Rating: 
Summary: Lost in The Forest
Review: "The Forest" offers the reader bulk without satisfaction. Like Michener's before him, Rutherfurd's books have become formulaic. His technique is to string a series short tales upon the thread of the history of a common locus -- in this case the "New Forest" in SW England. Perhaps because we are familiar with the formula, it becomes easier to be critical of the components. His tracing of certain physical and intellectual chracter- istics down through the generations of the families that figure in "The Forest" stikes me as clumsier and more objectionable than when he did the same thing in "Sarum" or "London". Must the Grockletons forever be claw-handed and clench-minded and the Prides always fast-walking, fairminded and upstanding? It beggars belief. The gentry seems to play a more central roll -- or is it just a more boring roll? -- in "The Forest" than in earlier Rutherfurd books. In the "Albion Park" story we are asked to believe that a wealthy young gentlewomen in Georgian Bath would be brought to trial for stealing a piece of lace and worry that she will be transported because she is too lovelorn to defend herself. As that story ends, the aristocratic, remote, intellecutal man she has married rises in the night and pens a "confession" to her. We learn at the end of the book that it was only a love letter. Maybe the Brontes could have carried it off, but Rutherfurd can't. I also found Rutherfurd's coy toying with the theme of witchcraft in the New Forest uninformed. At time of the Conquest, where the book begins, many of the inhabitants of the New Forest probably belonged to pre-Christian religions. In Rutherurd's forest you are either a christian or a witch.
Rating: 
Summary: The place of my childhood came alive.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed The Forest by Edward Rutherford. I was born and raised in Southampton and as children we hiked the paths, rode our bicycles and picnicked in the New Forest. My grandparents lived in Pennington and now my parents live in Lymington and my youngest brother in Hale. The authors descriptions of the places came alive in my mind as I read. It was a happy read back to the origins of my childhood trips. Also a wonderful historical and fictional account of the people and background of The New Forest.
Rating: 
Summary: a good summer read
Review: If you want a good summer read by all means pick up Edward Rutherfurd's the Forest. It is by no means a heavy read but a solid enjoyable romp through history. There are loads of details, lots of twists and enough interesting characters to keep you moving along at a brisk pace.
Rating: 
Summary: The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. I enjoyed Sarum a little more because I thought he got you closer to the characters. The history was extended back further in Sarum, also. This book however was very interesting from the point of view of each time that the people lived. I enjoyed hearing about their customs and their class structure. It was fun to see how they managed their daily lives too.It could almost be a survival manual. They hung the meat in the chimney to keep the flies off of it. How neat. I do hope that he has another book in the works since I can't wait...
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I very much enjoyed Sarum and London and looked forward to reading The Forest, but I was disappointed. The book is eight or nine loosely connected short stories. There's no overall page-turning plot, and Mother Nature seems to get more ink than the characters. I gave up midway through and moved on to better reading.
Rating:
Summary: Nice short stories, light reading
Review: Like his other books, I enjoy the first few stories immensely, but I get restless with the leaps between centuries. I'm always wishing for more about the early characters. Because he writes this way I have trouble seeing this book and the others as "epic", because there is a lack of continuity between characters and stories. Sure, we know they're related and living in the same area but I see no grand theme, epic events or larger movements at work just because of that. I highly recommend this book for Rutherford fans, I actually enjoyed this more than London. Others might be aware that this book seems to skim the surface of the New Forest rather than plunge deep into its history, ecology and people.
Rating:
Summary: Making history great fun!
Review: Having read "Russka," "London," and "Sarum" and enjoyed them all, I was eager to read "The Forest"--and I wasn't disappointed, overall. Some people might complain that the New Forest area of England is hardly worthy of such a long novel, but Rutherfurd's interest in and portrayal of the "small people" of the forest make fascinating reading. In fact, I'd have much preferred more about the forest dwellers and somewhat less about the "society types" who dominate so much of the book. Give me more Puckle and Seagull any day! Even so, the book is well worth the time for anyone who has ever entertained an interest in England and English history. Rutherfurd's literary strength lies in his wonderful descriptions of the natural world in which his characters move and I often found myself rereading paragraphs in order to soak in that description. As for his characters, I enjoyed them, but the copy I read would have benefitted from a family tree similar to the one found in "London," although Rutherfurd throws in enough physical similarities and references to ancestors to help his readers keep the characters quite distinct. I also have a couple of nitpicks about the book. In one spot, the owl is said to be able to turn its head 360 degrees, which is incorrect. Also, the mark of the arrow in the Rufus tree is said to have grown higher with the passing decades. This also is incorrect, as trees grow from the ends of the branches out and a mark in the trunk never gets any higher. These are quibbles with a wonderfully readable story which I am otherwise happy to recommend.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been better
Review: I like this sort of really big book with lots of historical flavor, but of all Rutherfords books only "Russka" was worse. Both "London" and "Sarum" started much earlier in time and this gave the books a more satisfying sense of time and continuity. The different types and classes of people are well covered and interesting. It is not possible in a book like this to give each story a lot of depth but that is to be expected. Still I wish they had been less predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent epic ...
Review: ... in the style of London and Sarum. Will begin reading Russka later this summer. I write this review in the hope that the author will read this. Being somewhat of a Francophile, I hope one of his next efforts might be centered somewhere in France, perhaps Paris or an alternative region.
Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: Wonderful stories that can be read separately but which paint a beautiful picture of life in the various periods of the forest. Rutherford must keep writing as he is getting better with each book.
| 
