Rating: 
Summary: A novel and how-to survival guide
Review: Into the Forest really surprised me. I found it at a used book store and was impressed by the first page, purchased it, and proceeded to let it sit on my bookshelf for six months. Once I began to read it, however, I couldn't put it down. Not only is it a very neat concept- post-apocalyptic US through the eyes of a young woman, but also acts as a really neat how-to book. The girls in the story continually have to use their wit to derive new, original ways to survive. From dehydating fruit with a bridal dress to storing fresh water in a bathtub , I learned quite a bit of info I'll probably never use! The book offered no dull moments, and the protaganist had a truly unique, sweet and enjoyable outlook on her struggles, and day to day life with her sister.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't care for it
Review: ...The prospect that the novel sets up is fascinating. The world as we know it has been destroyed-largely because of over consumption, and ecological and political problems. Nell and Eva must learn how to face this new world without all of the luxuries that we are used to and with many new dangers. However, too much of the story involves reminiscing about the past, rather than showing the reader this new world-the here and now. Also, while I don't mind an author having an agenda, the message in this novel was painfully overdone. ... It illustrated the point the author wanted to make...The characters were never really fleshed out to begin with (Eva in particular), and that was a problem in itself. ... The message of the novel is valid. We are a materialistic culture. ...I can only see a connection to the stereotypes of women as earth mothers, creators and nurturers. But these are simply stereotypes. In reality, women are as materialistic as men.
Rating:
Summary: A Frightening Prospect
Review: I found the premise of this book to be eerily fascinating and frightening. It hooked me from the first page and I could not put it down. This was very fast and interesting reading, except for one totally unnecessary scene which those of you who have read it will undoubtedly remember."Into the Forest" is what has been called "speculative fiction" and is set in the near-future, focusing on two teenage orphaned sisters. The girls try to survive the collapse, for no apparent reason, of their world and society as they knew it. All of a sudden, tankers do not arrive at gas stations, electricity disappears, law and order become a thing of the past, and there is no communication. Living in the forest in Northern California, Nell and Eva struggle to survive in an often -alien environment as they try to adjust to isolation. Once they deplete the pantry in their house, feeding themselves is a daily challenge, as is their need to conquer overwhelming feelings of despair. The author gradually builds the story to the point where the reader realizes that every single action these young girls perform is related to their continued survival. I think that this book provided food for thought, making me cringe at how dependent we all are on today's technology. I appreciated Hegland's knowledge of the uses of forest plants and berries, and of food preservation. Like Paul Watkins' "Archangel" and Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", the forest is a major character in the story. I fear that I would not be a survivor.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, Poignant, Powerful
Review: Despite the painful premise of this book (the breakdown of our lifesytles as consumers), this is such an empowering book--not just for women, but for all of us. The hardships the characters endure and survive and then their eventual triumph and merging with the forest put the reader through a gamut of emotions, some horrifying, some breathtaking. I am an English professor who teaches an Environmental Literature course, and this fall, I will have this book on the reading list. The many reasons include:
--believable characters as young people who rise to the occasion
--a spring board for thinking about our place in this modern world and how we have overused resources
--a point of departure for discussions about the very real possibility that we could run out of fossil fuels, etc. and how would we as individuals cope?
--a way to discuss how we can get more intimate with our surroundings in nature before an apocaplyse...can we turn off our TVs and computers and study plants, see spirit in nature, and dream the dreams of trees and bears? Anyway...I know my students will enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: "There's a lucidity that sometimes comes in that moment when you find yourself looking at the world through your tears, as if those tears served as a lens to clarify what it is you're looking at." ~From "Into the Forest" by Jean Hegland I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, and particularly anyone who plans to write themselves. It inspired me to start writing again. THe language was so beautiful, the story so vivid. At the end I cried, but not because it was a sad ending, just because I hadn't wanted it to end. It made me not be able to forget things that I never would have thought of. It's the kind of book that makes you want to be a writer. One day I hope to make someone feel through my words as much as I felt through hers. Amazing.
