Let's Bust a Recap : Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Okay, buckle up, Buttercups, because we're in for a rough ride with this one, and I'm just going to issue a spoiler warning right out of the gate because I'm sure we won't make it through this post without me spoiling something. Where the Forest Meets the Stars was a Christmas gift. I had never even heard of this book so it fit neatly into the "book given to you that you didn't ask for" category in The Unread Shelf's 2021 Unread Book Bingo. One of my best friends gave me this book and claimed it as a favorite and we generally have very similar taste so I actually went into this one looking forward to it. But man oh man was I in for a major letdown. 

When a battered little girl shows up (in the middle of nowhere, I might add) claiming to be an alien, Joanna Teale has to figure out what to do with her. Jo, an ornithologist and recent survivor of breast cancer, has been working on her graduate research of indigo bunting nests in rural Illinois, determined to prove all her recent hardships haven't broken her. Enlisting the help of nearby neighbor Gabe Nash, the three somehow become a family, but as time marches on, they have some difficult choices to make.

First of all, let me say that as much as I disliked this book, I had a hard time putting it down. While the writing wasn't great, the story was compelling, and I had a definite desire to learn how it all was going to shake out. I really didn't know whether to believe if Ursa was an alien or not and finding out kept me reading.

But (and that is an intentionally large "but") this book required me to suspend my disbelief to a degree that was ultimately unpalatable. I'll be the first person to admit that I love a happy ending, but after slogging through a book delving into the topics of parental deaths, breast cancer, major family dysfunction, traumatic child abuse, mental illness, and police crisis interventions; for every single character to come away with a sugary sweet ending wrapped in a sparkly bow was actually offensive. Our main character Jo became increasingly unlikable, unbelievable, and also the perpetrator of downright harmful ideology. Her treatment of Gabe's dysfunctional family dynamic and his lived experience was disturbing, to say the least. She is selfish, entitled, and manipulative, and I'm not sure how the author even expected us to like her. Gabe, after struggling for years with depression and agoraphobia, snaps out of it with a peppy good attitude (don't get me started). And Ursa, who has been traumatized to a paralyzing degree, functions throughout the book like a happy, well-adjusted child which makes the alien angle a whole heck of a lot more believable than the "reality" we're fed at the end of this novel. And I don't even want to get into the unrealistic portrait this narrative paints of foster care and social services.

Published in 2019, this is Glendy Vanderah's debut novel, and in writing this post I discovered that her second novel came out earlier this year. But, needless to say, I won't be reading anything else by her. Especially coming off the high of reading Where the Crawdads Sing which I would categorize in the same genre, Where the Forest Meets the Stars was a particularly unpleasant experience. The ugliness in this book by far outweighed any good qualities it might have had, and I can't recommend it.

What was the last book to really let you down?