Customer Reviews

The Light in the Forest

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

Poor Conrad Richter. His literary fate is like that of Steinbeck's shorter works - read by 8th graders. When I mention Richter to my friends they think more of the Newberry than the Pulitzer Prize. Historical novelists are rarely thought of as having written "literature", yet that is what Richter wrote. Like Steinbeck, his style was simple and clear and strong. Like Steinbeck he understood the pain of being human. After reading one of his brief novels - they are often only about 200 pages - I wonder why other writers need so many more words. Richter did not think of himself as an historical novelist. He wrote instead to give a sense of how people experienced time past. Things happen in his novels, but the events are secondary to the perceptions, attitudes and (dare I say?) psychology. "The Light in the Forest" is a wonderful example of his work. Though it is about a teenage boy, it is not the "coming of age" or "rite or passage" story that it is often described as. It is about a person who lives in a world that has gone beyond his control - his life has been wrested from him by national and racial politics. His choices turn him into an American isolato. Very contemporary. The out-of-print and equally good companion novel "A Country of Strangers" pursues the same themes. Only in "Country" the protaganist is a white who has lived with the Indians and been returned to the whites. Like "Light" one of its virtues is to see through other's eyes. I wish I had the space to quote Stone Girl's dissection of Christianity. Maybe someday Richter will get his volume in the Libray of American and all his works will come back in print, including my favorite, "The Free Man".

I was not forced to read this book, like so many of the reviewers here. I was in my grade school library when I spotted the cover- two young, lean, armed Indians with mohawk haircuts walking through an impressionistic forest with a beam of light descending upon them. One Indian was entirely red, the other all white. I read the back cover. It was about a white captive among the Indians. I loved that subject as age ten and the book was my choice from the library that day. I must admit that it was tough going the first time I read it. It was sometimes hard to understand about whom he was referring to when True Son thought about his father and the book did lack action. I also admit that the ending was a let down. I wanted a cut and dried ending with no loose ends and LITF leaves the reader with a huge loose end. At ten years old, this book left me disappointed and confused.

Yet I voluntarily read it again not less than two years later and I fell in love with it the second time. I have since then read it at least once every year and sometimes more. I am 29 now. I cannot adequately describe why this novel still moves me. I can say it is beautifully written and has a truly moving story about a boy caught between two very different worlds. Also Richter's description of the beauty of nature and the way people can see the same facets of nature and of mankind in two completly different ways is incredible. I could go on and on why this novel means so much to me, but I will state simply that it is my all time favorite.

`The Light in The Forest' is a book about a young White boy from 18th century America who was born as a "frontier child" but was then stolen by Indians when very young and brought up as an Indian for ten years. His Indian name is True Son, and his white name is John Butler. When he is about 15 years old, he is forced to go back and live with his real White family. He is devastated because he was brought up to hate the Whites, and now he is being forced to live with them and to practice their culture. At first True Son refuses to comply at all with the Whites and tries to escape. After a while, and after spending much time with the Whites though, it seems that True Son is beginning to accept and become used to their culture, and is starting to lose his Indian ways. It looks as if all of the Indian in him has been run over and destroyed, when one night, he finds his old Indian friend / cousin and escapes with him from the Whites to a long journey back home to his old Indian town. It seems now that all the Indian he left behind has been renewed to him and most of what the whites forced into his head is gone when, with little warning, True Son must make a life-altering decision that will decide his fate, and that will decide what culture he is to live with.

I really enjoyed this book; it showed the conflict between whites and Indians in 18th century America very well. It was filled with action and adventure, and although short, it still developed the characters and the plot so that you had a broad understanding of what kind of decisions this young man had to make, how it must have been like being bounced from culture to culture (especially in that day), and how hard things must have been in general. This understanding of the character is what keeps you reading and keeps you itching to find out where fate will put John Butler/ True Son. I would recommend this book because of these reasons, and because of the way the author attacked the overlying conflict between Whites and Indians: he spoke of it from both the White's and the Indian's sides. Because of this the reader can understand the conflict from both sides, and can not easily pick a side to support, which made things interesting. Lastly, in my opinion, this book is quite unpredictable, and you can't tell how it will complete itself until the very end, which made the book more fun to read. If you enjoy history, and adventure you will probably enjoy this book.