Rating:
Summary: An important read
Review: Of all the "what if" books on the future of our world this book was eerily realistic. The writing was great and kept my interest from line one. The focus is strongly planted in the female heroines and done in a very believable way. It is easy to follow the journey's twists in this eye opener.
Rating: 
Summary: Painfully Bad
Review: A terrific premise, but very badly written. The author seems to have too little insight into her characters to give them distinctive voice beyond the broadest of cliches. Note in particular the narrator and the father as examples of the worst sort of TV-drama dialogue. The awkward, obvious social criticism is simplistic and cliched.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic, thought-provoking...
Review: Very good read. Thought-provoking, with relatively well developed characters. I've always been very fascinated with the dynamics of relationships between family members. In this book the relationship between the two teenage sisters is heightened by the fact that they become increasingly isolated from the world, having each other and no one else to turn to. What fascinates me about this book is not that it is a reallistic description of impending world doom, but rather that the psychological world created by the two sisters is very engaging. Sometimes it is very moving and fascinating at the same time. From the reviews I've read, there were a few that express their disgust about the incestuous incident between them, calling it irrelevant, unnecessary and unlogical. Let me tell you that according to recent surveys, sex between siblings as an exploratory sexual act is much more prevalent than you think or be prepared to admit. I even know about a case of a friend of mine who made love to her sister after having been dumped by her boyfriend... Call it grief, call it solace, call it incomprehensible, but sometimes the need for love from someone you trust with your life is stronger than our society's taboos.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy, Not Science Fiction
Review: A profoundly thought provoking book, but this does not necessarily mean an excellent one. The author has enormous skill in story telling and a sure emotional grasp of her subject and world in several respects. Two sisters, virtually left as the last people in their emotional universe after the US has collapsed from various shortages and plagues. The grasp on the terrors of such isolation never wavers, the monotony couldn't be better conveyed. But . . . And that's a big but. The author has given little to no thought as to how these catastrophies would happen and tells us virtually nothing about them. A distant war we hear, but how would such a conflict bring about such a total collapse? The government would fold at all levels at once? but we never find out how nobody at local, state, or federal levels of government reacts. They don't even exist. It becomes obvious that the author has an agenda and will do everything possible to follow it to the last. You have only to imagine this book and West Wing inhabiting the same world simultaneously to understand this. It's an utter impossibility. There are other elements which push this book to relentlessly PC conclusions. Take the handling of male/female relationships, for example. The father is a well-meaning type and reasonably handy around the house and workshop, but he's the Only positive male figure in the whole book. After that, we have man as brute, man as mentally unstable, man as adolescent. We then get to woman as wise, in touch with the earth. However, both the women in this book have refused to help their dying mother with gardening, and have only the knowlege from one book to guide them. The climax of the book has them burning down their house and going to live in a redwood stump with a newborn no less. They take their two chickens though. Unfortunately, not even the birds get a rooster. There are other little ironies like that all through the book. The father is a school principal, but the kids are home schooled. The parents are supposed to be taken as wonderful, but they seem never to take the time to teach the sisters about survival or even have them help around the house. The sisters have great carreers in front of them--one at Harvard, the other in dance, but neither has the strength to venture far from their home. Even after burning it down, their stump is only a short distance from home, and, thus, familiar to them. It's sad to have these shortcomings mar what could have been a great book. But, then, if the flaws had been remedied, the book's universe would have opened and there would have been more hope.
Rating:
Summary: very heartfelt and moving
Review: A story of what would happen if all our modern technology would no longer be available to us. Once I started, I stayed up all night to finish this one. The two sisters have a realistic relationship, and I felt rather sad at the end, as if I was saying goodbye to good friends and couldn't be sure if I would ever see them again. After the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, I thought again of this book - and that the premise of the book might not be that far out of the question. Highly recommended!
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