Rating: 
Summary: Don't pass this one by!
Review: I started listening to this book shortly after the attacks of Nov. 11, so it's subject matter had revealed ominous possibilities. I really had no idea of the story line when I grabbed it from the library. But like other "listeners" in these reviews, I now feel compelled to buy a copy of my own. I also agree that if you have the opportunity to listen to this story, the oral presentation is not to be missed! This story will stay with you and make you think!!
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Summary: Artemis smiles on this one..
Review: Having just put the book down, I must admit to still being in its spell. It was truly masterfully woven, capturing that spark of wildness lingering in us all. At first, I must admit to much impatience with the sisters. As a child reared on Foxfire books and Tennessee traditions, I wondered aloud how even "citified" girls could let a garden collapse from neglect when their survival was at stake, or ignore the woodashes in their stove as they ration soap, or wait until the unthinkable happens before picking up a rifle. In retrospect though, their early ignorance and reticence make their journey into womanhood and into the wild all the more engaging. As to bumbling men, I must disagree. Their father was the only one who met their situation with skill, courage, and a survivor's spirit from the start. Were it not for his efforts, neither girl would have survived their first winter. All in all -- a wonderful book for any budding daughter of Artemis...
Rating:
Summary: Provacative, evocative
Review: Into the Forest is a dark and haunting read...and one that I couldn't put down. Unlike some reviewers, I do not feel that the author is pitching a feminist or ecological agenda. Rather, the story is an exploration of character in the face of decaying circumstances. Perhaps that's what makes the tale so frightening...As another reviewer wrote, society goes out with a whimper, not a bang. At what point do we recognize that a situation is beyond hope of recovery? And how do we cope with an ever-downard moving spiral? With the current 'rolling blackout' situation in California, this story becomes just a little to real at times. As for the ending, I didn't see it as a trite "Indian lore saves white girls" or a "nature is all good" statement. Nor did I view it as hopeful. Quite the contrary, I found it to be very disturbing (in a good way, that is, - it fit with the rest of the story). Is the ending indicative of the utter loss of sanity? Or is it a statement of strength? Ms. Heglund's poetic writing style is perfectly suited to the narrative. With just a few brushstrokes, she paints a very vivid picture. Some of the smallest turns of phrase are so heavy with meaning. My only disappoinment was that I made the mistake of reading some other reviewers' comments before I read the book. As a result, I knew a number of plot elements in advance. Part of the pleasure of reading this sort of novel is wondering what will happen next. Foreknowledge spoiled it for me. In closing, I urge you to read the book. A thoughtful read is sure to evoke goosebumps!
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Rich Story Until You Get To The Chapter On.....
Review: Incest!!!! I could not believe it. As a fan of post-appocalyptic fiction, I picked this book up on a recommendation from a fellow Amazonian. I was intrigued at the prospects of 2 teenages, Nell and Eva, trying to survive after the collapse of civillization, disease, hunger..etc. Granted that about 2/3rds of the book deals with 2 normal everyday teenagers living with their parents in the boonies of Northern California. A war, economic depression, rampant plague or a combination thereof causes a collapse of the United States government. Nell and Eva loose their parents, the mother to cancer, and the father to improper use of a chainsaw. The 2 teenagers must survive on their own without any modern convience i.e.; supermarkets, electricity, running water..etc It is only in the last 1/3rd of the story that we are treated to the brutality of the world that Nell and Eva now live in. Eva is raped by a passing transient while she was chopping wood. Okay, I was expecting this to happen in a story of this nature. Well, Nell, in trying to heal her sister, has sex with her?!?! Hello? Did I just fall of the Earth? I have no clue to where the author came from with this scene. Granted in the entire scope of the book, it takes up a small percentage of the story, but kills any sympathy I have for the characters in exchange for disgust. Granted Jean Hegland's writing is very moving, and she seems to have the making of a great story teller, but her choice of situations to expose her characters to are something to be desired. If the scene of incest was left out of the book, I would have given this story 5 stars with hopes that Amazon raise the scale higher so I could give this book more stars. Yet that scene with the sisters having incestual sex together? Nothing poetic about it.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This was an awesome book. I first started reading it as an assignment for an independent project for my English class. The book sounded interesting, so I chose to read it. I was a little confused in the beginning as I didn't understand why their electricity was going out. But I soon understood and really got into the book. I was reading whenever I had a free moment, and had the book read well before the assigned date. I really like the book because you don't know what is going to happen to the sisters next. When you think they are already in the hardest position yet, living without their mother and father with no electricity or ANYTHING, something harder comes along that they have to make it through. It illustrated that although siblings fight, in the end, they are the ones who will stick by you till the end. When times are tough, they are the ones you depend upon. It was an awesome book and I recommend you to read it. It really makes you think about what you would do if you were in the same position as Nell and Eva. Would you really be able to do some of the things they eventually HAVE to do JUST TO SURVIVE??
