Challenge Corner discussion

Amid rubble and rebuilding in a former Soviet land, one family must rescue one another and put the past to a stirring novel about what happens after the fighting is over

“My mother stayed, so that we could go.”

Having fled conflict in the former-Soviet Republic of Georgia as children, Saba and his brother have fought to make peace with the past. In particular, they struggle with the sacrifices of a mother who remained in a war zone so that their father could get them out. Now, years later, the brothers are young adults, their mother is dead, and their father has been lured back to their beautiful, decaying homeland – only to disappear. Then Saba’s older brother, chasing after their missing father, vanishes too.

Left alone to figure out what has happened and to find his family, Saba sets off on his own urgent, haunted search across his homeland. Accompanied by new friends and old ghosts as he follows a breadcrumb trail of clues, he must wrestle the present from the past as he crosses into the kind of danger zones – both physical and emotional – that he thought he had left behind.

Harrowing and tender but leavened with humor and an appreciation for the absurd, Hard by a Great Forest offers a unique story about traumas of war felt even decades after the fighting, and the long-term effects on those families driven not just to survive, but to remember.

Through 5-(view spoiler)[ at first I thought the animals were dreams or hallucinations but then realized it was from the zoo. Never have I ever considered zoos being in war torn areas and the wild animals truly being able to escape. That is wild to think how scary war already is then to have wild hungry animals stalking around (hide spoiler)]

In ch 7/(view spoiler)[ oh no Horace the hippo didn’t make it :( and the tigers are killing the dogs. (hide spoiler)]

I have a book festival tomorrow and the next day, so I'll start but it will be later!

Through 10/(view spoiler)[ how he doesn’t go completely mad, with his already traumatic life, then with all the ideas and voices going through his head, geez.. (hide spoiler)]

Through 12-(view spoiler)[oh no Dimitri. (hide spoiler)]

Finished-(view spoiler)[crying....never would I have picked this book up on my own, but wow....yes it is FULL of heartbreak, devastation, loss and grief, but is also full of humor and charm. Can't believe he killed Nodar right after finding Nadia. Glad he was able to say goodbye to his ghosts and see hope in the end even after that horrific journey, but he fulfilled Nodar's life's journey by living and going home. Wow just wow (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "I have a book festival tomorrow and the next day, so I'll start but it will be later!"


book festival? That sounds fun!

YES! It was the Portland Book Festival in Oregon! So fun!

but. . .It did get me behind!

I'm starting tomorrow!

through 5 chapters

(view spoiler)[
I've seen/read a few dystopian movies/books that had zoo animals being an issue. interesting how it is here. can you imagine being stalked like that? so creepy!

but him hearing the voices of those that are either dead or he doesn't know if they are - I'm not sure if it's a PTSD response and brings him comfort, if he has audio hallucinations or if he's really haunted by ghosts. either way, I don't know how helpful they are to him right now. . . (hide spoiler)]

through 7

(view spoiler)[
the animal attacks are getting pretty wild!

and I'm so sad his friend betrayed him. I know they promised him help but. . .he had to know the police would turn on him

(hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "through 5 chapters


I don't (view spoiler)[ think his "ghosts" were good for him at all. I think they may have led him into places he shouldn't have gone. (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "through 7

(view spoiler)[I absolutely had never thought of animals/zoos in war torn areas. I mean you see the horrific rescues of dogs and cats, sometimes horses in floods and other natural disasters. It is wild. You know they don't go and evacuate the wild animals before they drop a bomb. They will go where it is safe, possibly out of their encampments. It makes sense, just really freaks me out, lol (hide spoiler)]

I'm done

this one was so good but I agree, so heartbreaking!