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taylordmccabe's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
faerieontheshelf's review against another edition
4.0
> 3.5/4 stars
A really interesting standalone about family feuds, grief and an orchard full of magical trees that also doubles as a graveyard. Gorgeous writing, though the pacing was on the slower side.
A really interesting standalone about family feuds, grief and an orchard full of magical trees that also doubles as a graveyard. Gorgeous writing, though the pacing was on the slower side.
sparksinwords's review against another edition
4.0
This was my first Goodreads print book giveaway win - thank you Goodreads & Harper!
The Memory Trees is so beautifully written. The descriptions of the land and orchards are vivid and lush and I not only saw it in my mind, but I felt it, smelled it. There were so much more depth to this book than I would have expected. It's about family, grudges, grief - this is a heartbreaking story but also a hopeful one. Sorrow was a very strong character and when she finally started expressing how upset she was, I was really rooting for her.
Although this seems to be magical realism, there isn't actually magic in this book. Rather, the strong bond the Lovegoods have with the land gives the story a magical feeling. I was glad that this was the case, because I feel like it would have taken away from the authenticity of the story if there had been magic involved.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it! Just don't expect an action-packed book. Also, of note, there is no romance in this book, and although I loooove romance, I'm glad there was no romance here.
The Memory Trees is so beautifully written. The descriptions of the land and orchards are vivid and lush and I not only saw it in my mind, but I felt it, smelled it. There were so much more depth to this book than I would have expected. It's about family, grudges, grief - this is a heartbreaking story but also a hopeful one. Sorrow was a very strong character and when she finally started expressing how upset she was, I was really rooting for her.
Although this seems to be magical realism, there isn't actually magic in this book. Rather, the strong bond the Lovegoods have with the land gives the story a magical feeling. I was glad that this was the case, because I feel like it would have taken away from the authenticity of the story if there had been magic involved.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it! Just don't expect an action-packed book. Also, of note, there is no romance in this book, and although I loooove romance, I'm glad there was no romance here.
sistermagpie's review against another edition
4.0
This book had some really lovely writing and a premise that I completely loved. 17 year old Sorrow returns home to her mother and grandmother in Vermont. She lived with them until she was 8 and her 16-year-old sister died, at which point she went to live with her father and stepmother and stepsister. Sorrow's now determined to return because she can't remember the details of her sister Patience's death.
So this creates a situation where a girl returns to a place that should be home and people who should be family, but she doesn't feel as if she fits there anymore, especially given the many misunderstandings that have had time to grow in that time. Her mother was institutionalized after her sister's death and Sorrow was never sure how much she was allowed to talk about her sister, therefore they never did. (Her mother seems to have always struggled with depression so that growing up both sister's spent all their time trying to keep their mother in a good mood.)
Sorrow's family is also engaged in centuries-long feud with the rich family in town, though often both sides appear to be stabbing themselves in the heart more than hurting the others. The final revelations about exactly what happened to Sorrow's sister was really satisfying emotionally, I'm happy to say.
So this creates a situation where a girl returns to a place that should be home and people who should be family, but she doesn't feel as if she fits there anymore, especially given the many misunderstandings that have had time to grow in that time. Her mother was institutionalized after her sister's death and Sorrow was never sure how much she was allowed to talk about her sister, therefore they never did. (Her mother seems to have always struggled with depression so that growing up both sister's spent all their time trying to keep their mother in a good mood.)
Sorrow's family is also engaged in centuries-long feud with the rich family in town, though often both sides appear to be stabbing themselves in the heart more than hurting the others. The final revelations about exactly what happened to Sorrow's sister was really satisfying emotionally, I'm happy to say.
samwlabb's review
4.0
It was quite interesting getting to know Sorrow and the 12 generations of women in her family, as she tries to piece together her sister's final days. This trip through her tangled family tree unfolded through beautiful prose, family vignettes, and flash backs to that ill fated day. My heart ached and broke along with Sorrow's, and although the ending fell a little short for me, I enjoyed this coming of age tale.
•Pro: The writing was so beautiful. Wallace's prose had this magical quality, that fit the story so well.
•Pro: I really liked the format. Flashbacks and vignettes of Sorrow's ancestors were intertwined with Sorrow trying to gain clarity about her sister's death. It was interesting the way the pieces fit together, and it added to the tension and mystery of the story.
•Pro: I really cared about Sorrow. I wanted her to get the answers she desired in order to get that closure she had been needing for so long. Her pain and frustration just made my heart ache.
•Pro: This is a grief story and I love grief stories. This one definitely put the grief and loss center stage, but there were so many other things, such as the way the town isolated Sorrow and her family, the way she lost a little bit of her childhood due to her mother's illness, and the way she had to shoulder so much guilt, because she could not remember the events leading to her sister's death. Let's just say, I felt a lot of feels.
•Pro: So many different ideas of family are explored. I was especially fond of the relationship between Sorrow and her step mother. It made me happy to know that Sorrow got to experience that type of relationship, because she had lost her whole world when she left the farm, and I was needed something positive came from that loss.
•Con: I could have used more closure with the ending. It was hopeful, but there were some things left open ended, that I would have liked tied up.
•Pro: I loved the whole concept of the trees. "Their only ceremony was giving the dead back to the earth and planting a new life to mark its passage." It was a lovely concept and combine with the idea that the trees held their memories, just worked so well in the overall story and enhanced the effect of the magical elements present.
Overall: A magical journey towards healing after a great loss, filled with a rich family history and a little magic.
**I would like to thank the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
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•Pro: The writing was so beautiful. Wallace's prose had this magical quality, that fit the story so well.