Wow, what a great book. I really don't know what everybody else is talking about, but I thought that this book was great. So great, that in fact, I am now reading it for the 3rd time. I read it once for pleasure, and once in school. I really like history, and maybe that is why I like it so much. I feel that it definetly transports me back to that time, and that region. I live in Philly, and the book takes place not all that far from there. I think that it would be fun to be able to be somebody like True Son. While slightly depressing at times, like when you realize that this was something that ACTUALLY happened to real people, and the tragedy of it all. That somebody has a family that they don't even care about, and that they never really knew them, and their family loves for them. Well, I won't tell you the ending, but it is pretty tragic. All in all, a great book, one of my all time favorites! Well, I am going to go read it now.

This book was one of the best books I read all summer. It had a good plot, interesting characters and realistic history. In this story, a white boy is taken into an Indian family and is raised as an Indian boy. When he is made to live with his real parents, `True Son' wants to keep his Indian habits. Raised as an Indian, True Son has a disdain for all whites; although he seems to take a strange liking to his younger brother. His younger brother seems to like the Indian ways, he wants to learn from his brother. He misses his Indian home and would stop at almost nothing to return back to it.

True Son's cousin Half Arrow is his best friend. Even though Half Arrow is a real Indian, he treats True Son as a real cousin. Half Arrow loves his cousin. He even went into the white territory, where there was a chance that he could be caught and scalped, to free True Son of his white prison.
In True Sons white family everyone treated him fairly well, except for his Uncle. His Uncle was a anti-Indian fanatic. He hated everything that the Indians had taught True Son. True Sons' Uncle told True Son that Indians scalped women and children. True Son did not believe him. After the Indian warriors brought back a child's scalp he finally believed in some thing his uncle had said. Maybe he would have listened to more of what his Uncle said if his Uncle had not killed an Indian brother, and if his uncle had met an unfortunate end at the blade of an axe.

In this time Indians occupied most of the US. The Indians were not happy with the whites, because they were slowly taking more and more land from the Indians. There was a small war between the Indians and the whites, including scalping and many surprise attacks and strange tricks of illusion. In the end True Son is not a real true son to the Indians. By betraying his Indian family he is forced to go on all alone.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I stayed up as late as possible reading this book even over television. I believe people who like absorbing books would really enjoy this book. You really believe that you are living in the era of this book. The book describes the landscape, the living conditions, the clothes so well that you feel that you are there. In this book I believe that through the beginning and middle were very well thought out, but the end seemed less carefully planned. The beginning was very detailed about True Son's life, friends, and family. The detail was excellent. In the end, it seemed more like a `blur' with action and no setting. It went from birds eye view, to a more emotional setting that can occur in any place and in any time period. . If you like serious and interesting books this is a book for you.

This book comes out of the true roots of America's past, a book that stirs something deep in every person's heart, a yearning for freedom, an achingly sweet sadness that doesn't cause tears to gush but makes you feel a little ache inside you for what you have lost- or rather what True Son, the main character, has lost. Everyone has something of True Son in them- his plight: of having the blood of a white... but the heart and mind of an Indian. We all have something of the Indian in us- the love for nature, the love for animals, peace, solitude, and simple ways- which is why this book appeals so much to all of us. Through simple words we come to understand the anguish of True Son, a white boy raised as an Indian, being pulled in two separate directions. It is like any person today, having to make the choice between close friends and blood family. As we read, we feel the injustices done to the Indian, under the spell of True Son's simple dialect and way of speaking. Even the third-person narrative is as if True Son is talking to us. As he says "The Indian and deer would wither and die in such confinement, but the white man flourished in the stale sickly air of his house like fleas in his wall and borers in the cabin logs," we forget that we live in such confinement, and wonder with True Son at the white man's stupidity. You'll either love this book, as I did, or hate it, for there are still many people prejudiced against the Indians and their philosophy of life so far from material things. So if you luxuriate in "that instrument of torture called a bolster" and revel in the joys of material things, then perhaps this book is not for you. The ending on first read-through seems to leave a little to be desired. It's a little bit sad, but after a second consideration you will think that it is the best ending Conrad Richter could have given it. This beautifully written book will truly touch something in your heart and leave you with a wider view of the world, a better understanding and compassion of being torn between two totally different worlds- and which way your mind and heart take you, and which way your blood, heritage, and traditions take you. I definitely recommend this book!

