The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan

From the Dust Jacket: In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. And so starts debut author, Carrie Ryan's post-apocalypse novel. Mary is the daydreamer who looks out past the Forest of Teeth and Hands and wonders if a life exists apart from them. She questions in silence about an ocean that her mother would tell her about. How there could be a body of water so large. Mary is also the subject of two boys' affection -- and they happen to be brothers. Travis, the younger brother who Mary loves and Harry, the eldest who is security. When Harry asks for Mary's hand, there starts a series of events that will throw everyone around Mary into a dreaded turmoil where all of the above is tested. Ms. Ryan's writing is poetry at its finest. I found her descriptions to be vivid and beautiful. However, she did follow the pattern of father out of the picture, mother gets infected and the two men vying for the main character's affection. Although, it's a trend that is overly used lately, it works in this story because it allows the protagonist to grow and develop. However, at times I felt as if Mary was an annoying, sniveling character. Not able to communicate to her brother, who turns her out after her mother's infection and death and return as an unconsecrated. Not able to communicate to the sisters' that her faith in God was gone. Unable to communicate to Harry that she was in love with his brother. It was as if she was physically unable to express her feelings. Which I gathered from the type of life that she had lead. Always expected to understand the way of the village and to never question the Sisters and the Guardians. At times, I felt the story dragged a bit and I had to push on to read through chapters of characters slogging through the forest to escape from the Unconsecrated. My frustration probably mirrored the frustration of the characters which is what Ms. Ryan was looking for, but, I found it lasted a bit to long. She also leaves a trail of unending questions that will hopefully be answered if various stories that she may tell. 3 Bookmarks