talking friend, Carolyn, who builds a good case for the legitimacy of the Virgin sightings (and in the process siphons off donations for her own use). People are eager to believe these occurrences, in the United States as elsewhere, as evidenced by reporting of "visions" by such homegrown American women as Veronica Louken and Mary Ann Van Hoof ( I had never heard of these people, but googled them, and sure enough, they attracted large numbers of true believers). In this fictional work, the word gets out quickly, and religious pilgrims descend upon North Fork by the thousands, overwhelming the town's ability to organize and take care of the influx.
A local priest is contacted , a young Father Collins, struggling with his own issues of faith and trying to manage his first assignment in North Fork. A older priest is sent from the bishop's office to investigate, and his jaded and skeptical approach clashes with Fr. Collins' more open mind about Ann's visions. Another key character is Tom Cross, a divorced, hard-drinking, out-of-work logger who feels guilty for accidentally maiming his son, now a paraplegic for life, and if ever there was person in need of a miracle, Tom is that person.
Did the visions really take place? Did miraculous cures appear? Ann says she saw the Virgin, plenty of people claim that their maladies were cured, and in an ending that can either be viewed as cynical, "miraculous" in a peculiar faith-filled way, or a ambiguous combination of the two, Fr. Collins gets a new church built, the town revives financially due to the now steady flood of religious tourists, the con-artist friend makes a lot of money, Tom Cross undergoes a positive change of attitude. What more could you ask for from "Our Lady of the Forest?"
The novel is as much about the "believers" as it is about Ann who is never too specific about what she has seen, except to say that she saw a luminous incandescent figure within a ball of light appear to her in the forest. Ann is a runaway, a victim of child abuse and rape,she has stolen, used drugs, experienced hallucinations. The Virgin's message to her is vague, asking people to answer Mother Mary's call through Christian service founded on Jesus. But there is also one specific request - a church should be built on the spot, one that "will be a beacon to unbelievers and bring them into the presence of God."
Why would anyone believe this forlorn waif? For one thing, the bones of a long lost child are found in the forest and this is attributed to intercession on the part of the Virgin. She benefits from a smooth-talking friend, Carolyn, who builds a good case for the legitimacy of the Virgin sightings (and in the process siphons off donations for her own use). People are eager to believe these occurrences, in the United States as elsewhere, as evidenced by reporting of "visions" by such homegrown American women as Veronica Louken and Mary Ann Van Hoof ( I had never heard of these people, but googled them, and sure enough, they attracted large numbers of true believers). In this fictional work, the word gets out quickly, and religious pilgrims descend upon North Fork by the thousands, overwhelming the town's ability to organize and take care of the influx.
A local priest is contacted , a young Father Collins, struggling with his own issues of faith and trying to manage his first assignment in North Fork. A older priest is sent from the bishop's office to investigate, and his jaded and skeptical approach clashes with Fr. Collins' more open mind about Ann's visions. Another key character is Tom Cross, a divorced, hard-drinking, out-of-work logger who feels guilty for accidentally maiming his son, now a paraplegic for life, and if ever there was person in need of a miracle, Tom is that person.
Did the visions really take place? Did miraculous cures appear? Ann says she saw the Virgin, plenty of people claim that their maladies were cured, and in an ending that can either be viewed as cynical, "miraculous" in a peculiar faith-filled way, or a ambiguous combination of the two, Fr. Collins gets a new church built, the town revives financially due to the now steady flood of religious tourists, the con-artist friend makes a lot of money, Tom Cross undergoes a positive change of attitude. What more could you ask for from "Our Lady of the Forest?"
October 7, 2012
I made it to disc 5 (of 10) in this and had to stop listening/reading. I couldn't do it. What is it about postmodern writings that everyone has to be hella depressing and have terribly uncomfortable and pessimistic sex with everyone? I don't get that. Plots can go along just fine without it. I promise.
So I actually didn't realize much of what this was about when I picked it up because sometimes I just grab something for a long car trip. I've actually gotten some surprising winners that way, but this wasn't one of them. I liked it at the beginning; as a medievalist, it was interesting to think about what the modern world would do to a visionary, and how our skepticism rides so closely to our desire to have some experience outside of what we know, what we always experience. I liked seeing the pilgrimage aspect with the relics and the physicality of the "faith" as one who has read a number of medieval accounts of saint sightings, miraculous healings, and the like. I even liked how uncoordinated the priest was, how human, how incredibly unexalted because it is real and true. (I about died when they brought in all of the church inanity regarding building another church, though, as that exact type of conversation was part of the reason I was going on vacation at the time!) I wasn't sure of the necessity of the priest's attraction to Anne, though; that just seemed like a potshot, an easy way to make him just a bit more sullied.
