Customer Reviews

In the Forest (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books)

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After reading the opening paragraph of this newest novel from Edna O'Brien, 'In the Forest,' I was hooked. Her lush prose is so descriptive that I felt I was being drawn into that dark wood to revisit the scene of one of the most heinous crimes in the Irish Republic in the past twenty years. Between April 29 and May 7, 1994, Brendan O'Donnell, 20, abducted five people and murdered three. The innocent victims, whose bodies were found in shallow graves in Cleggs Woods, were artist Imelda Riney, her 3-year-old son, Liam, and Father Joe Walsh. At the time, the consciousness of the countryside of County Clare, where Ms. O'Brien had grown up, was galvanized in fear of this psychopathic killer. 'They are afraid of him now, the Kinderschreck, one of their own sons come out of their own soil, their own flesh and blood, gone amok.' Mr. O'Donnell was arrested, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment, but, in 1997, he died while in prison from a drug interaction.

Not since reading 'In Cold Blood,' by Truman Capote, have I encountered a book based on a true crime as riveting as this one. This Irish Gothic novel is 'faction'; Ms. O'Brien bases her narrative on factual events around the time of the crime, but she has fictionalized the names and places. The editorial reviews give a good plot synopsis for this novel, so I will focus my remarks elsewhere.

Ms. O'Brien uses the true crime story as a springboard to comment on the Irish experience. Here she handles such hot topics as politics and sexual politics, paganism, priest pedophilia, and child abuse. As Jeanette Winterson stated recently on a BBC panel that discussed this book, '[t]he 20th century has been the century all the ordinary categories have been broken down, between fiction and non-fiction, between the real and the imagined, between autobiography and invention. . . . Edna O'Brien succeeds here perfectly.'

Her style in this novel is what I might call 'Faulkneresque-lite.' About when I would think the prose was becoming too purple for my taste, she seemed to shift into a sparer phrasing. The Gothic style is a perfect match for the story because her descriptions of the forest are so vivid that one feels fear and dread and senses the gloom of this place without light. 'How engulfing the darkness, how useless their tracks in the rust-brown carnage of old dead leaves. Pines and spruces close together, their tall solid trunks like an army going on and on, in unending sequence, furrows of muddy brown water and no birds and no sound other than that of a wind, unceasing, like the sound of a distant sea. But it is not sea, it is Cloosh Wood, and they are being marched through it.'

One approach to reading, 'In the Forest,' would be to look at the forest, woods, and trees - the landscape - as metaphor. Her powerful prose imagery engages the imagination through an association of forests and woods with primordial fears of dark, damp, deep, and devouring places. The pacing of the story is brilliant, and it keeps one turning pages well into the wee hours of the morning. My sole criticism of this stunning book has to do with the ending, which has a bit of a tacked-on feel to it. While there may be an essential Irishness to the need for atonement and repentance, the narrative here seems somewhat contrived. The final passage is a bit of Irish magic, as if to say that the darkness ends here, now come to the light.

'In the Forest' contains an evocative icon: 'the Kinderschreck,' or 'meaning someone of whom small children are afraid.' This image of bogeyman or monster is part of our collective unconscious. It's found in our fairy tales and is sometimes used to scare children into being good. The women in the search party for the victims of 'the Kinderschreck,' Michen O'Kane, said, 'Deep down we believe he has been sent by God, as punishment upon us.'

As many have said, Edna O'Brien is one of the greatest working novelists today. If you've not read any of her books, 'In the Forest' is a good place to begin.

"In the Forest" borders on creative nonfiction. Based on real, gruesome events which took place in one of the western counties of Ireland, the book is a fictionalized account of these events, augmented by equally fictional life story of the protagonist. It's hard to say that Michen O'Kane is a protagonist, really, because the weight of importance is quite substantially dispersed in the novel. Although the events and the backbone of the storyline are central to the narration, I think the author has undertaken quite a different direction in the book; the ultimate accent is put on the setting, the neighborhood, the analysis of circumstances, rather than the usual set of characters, be they major or minor. The author almost never ventures deeply into the character's introspection, which is merely just another block in the mosaic, never dominating the remainder. Despite that fact, "In the Forest" is a fascinating psychological studium of deviation. Having provided the literary account of the slaughter and the paranoia that preceded it, Edna O'Brien wanted to pin down the reasons why at one time in the life of a man, a seemingly unimportant event can change the whole life of this individual, what are the motivations that inevitably push him to the edge of the abyss, and then one step too far, past the point of return, and precisely why there is no point of return, once the mind snaps, once the critical mass of confusion is achieved, and the darkness of madness starts to dominate from that point on.

