I came to "Forest Dark," the newest novel by Nicole Krauss, with hesitation, having heard from others, it was difficult to either get in to, or finish.
I had no trouble with either. Nicole is a writer who knows how to use language, and the interweaving of Judaic cultural and scholarly references, not to mention other linguistic uses, is what I found most stimulating about the novel.
The problem I had with is she wants to tell three stories--one involving a known female writer, who is clearly a stand in for herself--but, for my satisfaction, she never fuses them together.
Better she had stuck with one story, which is that of the writer and her investigative journey to Tel Aviv, which I found the most interesting part of the book. "Forest Dark" is, indeed a novel, it is too well fused, structurally, to be thought of as a string of short stories, yet the reader never gets the connective pay-off they deserve. Nicole herself undercuts her book's impact.
I had hopes this would be a book to get listed. That, like her husband, Jonathan Safran Foer, whose "Here I Am" is, by far, his best book, this would be Nicole's. I have to confess there were a number of moments, some humorous, where I thought she was getting there. Alas, no.
Which is the only disappointing thing about the book, and is not a reason not to read it. The good news is that eventually Nicole will produce a book that is, undoubtedly, her best.
But not this one, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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