By its midpoint Forager fully becomes the trauma memoir only hinted at in the opening pages.

Uneven but still affecting.

Excellent.

Poignant.

Moving and intense.

Her choice to begin each chapter with field notes about the plant species that kept her alive during her childhood rises above gimmick, but her prose can be overwrought, and her too-general engagement with the cult’s inner workings is frustrating. Still, this is an undeniably powerful saga of personal survival..