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Chasing Tarzan by Catherine Forster tour launches on Monday, October 24th. I was blessed with a copy of the book in exchange for this review.
Reading Tarzan’s was hard for me because Charlie was bullied in Elementary school, and he didn’t have anyone to protect him. Throughout the book I could feel myself in her shoes and also see how Charlie felt when this was happening to him.
I was a little leery of sharing the book with Charlie but went out on a limb and asked Charlie to read the book in his Homeschool Reading Class. I am glad I did as Charlie was able to discuss the way the characters felt about their body and how he is worried he will end up fat.
If you have a Teenager going into Middle School or High School, I suggest you take the time to read Tarzan’s together. Then discuss what happened and how they would handle the same things. Which will prepare them for what ever happens in school. As well as showing them its okay to tell someone and not keep everything inside which isn’t Healthy.
About:
In the 1960s, a relentless school bully makes Catherine’s life a living hell. She retreats inward, relying on a rich fantasy life––swinging through the jungle wrapped in Tarzan’s protective arms––and fervent prayers to a God she does not trust. She fasts until she feels faint, she ties a rough rope around her waist as penance, hoping God will see her worthy of His help.
As the second of eight children, Catherine is Mommy’s little helper, and like Mommy, Catherine is overwhelmed. The bullying and the adult responsibilities together foment her anger. She starts smacking her siblings and becomes her younger sister’s nemesis. Spooked by who she is becoming, Catherine vows to escape for real, before she hurts someone—or herself.
Catherine finds salvation in a high school exchange program: new town, new school, new family, new persona. A passport celebrity. In New Zealand, nobody knows her history or her fears. Except for her Kiwi “mum,” who sees through Catherine’s façade and pulls her out from her inner safe house.
Exposed, her sense of self implodes. Catherine must finally rethink who she is.
About Catherine Forster
I am a writer, artist, and filmmaker living in the Pacific Northwest … at the moment. My work and love of travel have led me to six continents, including Sub-Saharan African, the source of my childhood fantasies. I still hold a fondness for Tarzan, but when trekking in the bush, hiking mountain trails, or exploring a new city, I prefers the company of my husband Kevin.
I honed my powers of observation early on, and later applied them to artistic endeavors. Although it didn’t happen overnight, I discovered that seeing and hearing a bit more than the average person can be beneficial. As an artist, my work has exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States and abroad. My experimental films have won accolades and awards and have screened in more than thirty international film festivals, from Sao Paulo to Berlin, Los Angeles to Rome, London to Romania. Through my work, I explore the dynamics of girlhood, notions of identity, and the role technology plays in our relationship with nature.
In my capacity as an independent curator, I founded LiveBox, an eight-year project that introduced new media arts to communities at a time when few new what media arts was. For the past four years I have been a member of the curatorial team for the Experiments in Cinema Film Festival held annually in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I received a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master of Business from the London Business School, and a fellowship in writing from the Vermont Studio Center. And I am very proud to be included in the Brooklyn Art Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
Readers have asked about the impetus that compelled me to write the book. There were two catalysts: my own daughter’s battle with bullying, and a family trip to Africa. She was eleven at the time, an age when I too struggled with bullying. Her presence and Africa awakened childhood memories of an imaginary playmate and protector, Tarzan, and my schoolyard nemesis (dubbed Hunter in the book). I imagined Tarzan peeking out of the bush, riding elephants, saving us from hungry lions, charging hippos, and stealthy crocodiles. A series of drawings ensued. Text emerged and eventually took over.
Catherine Forster WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR OF Chasing Tarzan. This tour Begins October 24th
Book Summary
In the 1960s, a relentless school bully makes Catherine’s life a living hell. She retreats inward, relying on a rich fantasy life––swinging through the jungle wrapped in Tarzan’s protective arms––and fervent prayers to a God she does not trust. She fasts until she feels faint, she ties a rough rope around her waist as penance, hoping God will see her worthy of His help.
As the second of eight children, Catherine is Mommy’s little helper, and like Mommy, Catherine is overwhelmed. The bullying and the adult responsibilities together foment her anger. She starts smacking her siblings, and becomes her younger sister’s nemesis. Spooked by who she is becoming, Catherine vows to escape for real, before she hurts someone—or herself.
Catherine finds salvation in a high school exchange program: new town, new school, new family, new persona. A passport celebrity. In New Zealand, nobody knows her history or her fears. Except for her Kiwi “mum,” who sees through Catherine’s façade and pulls her out from her inner safe-house. Exposed, her sense of self implodes. Catherine must finally rethink who she is.
Publisher: WiDo Publishing (July 2022)
ISBN-10: 1947966618
ISBN-13: 978-1947966611
ASIN: B0B6GFLXWC
Print length: 278 pages
Purchase a copy of Chasing Tarzan on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author
Catherine Forster honed her powers of observation early on, and later applied them to artistic endeavors. Although it didn’t happen overnight, she discovered that seeing and hearing a bit more than the average person can be beneficial. As an artist, her work has exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States and abroad. Her experimental films have won accolades and awards in more than thirty international film festivals, from Sao Paulo to Berlin, Los Angeles to Rome, London to Romania. Through her work, she explores the dynamics of girlhood, notions of identity, and the role technology plays in our relationship with nature.
In her capacity as an independent curator, she founded LiveBox, an eight-year project that introduced new media arts to communities at a time when few new what media arts was. For the past four years she has been a member of the curatorial team for the Experiments In Cinema Film Festival held annually in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Masters of Business from the London Business School, and a fellowship in writing from the Vermont Studio Center. She is also included in the Brooklyn Art Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
You can follow her on her website as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
#ChasingTarzan
If you are on Twitter, please follow them on WOW @WomenonWriting and the author @DizzCat. That way we can follow you. If you are on Instagram, you can tag @wow_womenonwriting and the author at @catforster
The launch day post on WOW! Women on Writing’s blog The Muffin will go live on October 24th. It will have a giveaway of the book, and a list of all the tour stops. If you could visit/share with your followers on Social Media, that’d be great! It will be live on
GoodReads: Amazon Barnes and Noble: Bookshop.org
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
