The Forest of Hands and Teeth--review and commentary

I bought and finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan in the past three days. I brushed my teeth with this book, watched TV with this book, sat in the car with this book, went to an amusement park with this book, and yes, went to the bathroom with this book (oh, like you don't do it too!). I really couldn't put it down. Zombies, crazy nuns, blood, apocalypse, love triangles, dead parents-- what more can a girl ask for? Not too much.

What I liked so much about this book was that it was original and covered new territory? Ryan wasn't afraid to go places and I appreciated that. This book has actual jaw-dropped, eye-popping, breath-catching moments. Ryan didn't play by the rules, and I dug it. The book was flawlessly written in present tense that I didn't find at all awkward as time went on. I'm very pro-past tense so this was really nice to see. Present tense tends to take me out of the scene for some reason but that didn't happen at all. Even my family having a party couldn't take me out of this book!

It made the book more enjoyable and made it easier to ignore the issues I had. Things like the repetitiveness of the first 100 pages and how the first 100 pages felt like an almost entirely different book. Now that I am writing more I'm noticing that I am a pickier reader. FHT is a debut book so it's not perfect, and I'm okay with that. The repetition of certain details made me feel like I was stupid, but after about 100-125 pages that was done. I saw sections of prose that would have fit better in different places. I felt like the themes of the book were put across a bit too strongly; things like Mary's relationship with God and the fairness and maturity of all the characters. I think it could have been put across more gracefully. But, once again, after about 125 pages that was done.

Of course, these things don't make it a bad book. Is FHT in my top ten, probably not. Maybe apocalypse top ten books. These things made me realize that perhaps, as a writer and avid reader, I'm starting to learn a thing of two and that makes me happy.