One might suppose that to provide a fictional background for the shocking, real-life events is quite common and unoriginal, and that the reader might pretty well guess what to expect from the novel of this type. The point is, "In the Forest" is not the novel of any such type, and certainly you will be surprised if you think that "In the Forest" can be categorized using any genre classifications. To pigeonhole a novel of this class is indeed a crime. Short chapters, one by one, introduce us to many viewpoints, where narration styles are blended, perspectives skewed, mixed and exchanged, where exactly when you expect the action to pick up, the flow of the story becomes sublime and poetic, and when you get progressively used to the book being a wonderfully painted portrayal of the Irish country with the unique communities inhabiting them, the flow is brutally intercepted with a sequence of chapters with all accents inverted. Reading this book is a pleasure hardly comparable with anything that may await the reader of contemporary fiction in the new century.

Edna O'Brien is I think one of the greatest living and active novelists of our day. It's quite uncommon for a writer to get better and better over the many long years, usually it's the other way round. Anno Domini 2002, it's no longer enough to say that Edna O'Brien has her own, instantly recognizable style, that her writing is of unmatched class, of sparkling beauty and mesmerizing, poetic narration, where even the unthinkable and devastating shines on like a lone diamond down by the Irish river. An absolutely stunning phenomenon of this writer is that she continues to innovate, to expand the boundaries of the literary world of fiction. After so many years, several highly revered books, the new entries leave us wondering if there is any limit at all. We find ourselves in an awkward situation, where each and every books of Edna rises the threshold of expectations, and yet the next entry surpasses the predecessors and the updated expectations alike. "In the Forest" is pure delight, the exhilarating reading experience, the penultimate dot over i, after which nothing else seems to add anything of interest on the topic.

Into the Forest is a disturbing look into the tortured soul of a man haunted by his past. He, is drawn into deeper evils that suck him ever deeper and deeper, not releasing him - or we readers - till the very last page. Based on a true-life triple homicide in Ireland in 1994, O'Brien's tale takes us into the hunted and haunted mind of O'Kane, the murderer. This story deals with acts of naked violence and is not for the faint of heart. No sunny conclusion, either.

Edna O'Brien, with this novel and "Girl with the Green Eyes," became part of my first trip to Dublin. Despite my motives for perusing charming Irish stories, this novel is anything but lightweight and packs a sobering and disturbing emotional wallop.

This is the story of Mich, demented young man ripe for murder. Ms. O'Brien traces his emotional development and dementia through a precise and evocative outline of his mother's death, the constant abuse from other children and adults at home and later in various institutions, including sexual abuse by a priest as well as physical abuse by guards. By the time he is let out of these institutions he claims that his head "isn't right" and is already a proven criminal. Ms. O'Brien makes it clear that although he is dangerous, he suffers intense emotional turmoil.

This is also a story of a West Ireland country community and several new residents such as a young woman named Eily and her three year old son Maddie. When Mich is let out of prison and returns to the village he stalks Eily and eventually abducts her and her son. The entire community is terrified of Mich but are slow to react and are, as a result, responsible in part for the tragedies which occur. Finally, after the crimes have been committed, panic sets in and Mich is hunted down both by civilians and law enforcers with avidity. This thirst for justice continues throughout his capture and interrogations. Every recounted moment is agonizing and painful from the point of view of both the criminal and the lawmen. Mich is convicted and descends further into his own mental hell. Despite the occasional use of harmless Irish colloquialisms and customs, this story is deeply upsetting.

I like to avoid making conscious references to concrete symbolism in literature but in this case the notion of the forest in the title can't be avoided. It is clear that we are taken into both a physical forest and the "forest" of Mich's mind. If handled clumsily this could become tedious but in this story it's both atmospheric and necessary. In the end, a little boy loses himself in these same woods, in the same place where hell was enacted. He sleeps peacefully in the pine needles. "Magic," Edna O'Brien tells us "follows only the few."

Contrary to first impression, this story is not centered around the gory details of violence committed by the main character, Michen O'Kane. While the brutality of his crimes adds to our understanding of his character (or lack thereof), I feel this book delves deeper, into the intricate relationship between criminal and society. We, as readers, are given a unique vantage point - one we may not be exposed to even in some of today's horror happenings. We see the situation from both perspectives: that of the many victims, and that of the "Kinderschreck" himself.
O'Brien creates eerie suspense with the best of them, though it is not rewarded (like I said, it's not about the gory details). The small, rustic towns of Ireland (complete with authentic gaelic names) in which the story takes place adds to the spookiness, much like in the movie "Fargo". The unsympathetic woods in the backdrop that stand witness to the horror add another dimension to the criminal/society theme that I mentioned before. My only complaint is that the story just tapers off at the end, not really consistent with the rest of the book.

