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Title: The Sunflower Forest by Torey L. Hayden ISBN: 0-380-69922-2 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: August, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Deeply moving story
Comment: As someone who has read the nonfiction work of Torey Hayden with enthusiasm, I was surprised to come accross this gem of a book in a second hand bookshop.
Although not a quick read, each chapter makes you think and review the lives of the characters in the story, and their place within their own family. Through Hayden's descriptive and detailed storytelling, you see how difficult it is for a family to cope with events in their past, such as living through the Holocaust and the horrific effect of past World Wars on parents. You also see how a family learns to pull together after a saddening event.
I enjoyed this harrowing, deeply moving, well-told story of a family learning to live with their past in 1970's USA. It made me reflect on my own position and responsibilities within my own family situation.
Rating: 3
Summary: Trying to Forget
Comment: Trying to Forget
Mara's death, caused by her phobia, which developed during the Holocaust, depresses her family. Mara, the sole survivor of her family during the Holocaust, loses her son, Klaus, and vows to reunite with him. Thirty years later, Mara's husband and two daughters, Leslie and Megan, worry about Mara's sporadic change of mood; One day Mara is full of joy, whereas the next day she may be in a state of depression. Hayden, the author, writes how Mara got an idea that Toby Waterman, a boy from her hometown in Kansas, is her son; she thought he was her little Klaus. Mara's family struggled to convince Mara, the little boy, Toby, was just another kid and the real Klaus was in his early thirties. Mara's family continually grieves Mara's emotional condition, and the reader experiences the family's mood at Mara's sudden outbursts. Not only did the Holocaust affect the life of the people in the war, the Holocaust also affects our lives.
Despite her family's continuous attempts to halt Mara from meeting Toby, she invites herself over to the Waterman's. Her visit forces Leslie to leave school and pick her mother up. The second time, Mara trespasses into the Watermans' property; they threaten to press charges unless Mara agrees to see a psychologist. The psychological help apparently fails due to the fact that Mara revisits the Watermans and murders both Toby and his parents. The police shoot Mara two times since she still has her gun in her hands. Hospitalized, Mara quickly recuperates, but to everyone's surprise she dies. The dialogue and deep description let the reader feel what Mara's family is going through during the duration of her death. Mara's family becomes the headlines of mass media; they soon learn to ignore the stares and gestures pertaining to Mara. Although Mara continuously got her self into trouble, the family mourns, not knowing how to recover from the tragedy. Leslie desires to learn more about their mother's past in Wales along with the significance of the cottage in "Forest of Sunflowers" and becomes increasingly irritated when she realizes the real name is "Forest of Wolves." Although, the name of the cottage seems insignificant, to Leslie the names symbolize her mother's delight. When Leslie soon apprehends that Mara lied about the fields of sunflowers growing by the cottage because she wants to believe sunflowers were everywhere. Upon her arrival, Leslie finds her father and Megan to have returned to daily life, whereas she who left Kansas to forget about her mother still has numb feelings. Life comes to show we cannot run away from unwanted memories, until we voluntarily free ourselves from them. I advise dedicated readers to read The Sunflower Forest; although the book starts off slow the ending is really dramatic.
Rating: 4
Summary: Wow.
Comment: This book pulls you in with it's interesting, unique characters and doesn't let go. The story is powerful and just when you think you've been hit with the last shocking element or tragedy, another comes along to take your further into the journey. I found The Sunflower Forest a bit overwhelming upon first read but I have read it several times since and always take a little more away from it each time. Excellent. It's too bad it is out of print - it seems to be an "underground" favorite and publishers should take note of that. (my copy is second-hand and I feel lucky to have it.)
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Title: The Very Worst Thing by Torey Hayden ISBN: 0060297921 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 27 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: Just Another Kid by Torey Hayden ISBN: 0380705648 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 03 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Beautiful Child by Torey Hayden ISBN: 0060508876 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: The Tiger's Child by Torey Hayden ISBN: 0380725444 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Murphy's Boy by Torey Hayden ISBN: 0380652277 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 December, 1983 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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