Where the Forest Meets the Sky by Glendy Vanderah - August 2023 Themed BOM - PEACE (starts 16 Aug)

[Elinor]

DQs Day 4 ~ Ch 23 to 31

15. George encounters Gabe and Jo by accident at the campus. What did you think about Jo’s attempt to make Gabe talk to George? Even more curious, what did you think of Gabe’s reaction to the talk he had with George?

I think it's good he spoke with his dad. I don't think I'd have been able to process whatever was said as fast as he did though - there's lots of heavy stuff going on, so I'd imagine it would take him some time to take it all on board.

16. Jo did a great job of keeping her cool and coming up with a plan to get Ursa and her out of the cabin when the men showed up. Did you see this coming? Or were you expecting a different outcome than men sneaking in guns blazing?

No, I can't say I'd imagined any of this. And why on earth do they (whoever they are) want Ursa dead?!

17. Gabe and Jo could be in trouble with the police, but it seems for child endangerment instead of killing two people/intruders. Gabe is trying to be the sensible one by telling Jo to contact a lawyer. What will happen? Do you think Jo and Gabe will be charged with a crime and if so, what?

I think they might be but I don't think anything 'bad' will come of it even if they are.

18. Whew, there was a lot going on in this section. When they returned to Effingham and stopped for dinner, I was pretty sure that we were going to encounter trouble! Ursa….She is obviously in the middle of something big and bad. After learning that Ursa is under police guard (or protection, maybe?), what do you think is the real story? (Or do you agree with Tabby’s thought that the government knows there is an alien in Ursa’s body?!)

Yes, there was obviously lots of weird stuff going on here. Perhaps a little disappointed that Ursa wasn't more keen to protect Jo and Gabe as she knows there are these baddies looking for her - I'm putting it down to her age but it doesn't sit quite right what with her being so intelligent. I'm not sure about the real story, I don't think she's an alien. I am wondering about the drawing of the gravestone, perhaps she witnessed someone close to her being murdered and escaped or something along those lines?

19. Gabe seems to have lost his reluctance to be out in the world. Were you surprised by this? What do you think brought about the change?

I wasn't sure about how well he manages in a town/city environment after so long in the countryside. That makes me think it's not entirely realistic re his anxiety disorders. But I can see him just having a good day, and some people do have that effect, they make you just want to enjoy life to the full - but it doesn't normally last. I will add that a lot is going in places he is actually quite familiar with even if a few years back, and that might be helping him quite a bit. We'll see what comes next.

[Elinor]

DQs: Day 5
Ch 32 - 38
20. In this section, Ursa relates what happened to her and her mother, but does it in a way that still works with her alien construct. Were there any aspects of the story that surprised you? Were you still hoping the alien part of the story was real? What was your take on Ursa’s origin story?

I was pretty sure she'd seen someone close get murdered - and also, had understood (after my initial ewwww reaction) that she was in her own live body and not the body of a dead person. I wasn't hoping for the alien part to be real - I liked the whole idea of her alien origins though - and Hetrayeh - and the link to her father Dylan.

21. Part of Ursa’s healing involves integrating her little girl and alien parts. Jo suggested that the alien could be the soul of Ursa. What is your take on Ursa’s assertion that “It’s more like the other way around: Ursa is the soul of me, the one who came from the stars.” How do you think this idea plays into the title of the book?

I like the idea that there's a bit of 'magic' in all of us. To me that translates to our innate gifts and abilities, things we just do and that work. To me the title of the book is multi-purpose: different sciences always have overlaps at some point; there's something magical about forests (and nature) too; science cannot quantify/qualify everything - there are so many mysteries that will never be uncovered; ...

22. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the idea of Ursa the alien giving off quarks that touch people’s lives - how all of us affect and are related to each other from a scientific standpoint., even if we can’t predict what the outcome will be. What are your thoughts around the quark idea? Just positive thinking?

I really relate to the quark idea - it comes back to what I was saying above about our innate qualities. We all have gifts, things we are inexplicably good at and that's how I rationalise the whole quark thing. Some of it's just pure luck (like right at the end), some of it is intuition (Jo and Gabe getting together), some of it is just unexplainable what I refer to as 'magic' or sometimes spiritual - I think we can have a deep spiritual connexion with people, and I don't mean necessarily in the biblical sense, more in the sense of there being a high level of connexion with some people that doesn't require constant communication, just feeling. Not sure my explanation is very clear here.

Edit: I still think they shouldn't be called quarks though, because they're already a thing.

23. A primary theme of the book is around the power of love - familial love, love of nature, chosen families - building nests with others to live. What did you think of how all the different families came together? And what about Lacey’s transformation from harridan to helpful - believable or just hopeful?

I agree love is one of the central themes in this book and it was mostly well developed. I didn't quite buy in to Lacey's transformation mostly because she would never have such a wonderful husband with her initial victim mentality, so it felt like she had split personality and went through a very sudden shift to being a mature, self-assured woman - when I truly believe that childhood trauma takes many years to get over, especially when it's shrouded in lies and secrecy (I mean the trust issues alone...). I felt the same about Gabe - you don't just 'erase' many years of hate and discomfort, just like you don't suddenly become non-anxious because you're in love (as I said, you might be able to for a time, but that would all be down to love hormones, and they don't last forever even in a stable relationship).

24. One part of the book that really resonated with me was Jo’s decision to “enter the darkness” with her dying mother, to be there fully with no regrets. That is the kind of emotional bravery I aspire to - shedding the self-protective shell to embrace a fuller loved and loving life. What aspects of the book struck a note for you? Do you believe that sometimes bad things happen to make way for better things next?

I think many bad things happen to open new horizons, and that it's more a question of philosophy the way you react to bad things. I'm pretty change resistant by nature - but I also recognise how good it can be :-).

25. What are your final thoughts on the book? Favorite moments or themes? Who else wants to adopt Ursa?

I enjoyed the book as whole - I love the nature theme and the disconnect from relentless technology. I don't want to adopt Ursa, I'd be worried about not handling things properly - but I'd love to be her (continually impressed) god mother.

I felt there were a lot of themes in this book, some were better explored than others, but for a debut it's already saying a lot of interesting things and taking on complex issues.

[Elinor]

Participation Tracking:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5