YA or STFU

The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan

Ryan, Carrie (2009).  The forest of hands and teeth.  NY:  Delacorte.  308 pages.

Deep in a forest inhabited by zombie-like creatures–beings known as the Unconsecrated who have risen from the dead and who hunger for human flesh–Mary and her family live in uneasy peace in a fenced Village patrolled by Guardians and administered by the Sisterhood.  After her mother is infected by one of the Unconsecrated, Mary’s brother rejects her and sends her to live in the convent maintained by the Sisterhood where Mary’s desire to understand her village’s history and its relationship to the outside world (if, indeed, there is an outside world) conflicts with the vows the sisters want her to take.

A mixture of The Giver and 28 Days Later, Carrie Ryan’s first novel is both relentless and mysterious.  Ryan provides few details of the Unconsecrated, alluding to their historical appearance and humanity’s attempts at fending them off, but never providing us with a complete and detailed history.  We are left to piece this together as Mary does when she and a small band of villagers leave the Village following a security breach.  This is where the action really starts to rise and where the pace of the novel becomes more action-packed; however, as the adventure heightens, the believability of the narrative (which, oddly enough, seems believable) starts to stretch a bit.  I found the ending, in particular, to be a bit of a stretch, though it didn’t necessarily ruin the novel for me.

While I admit that my comparison of The Forest of Hands and Teeth to The Giver is a bit in jest, I can say that a stronger comparison might be to Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now.  Though Ryan’s narrative is not as subtle as Rosoff’s, the survival and romance elements in both novels are comparable.  As Ryan’s book draws to a close, I do get a sense that the author is hammering in what seems to be her major point–that a romantic relationship cannot necessarily compensate for the knowledge and freedom for which Mary thirsts–and this, particularly in the last five or six chapters, definitely detracts from the climax and brief resolution.

A final postscript:  The jacket info and author bio on the hard copy I checked out of the library refers to a dedicated website–www.theforestofhandsandteeth.com–that I was interested to visit.  Just now, when I typed the URL into my browser, I was re-directed to the “Teens @ Random” web page, and not even to the page advertising Ryan’s novel.  Thanks a lot, Random House.