I thought this was fantastic. Thoroughly engaging story, wonderful strong female protagonist, good writing.

The story is told via fictional journal entries, snippets of a novel in progress, magazine articles and essays written by the protagonist Charlotte, a very strong, independent woman living in Southwest Washington in the early 1900s. She embarks on an amazing journey into the forest to search for a lost child. Imaginative and compelling. Part of the charm of this book for me is the location - my home ground of the Pacific Northwest, the forests and rivers and mountains. Gloss includes some fascinating history about the area and about logging, which was already beginning to have extreme adverse effects over 100 years ago. ( )

Need to read--review pending

I was all grinning and ready to give this book five glowing, thrilled stars. The first 150 pages were the stuff of genius (my definition of genius, of course): a strong female character, a glimmering tongue-in-cheek narrative, Pacific Northwest scenery and lore, and a historical setting that was as real as it was charming. This is really a lovely book.

The characters are sharp and lovable. I'd find it really hard to dislike our wickedly shrewd and fearless protagonist, a (shockingly) single mother in early-20th-century rural Washington, along the Columbia River. Of course, she's kind a terrible mother (to five sons!), but that just somehow makes her even better.

The adventure begins when she--Charlotte--heads out into the wilderness and logging camps near present-day Battleground, Wash., to look for her housekeeper's missing granddaughter. That still stays wonderful, as she dons men's digs and gets all muddy and real.

Then things get crazy and fantastical. I can't decide that this melting into fantasy is brilliance or a letdown after such a romping first half. I think I still liked it, but it didn't have the resounding freshness of the reality segments of the novel. Charlotte's frame of mind in the end of the story is hard for me to identify with.

Overall, highly recommended, especially if you are interested in the Pacific Northwest, homestead-era history, logging history or, well, giant ape things. ( )

I loved this historical novel about a woman raising her family alone in the west. The slipstream-iness is what takes it beyond a "feisty independent" heroine story, into deeper territory exploring responsibility and wildness.

If you liked the slipstream historical aspect try Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler and God's Fires by Patricia Anthony (although the latter is rather darker). ( )