Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Work From Tepper, April 27, 2004
In THE FAMILY TREE, author Sheri Tepper has combined an engaging mix of mystery, science fiction and fantasy to tell the story of Dora Henry, a police detective with several issues at hand. First, she must deal with the consequences of leaving her inattentive husband after several years of unhappy marriage. Second, the murders of three scientists and their mysterious connections to each other. But, foremost is a strange weed in her yard that puts her husband in the hospital and seems to be the precursor to incredible instant forests that grow up almost overnight, taking over suburbs and returning them to the wild. Alternating with this is an Arabian Nights-like adventure of an orphaned storytelling teenager turned slave to a Sultan. She is Opal-Ears and, disguised as a boy, is sent with the Sultan's son on a mysterious journey in search of a key that will stop The End of Everything. Along the way, several others join the travelers (in typical quest fashion) as we learn more about the cultures along Opal-Ears's route. Tepper throws in a number of surprises throughout the second half that will amuse the reader (including a few seeming jabs at a popular family film from a couple of years back) while environmentalist and feminist issues are unobtrusively discussed. If good characterization, strong female leads and a plot that keeps you guessing are what you like, this will more than satisfy you.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging disappointment from a master of the genre., September 30, 1998
By A Customer
I've been a fan of Sheri S. Tepper's ever since I ran across her excellent /Sideshow/ in high school. I've admired her ability to seamlessly construct her books, artfully balancing exposition, wonderful prose, world building, characterization, and plot to make a point without being preachy. All this explains why I had high hopes when I began /The Family Tree./ Unfortunately, my hopes and expectations were quickly let down. /The Family Tree/ is a pageturner, but of the worst kind - I found the sections set in the far future so annoying and cloyingly cute that I read on as quickly as possible, desperate to find out about the weird goings-on in the present day. The sections set in the present are engaging, but curiously flat. Where did Tepper's enormous skill at characterization go? Dora and Abby are likable characters, but not very rounded. They're too pleasant and nice to be truly interesting in their own right. I read this book right after rereading Tepper's /Grass/ (a Hugo finalist for Best Novel) and the contrast was striking. /Grass/ was filled with fascinated, flawed characters that had real moral dilemmas and issues to work out. /The Family Tree/ is populated with likable but dull archetypical characters. /Grass/ has wonderfully evocative prose that brings its worlds alive. /The Family Tree/, in an effort to keep the identity of the citizens of the far future secret, is rather skimpy on descriptive prose, and the whole is suffused with a sort of not-very-good-young-adults book feeling. /Grass/ had a multitude of themes, including independence/interdependence, the impact of custom, and the relationship between God and humanity - complex themes, stated subtly. /The Family Tree/'s message - we're ruining the Earth by overpopulation and waste, and animals have a right to an unspoiled planet as well - has already been done (very well in Tepper's /Beauty/) and is so baldly stated that it makes me cringe. Instead of leading us through ideas like /Grass/ did, /The Family Tree/ hits us over the head with preachiness. I would be more disposed to look on this book kindly if it were a debut. The plot is ingenious and often surprising, and it manages to link together many fascinating ideas. Unfortunately, the plot also feels gimmicky - I felt distinctly tricked when the identity of the far future people was revealed. In sum, /The Family Tree/ is a somewhat entertaining read, but we deserve more from one of SF's finest novelists. Do yourself a favor and hunt down a copy of /Grass/ or /Beauty/ instead.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Oddly Satisfying, January 8, 1999
By A Customer
After having eagerly anticipated reading this book, I found that the wait was worth it - as I think it will be for any fan of Ms. Tepper's work. Having read the previous reviews, I think I can see the point of those who were disappointed, but I cannot agree. What I enjoyed most about this book is probably the same aspect that drove them crazy. I refer to the pace and predictability of the plot unfolding. I found the lack of the gut-wrenching tension strangely satisfying, which is not to say that I didn't care about the characters or their predicaments. Rather it was that you felt comfortable to let them handle things and curious about how they would do it. It seemed to me that Ms. Tepper created a true partnership with the reader and I felt as though I could trust her to guide the story with out any angst on my part. Or maybe it's just that everything happened just the way I would have wanted it too - noone being annoyingly stupid or making obviously dumb mistakes. All that aside I just thoroughly enjoyed the story itself and the characters and outcome. But this is not unusual for me as I find that I always love Sheri Tepper's books. If you do too, then you will like this one as well.
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