Linda Grant ~ The Story of the Forest
Synopsis
It’s 1913 and a young, carefree and recklessly innocent girl, Mina, goes out into the forest on the edge of the Baltic sea and meets a gang of rowdy young men with revolution on their minds. It sounds like a fairy tale but it’s life.
The adventure leads to flight, emigration and a new land, a new language and the pursuit of idealism or happiness – in Liverpool. But what of the stories from the old country; how do they shape and form the next generations who have heard the well-worn tales?
Review
Family stories can be heart-warming and sweet. However, usually this is because they’re part of your history and they fondly remind you of your ancestors. Someone else’s story isn’t always as interesting.
In the case of The Story of the Forest, we are constantly reminded about Mina’s brush with the Bolsheviks. This is all very well and good but it becomes less interesting the more we hear it.
The book as a whole spans nearly 90 years, which is a lot given that the book is under 300 pages. As a result, the story is choppy and disjointed, with no clear reference to the year, and we never really get to know the characters well enough. The side characters are the most engaging, particularly the acquaintances Paula makes in London. Her story is definitely the most interesting, but the excitement and scandal is over almost before it starts and she becomes another dull housewife.
The insights into the history and culture of Jewish people is fascinating and poignant in places, but again it feels glossed over which lessens the impact these elements could have had. The missing family members’ fates are tossed out in a mere sentence, which seems surprising, given the time spent on minor details elsewhere.
I did enjoy parts of it, but I was also bored by others and the writing style just didn’t work for me, as it lacked flow.
Beautiful cover though.
Thanks to Virago Press for my advanced copy. Opinions my own.
Paradise is a Library 