Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home.
Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other.

This is not so much a review as a cautionary tale. I don't know what I was expecting when I marked this on my 'to-read' bookshelf but what I got was definitely not it.

Into the Forest is the most depressing book I've read a in a long time. It is about two orphaned sisters living so far from civilization that they lose their faith in humanity and end up retreating into the forest behind their house.

When I read the summary I thought the relationship between the two sisters would kind and dependent on one another and not much more than that. I got more than I bargained for. They both longed for human company so much that they had no choice but to turn to each other to fill not only their social but physical needs...I'll let you fill in the blanks.

The main problem I had with this book was that it was very close to the writing style of the book Stolen. The main character is writing in an empty journal all the things that have happened to the sisters as civilization crumbles. I didn't find this writing engaging mainly because the point of view was so very pessimistic. In flashbacks the monologue would illustrate how joyous the lights were when they were on and her family would dance and read and almost return to normal...but they knew it wouldn't last. Well obviously this was the case because we opened the book to the 'current' time where they are already cut off from others and essentially living off of the land.

Another thing I didn't like about this book was the fact that there was no plot. I get the sisters were just trying to survive but that doesn't mean something couldn't have been happening in the back story.

To be fair, I didn't read this book completely, I skimmed once I got past page 50. So this 'review' is more of my general thoughts rather than anything specific I really liked or disliked about this book.

The bottom line is if I can't finish a book that means something is really lacking in terms of substance. I hate not finishing things I start - even if it pains me to do so - but I just couldn't make this book work. So to summarize: I give this book 1 star; there are enough depressing things in the world today, I don't need to read about fictional things as well.