"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan Official Discussion

[Tenley Nadine]

Blurbing book club book from May 14th 2010 - June 18th 2010. 

EDIT: I've just posted the blog with top three regular and lol-cat blurbs. You have a week (until the June 25th) to vote. You can find the blog here.  

Here's a few things you should probably do: 

1. Read the book (obviously). 

2. Come back to this forum and leave your thoughts about the book. You can write a sentence, you can write an essay, it doesn't matter, whatever you want. 

3. Blurb the book. 

Some of you may not know what a blurb is so allow me to explain: A blurb is a sentence of 10 words or less, that sums up the book in question. If you want an example, look on the back (occasionally the front) of some books lying around your house. Those are blurbs. 

Keep in mind that you can also compose lol-cat blurbs if you'd like (the same thing but with internet slang). 

[Stefanie Maier]

This book was creepy and intriguing. I couldn't help but hope that the book would be longer than it was, because I wanted a happy ending. I realized that it wasn't going to happen when I was just pages away from the end of the book. It was a depressing realization.

Blurb: Everyone you've come to love will die at your own hands.

[Nicole Lauren]

I nearly picked this book up a few weeks prior to actually buying it, but eventually chose against spending money on a hardcover book that I hadn't even checked out before. When I saw it in paperback, I thought I'd try it out... and it was decent. I'll admit I like postapocalyptic stories, but preferrably ones with happier outlooks by the end, or at least a complete and thorough ending. I thought Mary was realistic... and sided with her a bit about the whole insanity of her village, but she did come across more selfish than necessary. I thought the whole "romance" was a bit tried and lacking in regards to the hopelessness of the situation.

BUT, I did think the writing was solid. In regards to the postapocalyptic genre, this book reminded me of two other good books - The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. One ended on a happier note, relative to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and wrapped up the story nicely (instead of either leaving all of the other characters behind and/or having them die), which is something that I loved. That book with the nice end being The Maze Runner, and the other Life as We Knew It. Now Pfeffer's book did end with some hope, but it still left a taste of sadness - and not the nice sadness you get from reading chapter 34 in the seventh Harry Potter book. It was more or less a sadness from a lack of faith in humanity and hopelessness, but I even enjoyed it more than TFHT.

Anyway, it was ok, but not really a story I enjoyed and probably won't be rereading. It had nice writing and was very realistic as far as human reactions go.

I just wish it was a bit less depressing, or at least made me really think about society or something while it loaded up on the sadness? And that I knew what happened to the rest of the characters.

/end rant

[Jessica Lopez]

I absolutely loved this book. I read it a few months back, i loved how it kept me on the edge of my seat and made me not want to put the book down, like good books should. I just wish that in the book it offered more information about the origin of The Unconsecrated, but the author covered it well since little information was available to Mary and her village. I had a love-hate relationship with her... I liked her, but it annoyed me with her whole guy situation. Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought it was well written and I dont think i would mind if the story continued.

blurb- awesome, I would read it again.

[Sky Walker]

reading it right now and LOVING it! didn't kno so many people actually liked this book

[Kyle]

I Just got finished reading this book yesterday. I really enjoyed it. It had a good story and kept me at the edge of my seat. Although one thing I didnt like about the book was the Narrator. She got on my nerves and she was also very selfish. Other than that it was a great read. I cant wait to read the sequel.

[DannielleD]

I devoured this book in the middle of a snow storm, with no electricity or heat, and with my L4 disk pinching off my lower spinal cord and causing excruciating pain and ceaseless muscle spasms. This book made that week of hell worth it.

blurb: The Village meets Left 4 Dead, Nathaniel Hawthorne style.

[Sarah]

I thought this book was amazing. As far as zombie books go, I haven't read many but thought Carrie Ryan did a great job. I know all the general, cliches that are attached to a lot of zombie stories and this one didn't have them. It wasn't smothered with a blanket of things that had already been done or that have been see a million times. I've seen in some of the comments that some readers didn't know the Unconsecrated were zombies and I think that's another thing that Ryan did; she made a new creature. The images she created made me fear for the darkness and be thankful for the light. It made me think of how easily it would be for a dystopian society to take hold of the way we  live now.  It's a great read; and I highly recommend it.

 

"When death surrounds you, who can truly live?"

[Alyssa Key]

This book really captivated me. The idea of a forest with "zombies" or zomie-like creatures is pretty cool, if not creepy. I read it a while ago, and kinda remember it, but I remember really liking it. I also love books about the utopia/distopia theme where there's a secret society that rules the people "knowing" what's best.

 

Now that I read this blog, it makes me want to read it again...

[kk :)]

This book CREEPED me out.  But i couldn't stop reading it, since it was so compelling! The main character annoyed me. She was really selfish.

 

[Teresa]

All I can say is this: the zombie baby scene was one of the most haunting things I've read, certainly in YA lit. Other than that, I generally loved the off-kilter feel of the entire book.