O'Brien's dark jewel of a novel packs a wallop. There are plenty of social explanations for Michan O'Kane's psychotic behavior, but what lingers is our primary experience with his dark desires, his tormenting voices, and his innocent victims. Cloosh Wood may be set in Ireland, but as we read its branches seem to be scraping at the very window. O'Kane's violence seems independent of specific weaponry or motivation - it's a primal force that brushes by us in a crowd and gives us goosebumps or wakes us in the night and sends us downstairs to make sure the children are safe. Forgiveness and understanding are present in this novel, but finally no human characters seem capable of delivering us from evil. We end up simply praying that it passes us by.

In The Forest tells a story of a boy who has gone astray from his flock. The main character who happens to be this stories antagonist reminds me most of a mix between Michael Myers and Amelie, he has a very planed out way in which things should happen much like Amelie, but he does seem to enjoy killing and maiming as only Michael Myers could. Michen O'Kane also known as the kinderschreck (someone small children are afraid of) starts out as mildly insane, like someone preparing for an AP test. However his madness slowly becomes very apperent when the voices in his head begin to tell him to do things. One of this novels most interesting aspects is that it's narration is so diverse. Most of the book is told by good old 3rd person somebody, but every four or so chapters the narration will switch to one of the characters. What this allows for the reader is a much stronger knowledge of what is going on in the story because you not only get the view of the narrator who gives the all encompassing view, but you also get the view of the people the story revolves around. The fear within this town caused by the kinderschreck is truly felt. The only real disappointment I had in this book was what so many of today's stories suffer from, a disease I call authorshavetohaveeverythingokayism. Symptoms of this disease are mainly the villain in the story being shown to be quite evil, and then turning out to regret his actions. Some stories can get away with this like star wars, where Darth Vader ends up saving his son and killing the imbalance in the force. However in In The Forest this "dramatic" turn around doesn't make me feel for the now non-violent character, it makes me want to eat the book. So to finish up my review this book made me hungry . . . uuummmmmm paper (a 4 out 5 on the taste-o-meter).

this is the first Edna O'Brien book I have read, but it will not be the last. Her capacity for finding characters voices, her sensitivity in dealing with subjects and her masterful handling of a brutal story have made me a fan.

She started has based this on a true story, of a psychopathic killer who returned to his homeground in Ireland, killing three locals before he was caught and convicted. How much of this book actually is true I don't know - how many of the characters are real live people whom she is reflecting in the work, and how much is pure fiction would be interesting to know but not necessary.

The strength of this work, for me anyway, was her ability to speak in each chapter from a different character's perspective - the rushed and hurried tones of sympathetic witnesses, to the pitiful and victimised voice of the killer. Although I was aware of the outcome it was still fresh and surprising as the various layers of lies and counter lies were stripped away from the story to reveal the truth.

It is a wonderful and moving novel which I have recommended to several other readers now with all enjoying its compelling story.

"In the Forest," is a novel written by Edna O'Brien in which she takes us through the twisted mind of a psychotic criminal,describing everything and leaving nothing to the imagination. The story has no protagonist to suppress or defend the intrinsic evil of Michen O'Kane, therefore leaving nearly three hundred pages to indulge in the disturbing and misguided crimes he so selflessly committs. However, this is not where the book fails in its attempt to expose the prejudices of society's outlook on the insane. A lack of connection to O'Kane or any other character for that matter, creates a feeling of isolation from truly understanding O'Kane's motives or convictions at any given time. The story tends to drag on, lacking in substance while O'Kane grows more evil with every turn of a page, transforming into an unrecognizanle form of a human being. The greatest failure lies in the pitiful attempt to include a love theme with O'Kane's proclaimed love a stranger named Eily. The plot is tedious and predictably cut short when O'Kane rapes and murders Eily and then murders her child. Referring back to O'Kane losing his mother which he explains at the end of the novel is the reason why he kills the son, to prevent him from living the life he himself has. This is the only part of the book to be grateful for because it prevents the possibility for a sequel.

I'm a voracious, indiscriminate reader who enjoys virtually everything I come across, and I could barely get through this book. I found it difficult to follow and not at all engaging. The story would have been interesting if written in a different style; however, her prose was wandering and vague, and she introduced far too many characters for such a short book. I never got to know any of them, including O'Kane, and ended up feeling nothing but relief when the book finally ended.