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Maureen M. (Springfield, OH)
Hidden Messages
I read this unique tale in just a few days and was eager to get home from work each day to continue reading it. It's a painful piece of historical fiction that reads like a fable and leads the reader to consider important questions about faith;the choices we make and the responsibilities of mankind.
After a childhood of near solitude, the protagonist, Yona, comes face to face with the evils of man and horrors of the Holocaust. Suspense, romance, and mystery unfold as Yona struggles to learn about life outside the forest and her place in it.
Yona was extraordinary. I rooted for her survival, her success to save others and her happiness.
Readers will undoubtedly join Yona's cheering club.
The story is told in such an interesting and unique way. Avid readers should read it for that reason alone. Kristen Harmel has made my list of favorite authors. I'm looking forward to her next book!
Phyllis B. (St. Louis, MO)
The Forest of Vanishing Stars
Being a novice at writing a book review, I feel fortunate to review a book by an author whose works I have read and enjoy. Kristin Harmel's, The Forest of Vanishing Stars, is an historical fiction account of World War II in Poland. The story starts with a baby girl being kidnapped and taken into the forest. She grows up learning forest survival from the old woman. Left alone after the old woman dies, the girl learns why she was taken and how she can help the Jewish people escape the Nazi terrors.
The author's characters express deep emotions as they face many conflicts between good and evil, death and healing, love and hate. I was emotionally drawn into their lives. The writing is filled with creative descriptions and the story flows smoothly. A difficult period in history is covered with truth, insight and compassion. Treat yourself to a beautifully written book.
Kimberly H. (Stamford, CT)
Another WWII book.....
A hard to put down story based on facts about the underground resistance in Poland. I wish I had read the afterword first- I had no idea how much of the novel was based on fact as I was reading it. The bravery of these folks is astounding - a well written, sometimes very emotional book. Worth the read.
Jan_Borstelmann
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
This story starts with a young toddler being stolen in the midst of the night, and who then grows up in the forests of Poland with an older woman who is wise in the ways of the forest and who protects and teaches the girl, Yona.
I have spent a large amount of my life living in forests, and one of the things that struck me is how the author gave credence to the knowing, the intuition, that springs from such time mostly alone and living there. This is huge in this story, as the holocaust is happening and many are fleeing to the forests, not knowing how to survive. This is about Yona, an innocent in the world of people, and her intersection with them during one of the most horrific periods of history. Group dynamics, especially in the case of survival is very tough. And here is where Yona meets and talks to other people for the first time, lives with others for the first time, falls in love, and takes on the responsibility for all of them as they hide in the forest.
The author does very well with the deep thinking and the process that Yona goes through. The different characters and groups, are very vivid and real, as is Yona's deep inner thinking and processing.
This was a non-stopper of a read for me. I really liked it and read it in two sittings holding my attention the whole time. I liked that this story came from the hiding in the forests, and that it mostly stayed there as the central place of the story.
Mary F. (Lewes, DE)
"Survival against the odds"
The perspective of this WWII themed novel is original and well researched with a variety of characters from a range of backgrounds, religious beliefs, and national ideals. The desperation, the spirit and bonding of a group of hunted Jews in a hostile primal forest environment, where the mass of foliage sometimes erases the stars, feels real. The survival experiment is led by Yona, an unusual adolescent female, abducted and raised without family or social ties, who seeks to overcome her personal fears and deal with a series of relationships. Her resilience and leadership instincts lead to a story line with twists and turns which engage the reader. The "Author's Note", at the end of the novel, was the clincher, giving further meaning to a book with diverse themes that will stimulate and enhance discussions of another Kristin Harmel hit.
Maribeth R. (Indianapolis, IN)
A Story of Complex Themes
This beautifully written story by Kristin Harmel was complex. At times it seems almost like a fairy tale as the story unfolds about the main character, Yona, and how she entered into the mysteries of the forest. At other times, I was taken back to the stories of Jean Auel in the Clan of the Cave Bear as characters learned to understand the gifts the forest could give. And though this was another story about WWII, this book does not focus on life and death in the camps. Instead, Harmel reminds us of other brave souls who vanished into the European forests, linking their survival to the trust they placed in others, and to how the will to survive creates extraordinary strength and perseverance. The characters were so powerful that it will be a long time before I forget them. If the book has a failing, I would say that some events are contrived in a way that they are not believable. However, the strength in the story lies in its ability to wrap you in the arms of the trees in the forest, and to once again remind us of the extraordinary bravery exemplified by those who fought to escape the violence of the Nazi regime. Thank you for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.
Stephanie Z. (Mount Pleasant, SC)
Masterful, Immersive Experience of WWII from a New Perspective
I had read and appreciated three earlier books by Kristin Harmel so I was expecting to also enjoy this book. However, The Forest of Vanishing Stars is so, so much more; a more immersive and consuming read, a can't-put-it-down personal discovery story, a primer on survival in the forest, and a totally new take on a strong female protagonist in a time of war. With this new book Kristin has outdone herself from a research perspective. Not only was she required to write convincingly about survival in the Eastern European forests through each season over multiple years, but she also had to cover a vast array of religious, linguistic, historical and self-defense knowledge since Yona, the protagonist, had such a wide and varied education. Kristin also created an interesting group of characters of many ages and backgrounds to give readers a sense of how devastating these times were to the Eastern European people who experienced them. This is a book that asks deep personal questions about what constitutes family, how one defines their own religiosity, and what love and betrayal look like to one who hasn't experienced either previously. I highly recommend this book for readers who enjoy historical fiction, who want to learn more about WWII from a new perspective, and those who enjoy strong female lead characters.
techeditor
Fairy-Tale-Like Beginning, Rest Based on Truth
The beginning of THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS seems like a fairytale. Yona has lived deep in a forest, away from society, since she was 2 years old, when she was stolen from her German parents in the 1920s. The almost magical woman who took Yona brought her up to be well-read and well-prepared with survival skills. She seemed to know ahead of time that Yona would one day need those skills to lead a group of desperate Jews in hiding from the Germans in the 1940s. Even the book's tone sounded to me like Kristin Harmel was telling the story to a youngster. So I thought when I read this fairy-tale-like beginning that I would not like the rest of it.
After the woman who raised Yona dies, she lives by herself in the forest until she encounters a small group of Jews who have escaped the ghetto and come to the forest to hide. But they don't know how to survive in the woods. Yona teaches them. She knows instinctively when they are in danger and need to move. As time goes on, more Jews in hiding join their group. They endure and survive because they have Yona, and, for the first time in her life, she feels like she has family.
The majority of THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS is based on truth. In the 1940s groups of Jews really did hide from German soldiers deep in the forest, they really did use those survival techniques, and they really did endure the hardships and persevere as described in the book. So I thought wrong when I decided too soon that I wasn't going to like it.
Also, be sure to read the "Author's Note" at the end of the story.
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