•Pro: I really liked the format. Flashbacks and vignettes of Sorrow's ancestors were intertwined with Sorrow trying to gain clarity about her sister's death. It was interesting the way the pieces fit together, and it added to the tension and mystery of the story.
•Pro: I really cared about Sorrow. I wanted her to get the answers she desired in order to get that closure she had been needing for so long. Her pain and frustration just made my heart ache.
•Pro: This is a grief story and I love grief stories. This one definitely put the grief and loss center stage, but there were so many other things, such as the way the town isolated Sorrow and her family, the way she lost a little bit of her childhood due to her mother's illness, and the way she had to shoulder so much guilt, because she could not remember the events leading to her sister's death. Let's just say, I felt a lot of feels.
•Pro: So many different ideas of family are explored. I was especially fond of the relationship between Sorrow and her step mother. It made me happy to know that Sorrow got to experience that type of relationship, because she had lost her whole world when she left the farm, and I was needed something positive came from that loss.
•Con: I could have used more closure with the ending. It was hopeful, but there were some things left open ended, that I would have liked tied up.
•Pro: I loved the whole concept of the trees. "Their only ceremony was giving the dead back to the earth and planting a new life to mark its passage." It was a lovely concept and combine with the idea that the trees held their memories, just worked so well in the overall story and enhanced the effect of the magical elements present.
Overall: A magical journey towards healing after a great loss, filled with a rich family history and a little magic.
**I would like to thank the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
mary_the_librarian's review
4.0
This was a very slow-paced book and was more family saga than magical realism (but it was certainly magical realism). It was well-written and the big reveal was worth the (very) slow build-up.
hauntedbybooks's review
5.0
I was so happy to read this book. As soon as I read the synopsis I was like that sounds like my kind of book. Spoiler alert, it was definitely my kind of book. This book is so beautifully written. I was hooked from the very first page. Kali Wallace knows how to tell a story! This book is mysterious, magical and will haunt me for a long time.
jordanramirezpuckett's review
2.0
The pacing on this book is incredibly slow. I fell asleep in the middle of the day while reading this more than once. At the outset our protagonist, Sorrow, doesn’t remember the first eight years of her life when she lived in Vermont with her mother. She doesn’t even remember her sisters funeral or what happened to her mother that she had to move to Florida with her father. This seems like an intriguing premise, the promise of a mystery that will be solved by the end of the book.
But the author spends way too much time in the past, with characters or events that don’t relate to the central plot and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Also for all the talk of witchcraft in the book, there is hardly any magic and this felt like an expectation that the author set that was disappointingly never met. If this book had been trimmed to around 300 pages, I might have enjoyed it, but as is I can’t recommend it unless you need a book to put you to sleep.
But the author spends way too much time in the past, with characters or events that don’t relate to the central plot and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Also for all the talk of witchcraft in the book, there is hardly any magic and this felt like an expectation that the author set that was disappointingly never met. If this book had been trimmed to around 300 pages, I might have enjoyed it, but as is I can’t recommend it unless you need a book to put you to sleep.
anthropologue's review
2.0
There was a lot here that piqued my interest, with good narrative structure, and an interesting mystery. I liked the memories, and historical influence on the narrative, and the names. I just didn't get especially sucked in to the story. It wasn't as witchy as I had wanted.
ruthsic's review
3.0
Because I had loved the author's [b:Shallow Graves|22663629|Shallow Graves|Kali Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434989166s/22663629.jpg|42162445] which debuted last year, I was pretty optimistic about this one. The Memory Trees is written like a mystery with a few supernatural elements. Basically, the story is about two very old families that were present at the first white settlements in the town, and their complicated history throughout that has manifested in a tragedy with Sorrow's generation. The build-up in the book is very slow, and it took me days to just get into it - most of it was about day to day in the town when Sorrow comes back, and her fragile relationship with her maternal family which she is working to restore while trying to remember the events of the night of her sister's death. There are also some flashbacks with some other ancestors to emphasize the life of this family in their town, especially because they are matrilineal and have been since their first ancestor, Rejoice came to live in it.
The problem with The Memory Trees is that it gets too lost in the atmosphere and only occasionally returns to the plot to progress it. It is not even about character development - it just feels like it is trying to establish the setting of the book. And for a person like me, who prefers the setting work towards the plot instead of the reverse, I was, in a word, bored. The actual exciting elements did not arrive until, like, the last third of the book, so until then you are just hanging around wondering what happened that night. The story is pretty good, and I loved the details that went into constructing the characters of each era, but it is mostly drifting in the book. Each of the women in the flashbacks faced challenges, primarily because they were women and tied to their family. That is their shared legacy - that they would always be considered witches by the townspeople, and they would always feel a part of their lands. The supernatural element is very subtle and I think it hardly matters to the plot. Eventually, superfluous writing kept me from fully enjoying the story.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Katherine Tegen Books, via Edelweiss.
The problem with The Memory Trees is that it gets too lost in the atmosphere and only occasionally returns to the plot to progress it. It is not even about character development - it just feels like it is trying to establish the setting of the book. And for a person like me, who prefers the setting work towards the plot instead of the reverse, I was, in a word, bored. The actual exciting elements did not arrive until, like, the last third of the book, so until then you are just hanging around wondering what happened that night. The story is pretty good, and I loved the details that went into constructing the characters of each era, but it is mostly drifting in the book. Each of the women in the flashbacks faced challenges, primarily because they were women and tied to their family. That is their shared legacy - that they would always be considered witches by the townspeople, and they would always feel a part of their lands. The supernatural element is very subtle and I think it hardly matters to the plot. Eventually, superfluous writing kept me from fully enjoying the story.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Katherine Tegen Books, via Edelweiss.