Embedded Files
Ryan, C. (2009). The forest of hands and teeth. New York: Delacorte Press.
Author website: Ryan, C. (2010). Carrie Ryan. Retrieved from http://www.carrieryan.com/
Author Info: Carrie Ryan grew up in South Carolina and went to college in Massachusetts but moved to Virginia because it was warmer. She wanted to write chick lit but didn't have the city experience. She decided to go to law school and that is where she met her fiancé JP. He introduced her to the world of zombies and encouraged her to write what she loved. The Forest of Hands and Feet is her first novel and she was nervous that nobody would want to buy a zombie book. Her and her fiancé had discussed the world in which a village existed after the zombie apocalypse and she decided to make that world into a book.
Review One: Kraus, d. (2009, January 1). [Review of the book The forest of hands and feet]. Booklist.
Mary lives in a small village in the middle of the forest governed by the religious Sisterhood and bordered with a fence to keep out the Unconsecrated a horde of the undead unleashed many generations ago by a mysterious and cataclysmic event. Life is simple but preordained; Mary fears her betrothal to a man she doesn't love almost as much as the hungry jaws slavering at the fence links. Under the colonial trappings, this is a full-blooded zombie thriller, reminiscent of the paragon of the genre, George Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Soon Mary and a small band of desperate survivors are thrown together to outwit the undead and work through their own weaknesses, suspicions, and jealousies. Ryan's vision is bleak but not overly gory; her entry in the zombie canon stands out for how well she integrates romance with flesh-eating. The plot loses a little wind near the conclusion, but Ryan's ability to write a nail-biting escape scene will keep most readers riveted.
Review Two: Banna, D. (2009, May 1). [Review of the book The forest of hands and teeth]. School Library Journal.
Mary knows little about the past and why the world now contains two types of people: those in her village and the undead outside the fence, who prey upon the flesh of the living. The Sisters protect their village and provide for the continuance of the human race. After her mother is bitten and joins the Unconsecrated, Mary is sent to the Sisters to be prepared for marriage to her friend Harry. But then the fences are breached and the life she has known is gone forever. Mary; Harry; Travis, whom Mary loves but who is betrothed to her best friend; her brother and his wife; and an orphaned boy set out into the unknown to search for safety, answers to their questions, and a reason to go on living. In this sci-fi/horror novel, the suspense that Ryan has created from the very first page on entices and tempts readers so that putting the book down is not an option. The author skillfully conceals and reveals just enough information to pique curiosity while also maintaining an atmosphere of creepiness that is expected in a zombie story. Some of the descriptions of death and mutilation of both the Unconsecrated and the living are graphic. The story is riveting, even though it leaves a lot of questions to be explained in the sequel.
Discussion Questions:
1. Predict what happened to Harry, Cass, and Jacob.
2. Describe the following characters in only two words: Mary, Harry, Travis, Sister Tabitha.
Quote:
pg. 175 "Because I do not accept the hand of God; I do not believe in divine intervention or predestination. I cannot believe that our parths are pre-chosen and that our lives have no will. That there is no such thing as choice."
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