So it was promising--but then we got into the back story of EVERYONE, which made the book feel incredibly long and convoluted. It wasn't that I didn't understand what was going on, I just didn't care. Tom's life sucks. Got it. You don't have to tell me all of why it sucks, or every instance that produced the many ways in which it sucks now. I understand. It's postmodern--everyone's life sucks, and everyone is miserable, and everyone hopes but no one will have a happy ending because that's not "real." Got it.
I finally gave up, though, at the descriptions of Anne's back story. There are some things you just don't need to write, I feel, some intensities that aren't for mass market distribution. I won't spoil it here, but it caught me totally off-guard, and I have to give props to the narrator because I would not have been able to read some of this stuff, nor to give it the gutturally twisted pleasure that the character needed.
No thanks. There's enough depressing in my life. I don't care enough about these characters to suffer theirs as well. Unfinished, and likely to stay so.
So I actually didn't realize much of what this was about when I picked it up because sometimes I just grab something for a long car trip. I've actually gotten some surprising winners that way, but this wasn't one of them. I liked it at the beginning; as a medievalist, it was interesting to think about what the modern world would do to a visionary, and how our skepticism rides so closely to our desire to have some experience outside of what we know, what we always experience. I liked seeing the pilgrimage aspect with the relics and the physicality of the "faith" as one who has read a number of medieval accounts of saint sightings, miraculous healings, and the like. I even liked how uncoordinated the priest was, how human, how incredibly unexalted because it is real and true. (I about died when they brought in all of the church inanity regarding building another church, though, as that exact type of conversation was part of the reason I was going on vacation at the time!) I wasn't sure of the necessity of the priest's attraction to Anne, though; that just seemed like a potshot, an easy way to make him just a bit more sullied.
So it was promising--but then we got into the back story of EVERYONE, which made the book feel incredibly long and convoluted. It wasn't that I didn't understand what was going on, I just didn't care. Tom's life sucks. Got it. You don't have to tell me all of why it sucks, or every instance that produced the many ways in which it sucks now. I understand. It's postmodern--everyone's life sucks, and everyone is miserable, and everyone hopes but no one will have a happy ending because that's not "real." Got it.
I finally gave up, though, at the descriptions of Anne's back story. There are some things you just don't need to write, I feel, some intensities that aren't for mass market distribution. I won't spoil it here, but it caught me totally off-guard, and I have to give props to the narrator because I would not have been able to read some of this stuff, nor to give it the gutturally twisted pleasure that the character needed.
No thanks. There's enough depressing in my life. I don't care enough about these characters to suffer theirs as well. Unfinished, and likely to stay so.
November 19, 2021
I honestly am not sure what to make of this book. On one hand, the lack of speech punctuation and the changing viewpoints annoyed me intensely, but on the other, I was completely taken in by the intrigue surrounding Ann and her visions. Although not particularly religious myself, I am fascinated by the magic and mystery that surrounds the 'older' faiths. Whether Ann is truly seeing the Virgin Mary, or she's hallucinating from drug addiction and bad flu, the author cleverly never answers. Because. although she is the main character, it is other people's reactions to her that make this story. There are people trying to be her true friend and look out for her, people who want to take advantage of the opportunity, people who want to believe and can't, and some that start of believing and become skeptical. Personally, I like to believe she was truly seeing something.
As an aside, the church that is finally built sounds amazingly beautiful - I think I'd be more likely to attend more often if nature was as part of it as here.
As an aside, the church that is finally built sounds amazingly beautiful - I think I'd be more likely to attend more often if nature was as part of it as here.
January 29, 2011
Not my review but this sums it up: Guterson explores larger social themes-the demise of blue-collar America; the ironic symbiosis of religious devotion and commercial exploitation; the replacement of faith in God by faith in psychopharmacology; and the link between the exaltation of women's saintliness and the reality of women's degradation. Searching for the miraculous in the mundane, this ambitious and satisfying work builds vivid characters and trenchant storytelling into a serious and compassionate look at the moral quandaries of modern life.
It was an interesting book.
It was an interesting book.
June 25, 2008
This book was wonderful! I didn't want it to end and towards the end I started wondering, how is he going to bring this to an end in a credible, satisfying manner? It seemed impossible. But he did it! And once you read the end, it's like it had to end the way it ended, that's what would happen, as crazy as it all was. And the author never took away the mystery, he left almost everything unanswered and it felt right. I have to read the other books by this author!
December 4, 2011
A dismal book about unpleasant, boring people leading pointless lives in a wet, cold place. I absolutely loved David Guterson's other books so this was a huge disappointment.
