The Rain Forest

by Olivia Manning

From one of the classic writers of post-war English literature comes a stunning novel of love, betrayal and redemption. Married but obstinately set in their separate ways, Hugh and Kristy Foster know nothing of Al-Bustan, a far-flung island in the Indian Ocean. Too late they discover how it seethes with unrest and intrigue. Yet now when they need each other, the sullen, muttering forest seems only to intensify their differences.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Olivia Manning CBE was a British novelist, poet, writer and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in England, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. She often wrote from her personal experience, though her books also demonstrate strengths in imaginative writing. Her books are widely admired for her artistic eye and vivid descriptions of place.
In August 1939 she married R.D. Smith ("Reggie"), a British Council lecturer posted in Bucharest, Romania, and subsequently in Greece, Egypt and Palestine as the Nazis over-ran Eastern Europe. Her experiences formed the basis for her best known work, the six novels making up "The Balkan Trilogy" and "The Levant Trilogy," known collectively as Fortunes of War. As she had feared, real fame only came after her death in 1980, when an adaptation of "Fortunes of War" was televised in 1987.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent novel by Olivia Manning, who is best known for The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy. This book is a stand alone novel about an English couple who move to an island in the tropics, where he has a temporary government job after accumulating a pile of debts in England, when his work as a script writer for films dried up.

There are a whole host of fascinating, eccentric characters and many events and mishaps befall them and the main characters as well. The dialogue is spot on and the descriptive writing is sublime, especially the portrayal of the rain forest at the end of the book.

I really like this kind of novel, dealing with expatriates living in foreign climes, and if you like htem as well, you would definitely enjoy this book.

[Hester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not one to baulk at a novel stuff full of loathsome self absorbed and unhappy characters but The Rain Forest tried my patience .

Kirsty and Hugh have been married for years, but in a relationship characterised by distance and resentment as Kirsty succeeds as a novelist and Hugh takes the Kings Shilling as a screenwriter which provides material comfort but internal distate . When the bottom falls out of their life in London Hugh takes a punt by accepting a mid ranking job in the Colonial Office and they end up on an island seething with decay , discontent and intrigue in the Indian Ocean .

Manning does a good job of portraying the petty inward obsessions of the British expats , most of whom live in a pension , The Daisy , owned and run by a colourful Cockney Mrs Gunner . Kirsty and Hugh don't fit in and the pension with its hierarchies and unwritten rules symbolizes the failing Empire. Once its owner departs the occupants are dependent on the largess of locals and subject to economic and domestic chaos .

The rest of the island is layered geographically and by its history with Arabs , Africans , Indians and a small group of hippies all disaffected and characterised by impenetrable walls of hostility and indifference . Kirsty , bored and listless , is unable to unpick any intrigues and her writing stalls .

While Manning often captures me, with her tendency to create isolated and outsider characters struggling to make sense of their experiences when power lies elsewhere, Kirsty didn't hold me at all . So when the novel reached its melodramatic climax I was indifferent to her plight .

Manning does, as always , have a painterly eye for nature and landscape and these passages are compelling but I simply couldn't get emotional about the plot and felt it lacked flow and cohesion . Maybe she was trying too hard to grasp the big stories of colonialism , environmentalism and misogyny and not gaining a strong enough hold on any one thing ?

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this novel, a tautly woven tale of snobbery, and intrigue set on the island of Al-Bustan in the Indian ocean. The Fosters have been married eleven years, they are set in their seperate ways, she has a thriving writing career, he a failed scriptwriter reduced to a dull office job. They have no idea what they are coming to, and what trials they will face. The society they come to is one they are not used to, where goverment rank matters, and can determine what parties you must attend, and what room at the Daisy Pension you are assigned.
At first I didn't like Kristy, and although I thought Hugh would probably turn out to be an idiot, I was more sympathetic to him. During the course of this wonderfully written novel, I came to warm more towards Kristy. The indignities suffered by them (but particularly her) at the Daisy Pension were brilliantly done, as I raged for them, over their dirty sheets and tablecloth. The ending is taut and atmospheric.

[Gaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaing but too short, fizzles out rather than reaching a natural conclusion.

[Mary T · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book whose best feature is its short length. Imagine The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy with only unlikeable characters.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting was exotic. A lush tropical island with a foreboding sense of menace pervading everything as the characters and natives go about their business, be it as a colonial administrator, hotelier, doctor, merchant or listless wife. The simmering tension between different ethnic groups, the once ruling Arabs, the current ruling British and soon to be ruling Africans was felt throughout and as oppressive as the redolent and sultry humidity. It was a nice setting that wanted for an interesting story that unfortunately never came. Nothing terribly exciting happens until the last few short chapters, which showcased the author's convincing powers of description as the island's secret past was finally revealed and we find out just what lay in the heart of darkness of the forbidden titular rain forest.

