Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Into the Forest was a wonderful book. It is the closest bit of fiction I’ve found to a real world, post-apocalyptic experience. There are no great evils, no great wars, and yet the book remains a wonderful adventure without those things, written with absolutely stunning prose.
The author, Jean Hegland, has a wonderful way with words and is able to break the reader’s heart and then piece it back together all within the confines of one paragraph. The words she’s put down here seemed almost voyeuristic, as if I was reading the real life journal of a young woman trying to survive after the world has left her, and her family, to a way of life that hasn’t been seen by mankind for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
The ordinary struggles of our narrator and her family become enthralling–surreal and beautiful like romantic memories or dreams of summer on a cold winter night. I personally found myself walking around the apartment a more grateful person, happy with the stunning bounty I have all around me, astonished at how profound a trip to the grocery store actually is.
This is a wonderful, creative, imaginative book that clearly poured directly out of Hegland’s heart. I would recommend it to anybody, but specifically to lovers of the “post-apocalyptic” genre. Into the Forest is a fresh, unique take on an archetype that’s been done over and over. Pick up a copy today!
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