In the Forest

Edna O'Brien's In the Forest is a fictionalization of the murder of a young child and his mother in Ireland by a very disturbed young man. Apparently, the book created a huge furore at the time as the crime was very well-covered in the press. I came to read it because it is on the "1001 Books to Read Before You Die" list.

O'Brien has created a tale of a dysfunctional, sociopathic young man, Michen O'Kane, who is institutionalized at an early age. His behaviour deteriorates regardless of what treatment he receives and he eventually escapes to plague his home county with destructive jaunts of madness. He meets outsider, Eily, who lives with her son, Mattie, and they become a touchstone of normal relationship for him, and eventually get swept into his whirlwind.

I really enjoyed the upward swing of this book - the travels with Michen as he grew into a cracked young man. I didn't really bond with Eily, which made it hard to keep reading as enthusiastically. Also, I found it very hard to pick Mattie's age, which meant he was very ghost-like for me. I don't think he was consistent as a character, which made scenes with Eily jar, and made her less believable as well.

This novel is really dark in timbre, but not particularly gruesome. I love that a book can be so emotionally disturbing, without containing shocking descriptions. Instead, the mood of the novel and explanation of events is built of the emotions of the villagers. O'Kane was not bluntly shown to be evil, but a sense of dread was built around him by the fear of others. (People will probably disagree with this, as he did do some pretty awful things)

This is one of the 1001 books that I enjoyed, although it certainly left me disturbed. In some sense, the unreality of Michen's thought processes distances it from my life. Although I know that people can be insane (in fact, I've met some of them), the foreignness of his thoughts prevents him from invading my life. This book didn't keep me up at night. However, it is a lot more than the "social-worker" justification of murder that I thought it would be. Even despite the glitch with Mattie's character, definitely worth reading.

Dr Christine (Cris) Cuthbertson (DrCris)

Cris is a medical doctor in Melbourne, Australia. She has had numerous scientific articles published, and writes regualrly for three blogs. She is keen to enable patients to access better healthcare by sharing her inside knowledge of the industry.


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