Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson

from goodreads

1.5 stars

Well, I know I am officially in the throes of summer now. I am loosing track of what day of the week it is, housework is going by the wayside, though to be honest that is what it is normally like, and commitments just seem to be dropped. Like my Tuesday post. It was Canada Day here so it was a holiday mixed with fun and festivities. I totally thought it was a Saturday. It wasn't until I was going to bed after a late night of fireworks when I realized I had completely forgotten to write my post.

Hopefully that was just a momentary lapse in forgetfulness and I will be able to keep on my blog schedule. If you come to my blog and realize I haven't updated. Don't loose faith. I will be back, it's just adjusting to summer and kids being home all the time. So, happy belated Canada Day and happy summer!

Synopsis

When Ann, a teenage runaway and mushroom picker in Washington State, sees the Holy Mother Mary appear to her in the woods, she becomes the epicentre of craziness. Those who she seeks out as friends, have some nefarious aspirations of their own. As "disciples" descend on the small town of North Fork we see how much people are in need of a miracles.

My Thoughts

I can't believe I finished this book. I wanted to throw in the towel at least three times but for some reason kept persevering. If it wasn't a book for my book club I would have quit, for sure. I think I was the only one from my book club to actually finish it.

The idea was fairly interesting. What would happen if some one with a dark past found light and hope in an apparition of the Holy Mother? What would happen to those around them? The execution of it, though it may have been "well written," did not make for an interesting or enjoyable to read. Well, there were some snippets that were interesting and piqued my curiosity and which buoyed my hopes that the book was about to make a turn for the better, it went back to being bad.

At times the dialogue was confusing as the author did not use quotation marks at anytime. Usually each person talking had their own paragraph, but sometimes a conversation was in a paragraph and you had to guess which person said what. It was not always a straightforward alternating sentences. This made for an off-putting book to become even more off-putting.

In the end there were no redeeming characters, or characters that you could really love and cheer for. Really nothing happened. And personally, I don't care to know if people are masturbating. Did the author add that just to show how with it he was? If there is some really point to it, fine. But when it seems to be thrown in their just to shock and titillate, I would rather it be left out because it just seems cheap and ridiculous.

So my advice, don't read this book. It is a week of reading I will never get back. I need to be more picky about what books I stick with and what books I don't. This is the only book I have read by this author, but I hear that some of his other books are really good. So I haven't given up on him completely yet. Though, I am not in a rush to pick any of them up.