Lost in the Forest

Sue Miller’s revealing story of a broken family torn apart by betrayal and tragic death then brought back together again through pain, growth, and learning demonstrates an impressive understanding of relationships and family dynamics.

Lost in the Forest depicts events that are, sadly, becoming the norm. A once strong marriage between Mark and Eva is destroyed by an affair. Eva remarries John. John, years later is killed instantly after he is struck by an automobile. John’s death serves the backdrop for the reunification of Eva and Mark while it brings to the surface many of the problems between Mark and his children, Emily and Daisy. While Eva was married to John, Mark was able to live basically a bachelor life: dating, sleeping around, and not amounting to much of a father to his two girls. After the death of John the girls reach out for a father, and Mark—shocked himself—finds that he is not prepared to be a good father (certainly not ready to take on the role of John).

What follows is a very realistic journey of growth and discovery as Mark determines his efforts to become a good father. During this, the relationship with Eva is on a rollercoaster. While Mark’s girls react in very different ways. Emily, seems unaffected. She lives basically a ‘normal’ life and eventually gets married and has children of her own. Daisy however, only fifteen years old, and who was much closer to John than Emiy was, feels cheated and slighted by life, and by Mark. It takes Daisy’s affair with a man thirty years her senior to bring Mark’s devotion to her to the fore.

Mark

Father to Daisy and Emily, ex-husband of Eva.

Eva

Mother to Daisy, Emily, and Theo; ex-wife of Mark; widow of John.

Daisy

youngest daughter of Eva and Mark

Emily

oldest daughter of Eva and Mark

Theo

son of Eva and John

Gracie

Eva's best friend

The story does not end with everyone happy ever after, yet there is a sense of closure at the end of this tale. The moral, as I am seeing with so many books these days, is simply: life goes on. No matter what crap comes along the way, and no matter how little sense we are able to make of it all, life just goes on. Until you die, of course. Sue Miller takes this story and makes it work in a way that is interesting and educational by the manner in which she skillfully depicts the inner emotions and outward behavior of her characters. All of the players in this story seem real and believable. This is, in a story of this nature, crucial, and not easily accomplished.