Rated of 5
by Sally G. (Saint Johns, FL) Savory
This story has five generations of women all in the same home. The story catches you in the beginning and attaches you to one of the women. It progresses to the secrets and loves that women hide in their hearts. Buy a jar of olives and let your tongue roll around it as your mind wanders through the olive groves.
Rated of 5
by Kay K. (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) The Roots of the Olive Tree (or secret lives among the olives)
The secrets in this book are what lured me in and kept me reading. The Keller women were real people and they all have secrets, bigger secrets than most of us. Anna becomes the oldest living person alive and her secret may be part of the answer of why these women seem not to age. The drama of life surrounded Calliope and her daughter, Deb, and Deb's daughter. But the real drama was with Bets. I didn't like Bets in the beginning but she became my favorite character. So you are really getting the story of five women which are separate from the others but still entangled with them. The olives and family bring them all together in the place of their origin.
This book is rich in ideas for discussion and would be a superb book for a book club, more so for women and those with some life experience.
Rated of 5
by Christine P. (San Francisco, CA) The Roots of the Olive Tree?
Being from Northern California, I was very excited to read The Roots of the Olive Tree. I ended up being disappointed. I think there were too many characters and too many secrets to unravel and too many gaps in the story left blank. By the time I got to the end of the book, I had a hard time figuring out what the author was trying to tell me. Was this supposed to be a story about family, women, relationships, longevity, olive growing, prison reform, forgiveness, what? These all make for great elements in a story and when combined can become something special. But more often, it’s best to leave things in their purest form, like many good olive oils, and see what develops.
Rated of 5
by Deborah P. (Dunnellon, FL) The Roots of the Olive Tree
This is a unique historical fiction of five generations of women living in northern California. It is unique in that it contemporaneously weaves each woman’s story around the family matriarch as opposed to the usual technique of writing each person's story in chapter form. This is a book that does not read as a debut novel. Ms. Santo has written an outstanding novel that not only kept me awake reading, but woke me up because I felt I was living the lives of the characters. I look forward to many more novels from the author...she is now on my five star must read list. Not to be missed!
Rated of 5
by Vy A. (Munds Park, AZ) The Roots of the Olive Tree
Roots of the Olive Tree would make an excellent book club choice. With five generations of women in the Keller family there are characters women of every age can relate to. My favorite is the 112-year old matriach Anna, who strives to be the oldest living person in the world. When a geneticist comes to study Anna , hoping to uncover the genetic DNA secret that runs through this family of healthy women, he sets in motion a story that uncovers lifelong secrets of each of the women. This is a story of love that binds families through their frailties and misfortunes and caused this reader to reflect on that precious link with those women who came before me and those who follow. Set in a family olive grove in central California, foodies will enjoy the setting and references to this delicious ointment.
Rated of 5
by Jinny K. (Fremont, CA) Shallow and disappointing
Well, I hate to disparage a new novelist, but the best thing I can say about this book is that it's a pretty good first draft. Generational sagas are one of my favorite genre, but this book was disappointing in more than one aspect. The characters were one-dimensional and unsympathetic, not seeming connected to each other or to their own tedious endless lives. Trying to avoid 'spoilers', there some story lines that were totally unresolved and the book seemed to end abruptly with no enlightenment or climax.
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of 5
by Sally G. (Saint Johns, FL) 
of 5
by Kay K. (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 
of 5
by Christine P. (San Francisco, CA) 
