Page 5 of 5
There are currently 33 member reviews
for The Forgetting Tree
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Vivian H. (Winchester, VA)
Slow Moving Modern Gothic
This book was difficult for me to read. I found the story slow going, disjointed and the characters unappealing. While I liked the concept of the novel – damaged people dealing with tragedy, critical illness and loss, a dysfunctional family, and fighting for a lost cause – the actions of the main characters, Claire and Minna, did not ring true. I further could not fathom Forster’s failure to investigate the goings on at the farm when he became concerned about the deterioration.
I did like some parts of the book immensely – including the prologue and all of Part One, the exchanges between Claire and her daughters, and a spur of the moment junket to Mexico. The story lost me about ½ way through Part Two and I ended up skimming through pages
The book has a bit of a gothic feel to it with numerous references to the novelist Jean Rhys and her most famous work "The Wide Sargasso Sea", which imagined the first wife of Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester before she emigrated to England and ended up mad in the attic. Since I love the Brontes and thoroughly enjoyed discovering Jean Rhys, the references did conjure up my feelings associated with those works.
But after pushing through the second half of Part Two and Part Three hoping for some reward for my perseverance, I as disappointed in the conclusion.
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Priscilla B. (Marietta, GA)
Inconsistant
Parts of the book were well written. I never found the book tedious to read, but often annoying. I was left wondering if the author was trying to make a statement about the way people view themselves, or just inconsistent with who her characters were. Was this meant to be about the dichotomy of strength and weakness within ourselves? The "thread" of the characters and story was sometimes misremembered by the author. It put me in mind of Chris Bohjalian's Double Bind. If you enjoyed that book or others that are somehow just a bit off, you may enjoy this one. Otherwise I’d say give it a miss.
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Mary W. (Millbury, MA)
The Forgetting Tree by Tatjana Soli
At this time I can say that I somewhat enjoyed this book, but I feel that after it is published and read by more and discussed by book groups, a good one for that, in my mind it will be a book that I recommend to be read. In other words it will grow on me. The writing was good, very descriptive of an orchard and the California landscape but the plot dragged in the middle and grew sparse at the end. It will cause discussion on the belief of magic, the physical healing of the body and the power of the mind.
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Randi H. (Bronx, NY)
The Forgetting Tree
The Forgetting Tree was about one woman's life, highlighting most closely two major events in her life. For me, it was not a book that I could connect to. I did not ever feel like I really cared about the major characters. The one character about whom I would have liked to learn more, Octavio, was relegated to a minor role. The second half of the book especially stretched credibility, in my opinion. I would have a very hard time recommending this book, although I can see how book groups might read it, as there is certainly much that could be discussed.
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Bobbie D. (Boca Raton, FL)
Forgetting Tree Forgetable
Liked reading about a woman (Claire) who, in the course of her life went through love and family, to disease and loss of family and then toward survival. The woman, brought in to help,( Minna) ,interesting at first, became bizarre. Once the author did a flashback with Minna, the continuity of the book stopped! I wanted Claire back! Just too weird. Was glad to finally get back to the main character to see how her life would continue.
A lot of what I liked in the beginning, re: the lemon tree, faded away.