March 22, 2020
"Give your heart to the precious son and take refuge within his wounds."
Ann Holmes is a teenage runaway girl whose only source of income is from gathering and then selling mushrooms in the woods around the North Fork camp-ground in up-state Washington. One day whilst alone in the forest as she brushes dirt from the gills of a mushroom she notices a strange bright light that hovers between two trees. She is initially frightened and runs away reciting an Our Father and three Hail Marys as she does so. However when she witnesses the light again she sees a human figure within it gliding towards her and recognises the figure as being the Virgin Mary. On returning to the camp-ground Ann seeks refuge in her friend's Carolyn Greer camper-van. On hearing Ann's tale Carolyn is sceptical but agrees to accompany Ann back into the woods for another look. Although Ann alone sees the figure again Carolyn is struck by her reaction to the apparition and reports the sighting to a few of her own friends. Thus word spreads and so ever greater crowds of pilgrims, including the local priest Father Donald Collins, turn up to accompany the two women to share and document Ann's contact with the Holy Virgin.
Ann Holmes is an unlikely choice as a visionary. She is sixteen, an itinerant runaway, the daughter of an unmarried teenage mother who lives with a meth-amphetamine addict who at fourteen repeatedly raped Ann resulting in two abortions. Ann is a severe asthmatic, small, skinny, has jagged cut hair and constantly wears a hooded sweatshirt to shroud her features. Carolyn Greer a fellow mushroom picker who lives in a van in the North Fork camp-ground is the only person she has that even approaches being a friend.
North Fork was once a relatively prosperous logging town but has been in decline for a number of years due to environmental concerns meaning that many off the loggers are unemployed, listless and desperate for an upturn. Guterson's imagery gives his audience a clear sense of his setting, the landscape is almost tangible and the reader can almost smell the aroma of the forest and the desperation in its inhabitants.
However, the real strength of this book is the characterisation of the four main characters, Ann, Carolyn, Father Collins and a former logger called Tom Cross. All are deeply flawed. Ann has been subjected to an abusive where she was raped and has taken a cocktail of drugs, including magic mushrooms or psilocybin, to cope with the trauma. Carolyn is a non-believer who is mouthy and exploitive whereas Father Collins is fairly newly qualified as a priest and is struggling with his own calling and sexual desires in a mildewing parish. Tom Cross is an ex-logger who now works as a prison officer whose bullying of his wimpish son led to the latter having an accident which left him a quadriplegic. Tom curses God but feels guilt for his son's accident and is desperate for a measure of redemption becoming in the process an unlikely believer.
Despite what on the face of it appears a rather gloomy subject matter there is also a certain wry humour dotted within the book which made me smile. In particular the author takes a rather tongue in cheek dig at the resultant commercialism that enters the scene along with greater numbers of followers with it's accompanying trinkets and Catholic memorabilia. Ann reports that the Virgin wants a church built in the forest and ministry commenced by the faithful whilst church leaders who scrutinize Ann's story have already decided that she is a fraud. Ann wants the greedy to turn over a new leaf but is unable to see that those closest to her are also guilty of that sin.
However, Guterson successfully manages to skirt the question of truth or fraud but instead focuses on the persistence and perhaps even need of faith in modern times, the limits of human reason measured against spiritual yearning.
I have a few minor quibbles with this book, the use of the word "nigger" in one section and the lack of quotation marks for dialogue, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The story is told with passion and readers whatever their beliefs will be able to relate to the feelings that it inspires even to those, who like myself, aren't particularly religious at all.
Ann Holmes is a teenage runaway girl whose only source of income is from gathering and then selling mushrooms in the woods around the North Fork camp-ground in up-state Washington. One day whilst alone in the forest as she brushes dirt from the gills of a mushroom she notices a strange bright light that hovers between two trees. She is initially frightened and runs away reciting an Our Father and three Hail Marys as she does so. However when she witnesses the light again she sees a human figure within it gliding towards her and recognises the figure as being the Virgin Mary. On returning to the camp-ground Ann seeks refuge in her friend's Carolyn Greer camper-van. On hearing Ann's tale Carolyn is sceptical but agrees to accompany Ann back into the woods for another look. Although Ann alone sees the figure again Carolyn is struck by her reaction to the apparition and reports the sighting to a few of her own friends. Thus word spreads and so ever greater crowds of pilgrims, including the local priest Father Donald Collins, turn up to accompany the two women to share and document Ann's contact with the Holy Virgin.
