Rachel Reviews: Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson

What to believe?

I think that this is essentially the message contained in David Guterson's book. It seems, on first approach, to be about a visionary who in many ways is lost, but receives affirmation of her purpose in life by seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary in a forest. Ann is the person who experiences the vision, a homeless girl who seeks chanterelles in the wood near to the campsite where she lives. She does this for money, gathering and selling mushrooms, having run away from home and having to survive.

But when Ann insists that a church is built on the site where she experienced her vision, she becomes a beacon for those seeking proof of faith and God's presence. Ann is the only person who can see the Virgin when she appears and so the question remains: what to believe?

You see, Ann is not pure and so the idea of her having been chosen is something which comes under question by the Church, who are sent to try and prove the validity of Ann's claims. As word gets out of Ann's miraculous meeting, people come to be close to the place and maybe see the Virgin for themselves and soon, North Fork, the closest town, is overrun.

And then you have her volunteered proponent, Carolyn who lives in a tent close to Ann and smelling money, takes her under her wing. Is Ann on a mission to make money out of unsuspecting Christians? Are her visions the product of too many magic mushrooms?

Guterson doesn't tell you one way or the other if Ann is legitimate or not. It's up to you to make up your mind, just like all of those around Ann who are exposed to her acclamations: Father Collins, who finds Ann strangely alluring; Tom Cross, a former logger, who is looking for forgiveness and a lighter path away from his past; the mum who wants to know what's happened to her dead daughter.

Is the manifestation just a product of a sick (as in fevered) mind or is Mother Mary using Ann as a conduit through which to shine hope?

This was a thoughtful book which left me thinking about how much we want to believe in God and miracles and how easy this is to exploit if allowed. It also spoke to the part of me that wants to believe in a world where God resides but shows how evidence of His benevolence is scant. One thing that I will comment on as a stylistic feature of Guterson's writing, which prickled me a little, is the lack of speech marks, which may have been aimed at providing a fluidity to the narrative but to me, made it feel less structured and ultimately, annoying. However, it didn't spoil my sense of the action or plot of the book.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (but closer to 3)