A Light In The Forest centers around a fifteen-year-old boy named True Son, who lived with the Lenni Lenape for eleven years, ever since the Indians had captured him during an attack on a farm. He was adopted by Cuyloga and Quaquenga, a family of the Lenni Lenape, and became one of them.
One day, his village learns that all white prisoners must be returned to their birth families, and his father takes him to the camp of soldiers that will take True Son to Pennsylvania. True Son's experiences in an English town and his desire to return to his village are the storyline of the book. This book is appropriate for eight graders, though the author, Conrad Richter, portrays some scenes almost too vividly. Children who have been in a divorce situation can relate to True Son and his feelings of abandonment. The book does an excellent job of informing readers of how the English and the Indians viewed each other, and gives the reader the unique viewpoint of True Son. For entertainment, the book falls a little short, occasionally losing your attention by attempting to summarize events without going into any detail. Overall, the book is not a bad read, and would be especially enjoyable if you like historic novels from this period.

The Light in the Forest is about a young and strong-hearted boy, True Son, who will fight for his life as an Indian. He is torn between his love for his Indian family and his blood ties with the white men. When he is forced to live with the white people and leave his beloved Indian family it seems as though his whole world is crashing down around him, while he grasps at the small pieces and tries to hold all that is dear to him together. Living with the white people is like tearing his heart out, and his white family watches as it begins to slow for there is no more joy in the world to keep it beating. As the days pass his small body wilts like a flower in the winter that does not have the sun to keep is petals full of life. He could not bear to live as a captive of his own life, his wild spirit suffocating. This book uses great detail in expressing the character's feeling and I felt as though I were there, feeling True Son's pain, understanding how each breath he took was like sucking poison into his lungs. As I finished the story the ending troubled me at first. Then I read it again and realized it was a fitting ending. I now understand why the author ended the book this way. The author is simply laying down the truth. Conrad Richter didn't write what the reader wanted to hear; he wrote the truth about the course of life no matter how harsh and bitter it sounded. Life does not always end up how you want it to; you have to play the hand you're dealt. I recommend this book because it really gives you a different outlook on life.

Author Conrad Richter presents a paradox rich with American tradition, values, and beauty. The characters are archetypes of forgotten cultures and the events are ethereal visions of the past. Still Richter weaves this tale with vivid details that captivate readers through generations.

True Son, the kidnapped child of a pionneer family, is raised by Cuyloga and his Lenni Lenape tribe of Indians. Richter places True Son in a difficult situation when he is returned to his white family as part of a peace treaty. But 12 years of resentment, natural freedom, and purity in purpose and life have turned True Son against the society he was born to.

Slowly he learns the ways of his white family and is slightly bent by their ways. But his heart and mind never leave his family of the forest. Then one day, opportunity affords him the way home. His return to his native bretheren is bittersweet as he realizes his values.

Richter's writing is colorful and detailed. He uses an omnipotent voice and laces it with Native American vocabulary. The reader sees the world through the eyes of True Son. Colors, movements, lands, skies, animals, and trees have a renewed value and slowly the reader learns to appreciate these things, long abused by white society.

I enjoyed reading these descriptions and hearing them from an Indian voice. Still the bittersweet ending is hard to swallow, like a chalky stone that has been dried on a barren road. The history, conflict and traditions revealed here are everlasting. Readers will contemplate the role life plays and the strange twist of fate we each must face.

Okay, first of all, people like MeeMoo who think historical fiction is boring, shouldn't read or report on it. I don't report on video games, which I think are stupid, so why is MeeMoo on my turf? Secondly, teachers should not force kids to read & report on literature written for adults - it's not fair to the kids, who are not developmentally or intellectually ready for this kind of novel, and it's not fair to the novel. So teachers, get your acts together!

This is NOT juvenile literature.

Conrad Richter's prose is subtle, lovely, sensual, and deeply moving. The storytelling draws the reader into the experiences of the characters. And this experience, the returning of white captives to their birth homes, even though many of them considered themselves Indian and didn't want to go "home", is a particularly poignant event in American history. In The Light in the Forest, Richter explores the heart and mind of a young man faced with an emotionally wrenching task - when the people and culture he has known and loved and called home since he was a tiny child are forced to literally abandon him, he must attempt to become a member of an alien and hostile group of people - his own family.

This book was way ahead of its time - and is better than much current historical fiction. Conrad Richter meticulously researched his subject, made generous use of Native American philosophy & language, and allows the characters' different points of view to flow freely through the story.

If you enjoy good writing, if you enjoy historical fiction, if you are especially interested in American history, I highly recommend this book to you.