I picked this up because I loved [b:Snow Falling on Cedars|77142|Snow Falling on Cedars|David Guterson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479863528l/77142._SY75_.jpg|1677615]. It was quite a bit of a let down compared to "Snow", but I liked it OK. Mainly because I was interested in people who claim to have had visions of Mary. It's a very strange book that kept me wondering what Guterson was trying to do. The absence of quotation marks certainly didn't help the reading experience. What is that all about?! I threw out a Cormac McCarthy book for that reason. ( )

Set in the once prosperous forestry area of North Fork in damp north-west America, this novel is about places that are down on their heel and the people who live there. Ann, who has the visions of the Virgin Mary, has been abused and run away from home as a young teenager. Carolyn is staying on the North Fork campsite and, like Ann, collecting mushrooms for cash, has a campervan, wants to go south for the winter and is sceptical of visions. The local vicar is newly appointed and disappointed with the damp parish he has been sent to. He longs for a church that doesn't smell of damp and is troubled by sexual fantasies in his static caravan home. Tom is also troubled. A former forestry worker, he now works in North Fork's main employer, the prison. He is separated from his family following an accident that left his son paralysed. The constant in this novel is the rain and the deep, green and damp forest. I found there was too much theology in the second half of this novel, once the investigating priest has arrived to authenticate or not Ann's visions. Thousands of people turn up to see Ann and hope for miracles and North Fork's fortunes are suddenly reversed. Is the message about religion and capitalism? Without some of the discussion about religion this would have been a more satisfying read for me as the story is excellent and the characters well drawn and there are funny moments. ( )

Magical and real at the same time. ( )

Very disappointing and quickly abandoned. I have loved reading Guterson's [b:Snow Falling on Cedars|77142|Snow Falling on Cedars|David Guterson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388288939s/77142.jpg|1677615] and [b:East of the Mountains|50993|East of the Mountains|David Guterson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389223609s/50993.jpg|35700], so this was a surprise for me. I had to read the blurb on the back to convince myself that I hadn't gotten him confused with someone else in picking up this book. I read enough to know I didn't want to read anymore, though. ( )

The story of a young homeless girl, Ann, who eeks out an existence by hunting mushrooms in the forest where she supposedly sees the Virgin Mary who tells her to build a church on that spot. Ann, tells the young priest in the community who isn't sure whether or not to believe her. Her "friend" in the camp is Carolyn, a cynical woman bent on making the most of this phenomena.

There is a lot of Catholic imagery and the selling of Catholic trinkets. Sometimes interesting, sometimes dragging. A bit of a stretch.

Read this because I loved "Snow Falling on Cedars" ( )