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Summary: I Loved it.
Review: I borrowed this recorded book from the library and I loved it so much I'm buying a copy to keep. The story is great but more importantly the images, descriptions and dialogue really hit home. Having grown up near the Forests as described and camped and hiked through them as a child I recognized the author as someone who must have lived in an area similar to my hometown. Then my local library told me she lives here in my home town. Despite the forest's importance, the character's and their relationships are what this book is about. With the help of the wonderful narration of Alyssa Bresnahan the characters and situations are as real and alive as any I have known. I was particularly touched by the main character's attempts to fit in with the local kids when she is truly an outsider. This is described with such honesty and feeling that my wife and I couldn't wait to let our daughter listen to this passage. Go Get This Book!!
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Summary: SUPER
Review: I Listened to this twice. Awesom
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: Recent newspaper headlines and fast-breaking stories on cable networks have dramatized the power shortages and outages in California. Drawn by the jacket description, I picked up the audio version of Into the Forest from my local library -- and I was soon drawn into an extremely realistic -- and impassioned -- scenario of what could be in the not-too-distant future. You MUST, MUST, MUST listen to Alyssa Bresnahan impart her linguistic/oratory style of storytelling to grasp the intensity of the book. Yes, I plan to purchase the hard copy in order to pull quotations and to read again and again the struggles and triumphs of WOMEN who depend on themselves and one another for survival -- who are "their own person." Wow. What a book. If I knew Oprah's phone number -- I'd tell her this one needs to be included in her "club."
Rating:
Summary: One of the best I've read, esp. for a first-published author
Review: Really loved this tale of sisterhood, survival, despair, solitude, and, ultimately hope. Although I read it several months ago, its images are still quite vivid within my memory. In the near future, two sisters, left alone after the deaths of their parents and a global disaster, learn what it means to carve a life out of the wilderness. If you like Barbara Kingsolver, you will likely enjoy this. (At a recent Kingsolver reading, she mentioned some of her favorite books, and said this is among them.) Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A lyrical tale of survival and triumph
Review: Everything about this well-written novel draws the reader deeper in the forest of the future. Two sisters, Nell and Eva, and their father, are mourning the recent death of their mother. Set in the near future, structured living gradually disintigrates. First to go is postal service and other such conveniences we take for granted. Then gas is no longer available for driving, nor electricity for power. A sudden brutal accident tears their father from Eva and Nell, and they are left to survive on their own. It all begins to unravel for Eva, who dances to the beat of her metronome, and Nell, an aspiring writer, who is reduced to scribbling on whatever paper scraps she can find. Dwindling supplies and a need for protection draw the sisters together as their beloved rural home becomes a prision with bars of fear. Eva finds herself pregnant after a brutal rape by a stranger, and the girls are challenged to create a safer environment for the birth of Eva's child. Lyrical language gives shape to this struggle, the writing suggestive of the beauty of Margaret Atwood's SURFACING. Hegland's novel, and her awareness of the beauty yet inherent cruelty of nature, should be savored and shared.
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