Ann Holmes is an unlikely choice as a visionary. She is sixteen, an itinerant runaway, the daughter of an unmarried teenage mother who lives with a meth-amphetamine addict who at fourteen repeatedly raped Ann resulting in two abortions. Ann is a severe asthmatic, small, skinny, has jagged cut hair and constantly wears a hooded sweatshirt to shroud her features. Carolyn Greer a fellow mushroom picker who lives in a van in the North Fork camp-ground is the only person she has that even approaches being a friend.
North Fork was once a relatively prosperous logging town but has been in decline for a number of years due to environmental concerns meaning that many off the loggers are unemployed, listless and desperate for an upturn. Guterson's imagery gives his audience a clear sense of his setting, the landscape is almost tangible and the reader can almost smell the aroma of the forest and the desperation in its inhabitants.
However, the real strength of this book is the characterisation of the four main characters, Ann, Carolyn, Father Collins and a former logger called Tom Cross. All are deeply flawed. Ann has been subjected to an abusive where she was raped and has taken a cocktail of drugs, including magic mushrooms or psilocybin, to cope with the trauma. Carolyn is a non-believer who is mouthy and exploitive whereas Father Collins is fairly newly qualified as a priest and is struggling with his own calling and sexual desires in a mildewing parish. Tom Cross is an ex-logger who now works as a prison officer whose bullying of his wimpish son led to the latter having an accident which left him a quadriplegic. Tom curses God but feels guilt for his son's accident and is desperate for a measure of redemption becoming in the process an unlikely believer.
Despite what on the face of it appears a rather gloomy subject matter there is also a certain wry humour dotted within the book which made me smile. In particular the author takes a rather tongue in cheek dig at the resultant commercialism that enters the scene along with greater numbers of followers with it's accompanying trinkets and Catholic memorabilia. Ann reports that the Virgin wants a church built in the forest and ministry commenced by the faithful whilst church leaders who scrutinize Ann's story have already decided that she is a fraud. Ann wants the greedy to turn over a new leaf but is unable to see that those closest to her are also guilty of that sin.
However, Guterson successfully manages to skirt the question of truth or fraud but instead focuses on the persistence and perhaps even need of faith in modern times, the limits of human reason measured against spiritual yearning.
I have a few minor quibbles with this book, the use of the word "nigger" in one section and the lack of quotation marks for dialogue, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The story is told with passion and readers whatever their beliefs will be able to relate to the feelings that it inspires even to those, who like myself, aren't particularly religious at all.
September 12, 2021
First of all, the fact that the author chooses to write dialogue without quotation marks is super frustrating. It makes it very hard to follow because the characters mostly do not have distinctive voices.
Ann is supposed to be the main character, but arguably the vaguest and flattest of them all. All the other characters take advantage of her youth and are lusting after her for like, absolutely no reason. It's creepy and super gross, and at no point do these characters learn their lesson about being creepers.
Ann is supposed to be the main character, but arguably the vaguest and flattest of them all. All the other characters take advantage of her youth and are lusting after her for like, absolutely no reason. It's creepy and super gross, and at no point do these characters learn their lesson about being creepers.
June 16, 2021
There were no quotation marks in the dialogue, and a very hit-and-miss attitude to commas. I guess because this is artsy, literary fiction. It didn't make the story any less boring and predictable. I slogged halfway and then skimmed the rest. You don't need to read it, just think of the most obvious story you could tell given the premise of the blurb and that's the whole book.
May 17, 2019
What makes this book significant to me is the way Guterson’s characters respond to Ann’s vision, as struggles over the role of religion and faith in our lives are growing today. What motivates people to believe – or not? Why do some people become so attached? How do others exploit these attachments? Does the church accept honest doubt or does it clutch at tradition? In this forest, mystery and faith collide with greed, ego, and power. I found it a fascinating read, and timely.
April 23, 2024
Writing style narrative with good character description and plausible behaviors. Good story setting descriptions that made us look forward to continuing the story. The ending was surprising (to us) yet believable.
July 7, 2024
Was it a masterpiece? Nope.
Will I even remember anything about this book in 6 months?
Probably not.
But, dang, while I was reading it, I could barely put it down.
It was one of those "What are those crazy people going to do next" type of books.
And, as an added bonus, it rained constantly during the entire book; both in the book and outside my door.
Will I even remember anything about this book in 6 months?
Probably not.
But, dang, while I was reading it, I could barely put it down.
It was one of those "What are those crazy people going to do next" type of books.
And, as an added bonus, it rained constantly during the entire book; both in the book and outside my door.
November 29, 2020
For such a small book OMG was it hard going. For me personally to religious and depressing.
August 23, 2021
I read this 10? 15? Years ago and just saw it when I was looking for another book. I have no idea what I thought about it at the time I read it but I know I still think about it often and tell people about the ending. So - on that basis - 4 stars.
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