Themes of anti-colonialism and environmentalism come out hither and tither, a sign of the period this book came out when these topics were in vogue. The latter however, is an evergreen one (excuse the pun) and the talk of overpopulation, development and despoliation of nature more pertinent now than ever.

[Susan Kavanagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book for the Backlisted Podcast. Although Olivia Manning is well known for the Balkan Trilogy and the Levant Trilogy, which were the basis of a terrific BBC production, her other works have been overlooked. When he leaves a failing screenwriting career in London for a government post, a 35-year old man and his wife end up in one of the last outposts of the British Empire--an island nation inhabited by Africans, Arabs and Indians. With beautiful descriptive writing about the landscape, a well developed set of eccentric and exotic characters and an interesting plot, The Rain Forest provided much for this reader to enjoy. A 4.65.

[Micebyliz]

i would watch this on PBS. It would make a good series. These characters are ripe for exploitation by some of our fave British actors, don't you think? I was seeing faces while i was reading. It's so rich with description of these despicable people and their despicable attitudes and their despicable superiority. i just want to push their teeth in (not literally, mind you) Poor Ambrose!!!! why did his mother torture him so? And Hugh? what a toad!!!
I have to agree that the trilogy books are much better but this was excellent in it's own way. I didn't like the ending either.

[Andrew McClarnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those stories that could go anywhere, there was no sense of its shape or theme, which to be clear, is a good thing. The tone took me back to the Balkan stories, young couple in a foreign land, him busy and preoccupied, her with time on her hands, but not sure what to do, eccentric locals, plots and schemes, above it all the sense of growing danger, but in what form? It could have been tighter, and perhaps made more of a connection to the closing scenes.

[Duncan Prior · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memorable book.
Fosters obviously like the Pringles and like , I assume, mannings own marriage. But this is told more from the point of view of the male partner unlike the Balkan trilogy. The side characters , British at any rate, less varied and spectacularly baroque as in the Balkan trilogy . But sadly entertaining and very boozy. The ending more or less worked for me .

[Mark Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is quite a lot going on in this book - I think designed to cover a lot of issues which were current at the time it was written - colonialism and race, class, abortion, social changes etc. So, it's a good reflection of the time it was written and interesting and valuable for that, with an interesting story and good characters.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manning’s portrayal of the lush plant life and vegetation is well realised. Set amid this growth is the dying throes of Empire and the fruitlessness of the relationship between Kristy and Hugh.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe five. Have to see where it settles. But confirms my sense that Olivia Manning belongs on the 20th Century English language A-list. And bows to no one.

[Emer Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really read books like this anymore, as in a “classic”, but I enjoyed this one. Some of the language is dated, and it is a bit racist, but it also talks about the decline of the British Empire, and what Irish person wouldn’t enjoy that ? The whole setting was very evocative, and I liked the main female character. It was pretty funny at times, and I liked ambiguity of the ending. I might even be persuaded to read more by this author even though I’ve given up on her books before.

[A J HOOPER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hated this story so much I skipped it.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1974 but despite knowing this author from The Balkan and The Levant trilogies I had never come across this title before. It was drawn to my attention when I read a review by a friend; she then very kindly sent me her copy.

A tale from the last days of the British Empire, When Hugh Foster a failing script writer takes a temporary post with the Foreign Office; on the island of Al-Bustan in the Indian Ocean his marriage is already very rocky. After eleven years of married life he and his wife Kristy, a writer herself, are leading somewhat separate lives and Hugh seems somewhat surprised that she had agreed to go with him. This posting is to be an opportunity for them to start afresh.
Settling in to their new life in Al-Bustan is no easy task as they find themselves surrounded by snobbery and political scheming by people who just do not want to accept either of them into island society. They are both treated appallingly but particularly Kristy, one could not help feeling sorry for this weak and pathetic couple. It was so annoying when they put up with such treatment, especially at the hotel where they had to deal with the most terrible humiliations!
An extremely tense and sad ending to a novel that although I found exasperating at times I could not help but like as it is so well written.

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[Daren Kearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This far exceeded my expectations. I had read and enjoyed the Balkan trilogy and this sounded similar - a troubled married couple in a foreign land getting caught up in the local politics. The first two books in the novel are typical English ex-Empire narratives, as Hugh and Kristy find few friends amongst the old brigade and their ways, but make contact with some of the more interesting natives and shady characters. The last book and what precedes it moves the narrative into far darker territory and Manning conveys the wild jungle with all the stifling claustrophobia of a horror film. There are comments expressed by Kristy through out the book that seem to echo Manning's feelings that humanity is spoiling the planet and that the population is too many, so it feels like the mass tragedy and an even more possible dark ending past the pages depending on the reader's interpretation is the author's fictional catharsis.