A new favorite book (I have more than one already)

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

My review

If you are looking for a review that is more about the plot and characters, you'll have to look elsewhere. However, these are my thoughts on my experience of reading this book:



This is now one of my favorite books. It was amazing. There are several reasons I loved this book but there is one that explains all the others - somehow I really identified with the protagonists even though on the surface I am nothing like her. However, I must have found something in her to identify with because I actually cried while reading this book. Twice! The really horrific things that happened to Sorcha (the heroine of the story) were so real when I was reading I couldn't help crying for her. Then at the end, I cried for a very different reason but I won't say why exactly because it would give things away.



Crying at the movies is something people admit to a lot. Crying while reading books I think is less common. This is only the 2nd book I can remember that made me cry. The other one was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, about the Holocaust. I think the mood one is in makes a big different to how one reacts to a story but even so, the story must be told well enough for the reader to identify so strongly.



The other way I know I identified with Sorcha has to do with talking. In order to break an evil enchantment placed on her brothers, she is not allowed to speak or explain why she is not speaking in any way until she is finished with a task set out for her. Therefore all her dialogue for most of the book is in terms of descriptive gestures or thoughts she can communicate with a few of her brothers without speaking. The story is also told in 1st person which makes her silence fascinating since the reader knows everything she wants to say but can't say. As I was reading on Saturday, I was startled when I had to say something to my roommate or if she said anything to me throughout the day. It was as if I was thinking "Don't talk! Everything will be ruined if we talk!"



This book was one that I wanted to never end but at the same time I really wanted to finish it so I could make sure everything turned out okay! When I took it back to the library tonight I almost didn't put it in the book drop, thinking I may want to read parts again. However, I let it go because I do recognize that I have a strong, probably abnormal attachment to books and reading... That attachment, though, is what makes me love reading so much. I have plenty of friends in real life but books are the only friends I can really "hang out" with when I am feeling introverted, if that makes any sense to anyone but me. I can read a book alone and feel completely renewed, the way that extroverts can gain energy from socializing. Reading gives me the energy to really enjoy my extroverted social times. This book is a perfect example because I had a wonderful weekend reading alone but when I went out with friends tonight, I felt more free and willing to socialize than I have in a long time. Maybe I just needed to have a good book to talk about ;)




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