The Memory Trees

The Memory Trees, published on October 10, 2017 by Kali Wallace, is a story about a young girl, Sorrow, who was sent away from her orchard in Vermont after her sister Patience's fiery demise. As her memories of the orchard start to fade, she travels back in an attempt to regain her recollections about the past, and navigate through a thorny vendetta between her family, the Lovegoods, and their enemy, the Abrams. As more and more puzzle pieces start to shift together, Sorrow's reality is shaken by an earthquake of her family's secrets. The Memory Tree is a story that will encapsulate the reader in Sorrow's journey to find closure, who she is, and answers to questions nobody would tell her. 

    The Memory Tree serves as a great example of a book that shows a lot of internal adventure. Sorrow grows a great deal throughout the book, turning from a quiet girl who kept her anger bottled up to speaking her mind without fear of what others would think. The growth between her and Verity, her mother, is phenomenal. In the beginning, Sorrow is teetering on a balance beam, trying to figure out what secrets Verity was hiding but also wanting to keep her happy, in fear she would storm off into her room as she did when Sorrow was younger. By the end, however, Verity realizes that she cannot always disappear whenever she is unhappy, especially when her daughter needs her, thus causing the flower of their relationship to finally bloom. 

     However, as the reader, I didn't feel a very close connection to Sorrow, even though she was the main character. Many of her thoughts were focused on how she kept her emotions bottled up, or having flashbacks to memories with her sister. Because of this, I also didn't form a connection with any of the characters who interacted with her in the story. It was as if the reader looked at the events unfolding from a bird's eye view, aware of Sorrow's thoughts but not caring much. However, I noticed that at the end of the book, I understood Sorrow more. This could just be the fact that the reader learns more and sympathizes with her the more the story goes on, or it could be an easter egg Wallace put in there, symbolizing the relationship between Sorrow and her mother, as at the end they understand each other more. 

    Another part of the book that made it a little bland was the fact a lot of the characters seemed to be different versions of Sorrow. Verity was the irate and depressed Sorrow, Cassie, the Abrams daughter, was the spoiled Sorrow, and Patience was the stern Sorrow. There wasn't much character variation, making some events predictable when they weren’t supposed to be. 

    Even with these faults, the writing and story were superb. The writing flowed like a stream, trickling down from setting to thought seamlessly, yet using brilliant metaphors that made the book seem so alive that it could pop out two legs. The story was full of alleyways of suspense, which were even present at the beginning of the novel. It is as if the reader is a detective trying to solve a murder case, with mines of deception laid everywhere, and having to carefully navigate through them to decipher the truth from lies to finally notable thing in the book is that Wallace included several easter eggs

    Another thing notable in the book is that Wallace included several easter eggs in the book, such as references to magic and some things inexplicably coinciding with each other. It felt, quite literally, like an easter egg hunt, looking for all the little mischievous details and parallels that the writer put in the book. 

    All in all, this book is good for readers that enjoy a rather slow and deep journey. It's comparable to positional masterpieces in chess; a slow journey but just as beautiful as the fast-paced sacrificial games. Out of 10, it would get a 7, with great writing and storyline, but lacking in character-to-reader connection. (add mindset of who wouldn’t enjoy it) 

-Renee