Our Lady of the Forest

David Guterson

Hi, everyone - I finished reading Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson last evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Teen runaway Ann Holmes is a troubled adolescent turned visionary whose experiences ultimately impact the lives of others in a small economically deprived Oregon logging community. The narrative focuses on the lives of a man whose personal life has been destroyed, a woman who befriends the visionary and a priest who is struggling with his role in the church and his commitment to faith as a man.

I savored this book. I think Guterson is an exceptionally intelligent writer and this story is richly descriptive and, as was the case with Snow Falling on Cedars, compellingly atmospheric. I read criticisms in reviews on Amazon that cite the book as slow-moving but I think that's more a function of it not being a plot-driven novel than it is a failure on the part of the author. I actually didn't find the pace an issue - to the contrary, at times I simply did not want to put it down. I rated it a 4.5 - and hated to see it end.