In Our the Darkest Hour

IN OUR DARKEST HOUR - CHARACTER IN FOCUS!

"MARY"

When i first read "THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH" by CARRIE RYAN i didn't exactly know what to think of Mary, the main protagonist of the novel. She's the typical heroine--pretty, messed up, torn between two lovers (brothers in this case), confused, rather annoying and like everyone else these days, possesses too much self-pity. She was everything I despise about female lead characters as well as she was the reason I almost gave up on the book.

Thankfully though, I did not. In the end I realized I have fallen in love with Mary so badly that I was wishing the book didn't end the way it did. I wanted to know more about her and it seemed as if everything I had read so far was not enough to satisfy my natural curiosity and admiration for such a girl.

Yes, Mary could be pretty annoying and stubborn. And it irritated me that she can't get over being too insensitive at times but that's her. Her character moved at a constant pace of anxieties no matter how annoying those anxieties could be, though she was progressively maturing, I adore how she stood her ground trying to achieve what she wanted even at such great cost. It's unpredictable, how Ms. Carrie Ryan allowed her to not be too goodie-good to the point of making her unbelievable. I didn't agree with her choices, yes, because most of them went against the idea of what was be ideal, of what a good heroine should be, but that's the magic of Mary. She's the type of heroine who was not afraid of being wrong, wasn't restricted to being right every time. Another thing I love about Mary is her bravery. She's proved this throughout the novel, it was implied in even the littlest things about her. I haven't seen a heroine so fearless (even though she didn't think it) before, well, except perhaps Katniss Everdeen, but that's another matter :)

Mary was obssessive, like way insane obssessive. She bordered on schizophrenic weird, too (that scene when she poked around looking for the woman who once wore the green dress and was obssessing about it was way too weird for me*). Those were the aspects of her personality I couldn't quite reconcile to my liking but acceptable. Perhaps it was a show of weakness, or near breaking down? What mattered though was that she made it past that stage.

What bothered me though was the lack of thought and basis on why Mary loved Travis so much. I guess her preferences, what makes her heart beat for such a boy, was an important aspect of her whole being. It wasn't expounded though so it's a big downfall.

Overall, Mary's an easily hated character as much as easily loved. What I could say though was that long after you'd forgotten the events in the story, it would be a whole lot while before you forget about the girl who dreamt of the ocean and found it in the most distressing circumstance.


*for those who have read the book