Customer Reviews

The Garden of Eve

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Evie's mother used to make up stories for her. They were magical, beautiful, and so terribly missed when her mother died. Evie is miserable without her mother, and her father decides to sell the home their family had once shared and move onto an apple orchard. That only makes life more miserable for Evie.

The apple orchard is grey, the trees are all dead, and they haven't produced fruit in years. Evie's father is busy beyond belief working in the orchard. That leaves Evie with endless hours of time alone. In the cemetery she meets a boy who tells her his name is Alex. Except Alex is the little boy from their new town who died. His gravestone is right there.

Evie begins to spend more and more time with Alex. She also receives a mysterious seed that grows into a tree overnight. And that tree produces apples. Apples that, when bitten, take Evie and Alex to a magical place--lush plants and life are everywhere. It's exactly like the town they live in now, except everything is beautiful. Plants are growing everywhere. Father's orchard is growing well; beautiful curtains are on her house. It is the way it would be if her mother lived there.

Is this the place where her mother told her she'd meet her? She said that after she died, she'd wait for Evie in a beautiful garden. Evie had given up on all of that magic and nonsense. But, maybe, just maybe, she'll find her mother. But why does Alex keep running around? What is it that he's looking for so desperately? And won't her father be worried about her?

Should she stay in this beautiful place? Should she go back? Is this where Alex is supposed to stay? Should she leave without him?

It's difficult to explain the complexity of THE GARDEN OF EVE. It is beautiful, painful, and I wasn't even able to convey the suspense and surprises that fill the pages without giving away too much of the story. This book is sad. It is hopeful. It is magical. This will be another award-winner for the author, K. L. Going.

Reviewed by: Dianna Geers

The author of my book is K.L Going, the title is The Garden Of

Eve. I think the book should fall under the category of being a

fantasy fiction.

The story starts out in Michigan with a father and a daughter who

have just lost his wife, and mother. They move to Beaumont new

York, and move into a knew house. The house is beside a

cemetery and an apple orchard. That is one reason why they

moved, so the father could be a apple farmer. Evie, the daughter,

keeps seeing a boy in the cemetery and she is the only one that can

see him. The boy had just died so she thinks. The townspeople

believe the orchard is cursed. They think this because a guy named

Rodney is buried in it. Rodney gives Evie a seed, but he said to not

plant the seed. Maggie ( Rodney's sister) gives Evie the seed

because Rodney is dead. The story continues into a place that she

and her friend named Alex go when they plant the seed that she

received from Maggie.

Dead mothers are always a good plot device. There is nothing like the absence of a mother to create a suitable amount of angst, heartache, uncertainty, and self-doubt. Think of the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, where the first couple of books in the series are driven by the fact that pre-teen Alice is growing up without a mother, surrounded by men in her family, and suffers the nagging fear that she is not approaching the formative years of her life with due female influence. And more recently we have had the mother-less Bee from Being Bee, and Jack from The Night Tourist. Now there is Evie Adler in K.L. Going's The Garden of Eve. Her mother is ten months dead from cancer, and Evie is left with her botanist father who has never appreciated--or even understood--magic the way her mother did. He is too much of a scientist to put much stock in fairy tales, or stories in general. When he takes on the job of trying to revive a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York, far from their Michigan home, Evie is resentful. They move into a house right next door to a cemetery--but the only cemetery Evie cares about is the one back in Michigan, where her mother is buried. Her father devotes his time to the orchard--but all Evie can think of is the magic garden she used to plan with her mother, a perfect garden with magnificent trees and noble beasts where the three of them would always be together. When Evie is given a seed supposedly from the Garden of Eden, Evie thinks she has her chance to find that perfect garden, and consequently find her mother, too.

There is a lot going on in this book, some of it allegorical and some of it just old fashioned mystery. There is the boy Alex, whom Evie meets hanging around in the cemetery. Is he really dead, as he claims to be? Is the orchard where Evie's father toils really cursed, or has it simply been abandoned? When Evie plants her seed and enters the magical garden--by way of eating an apple, of course!--is she in Eden or is it a trap? There is another Eve who grew up in Beaumont and disappeared many, many years ago. What happened to her? And will Evie find peace after the death of her mother?

Some of the pieces in the book are tied together a little bit too neatly, but for the most part this is an engaging and thoughtful book. Evie is disillusioned without being broken. The father is pragmatically devoted to his work but all open-hearted and open-minded business when Evie needs him most. The supporting characters range from saintly (the dead mother)to utterly convincing (Alex). Readers who like their books with magic and symbolism will enjoy this.

Sometimes when bad things happen, the whole world seems shriveled and dark, as if nothing good will ever grow again. But life isn't like that. Really.

Here comes Evie, strong and brave and wise. She's searching for truth, hoping for magic, yearning for comfort. Like Lucky in The Higher Power of Lucky, Evie is trying to make sense of world made barren by the loss of her mother. Like Lucky, Evie needs someone to help answer questions a girl really needs her mother for, especially, "How do I know what is true?" But while Lucky's story stays anchored in the rather imperfect real world, Evie finds her truths through a purer magic in the very best fairy-tale tradition. A ghost-boy, some ancient mysterious seeds, a warm wind swirling over frozen soil--K.L. Going breathes her magic into these elements to bring forth a rich tale of new life after loss. Here in The Garden of Eve, the truth is magic and magic is truth. And if you can't see it with your eyes, maybe you should look "with your ears or your nose, instead."

Read this book. It is beautifully crafted and deeply satisfying. As soon as you finish it, you'll want to share it with someone you care about. As it whispers its truths, it brings comfort and warmth and hope that life can begin again, even when all seems lost.

Janet Gingold
author of Danger, Long Division and Finch Goes Wild

This book was on my 5th grader's summer reading lists and I read it to her today from beginning to end. It's a real page-turner and does a good job of leading you from one chapter to the next. I got so touched at the mother's final letter to her daughter that I choked up and could hardly get through it, and my daughter cried, too. Very involving and beautifully written.

Since her free-spirited mother Tally's passing, Evie has given up her belief in magic and nearly all the activities she had loved to partake in with her mom, like painting and reading bedtime stories. Then another difficult change occurs when her father decides to move them from their home in Michigan to Beaumont, New York. Evie doesn't want to relocate or forget about the memories of the life she once had with her mother nearly a year before. However, her father is anxious for a fresh start.

When Evie and her father arrive in rural Beaumont, Evie can't help but feel a little uneasy about the atmosphere of the place, with its blackened, gnarled trees and seemingly perpetual quiet. Then, when picking up the keys from Maggie, the sister of previous owner Rodney, they learn that many people believe that the town is cursed because of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Maggie and Rodney's sibling, Eve, and the fact that the once-vibrant orchard's appearance changed shortly after.

Evie's father (a "realist," as he refers to himself) dismisses the story as superstition and thinks that, with his skills, he could help bring the trees and, in effect, the town back to life. Meanwhile, to Evie's dismay, she discovers that their new home is near a cemetery, which is where she meets a boy named Alex, who claims to be a ghost. Despite her initial skepticism, Evie can't help but be intrigued by him and his determination not to be forgotten. Then for her 11th birthday, she receives an unusual gift left behind by Rodney. Along with the story behind the supposed curse and a little help, Evie begins to piece the clues together that may put the past to rest, while revealing some surprises about herself and those she cares about.

On the surface, THE GARDEN OF EVE may appear to be just a whimsical mystery, but underneath is a poignant story about keeping a hold of family, hopes and dreams, even if they don't always seem to be in reach.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle

Evie grieves for her sensitive and imaginative mother, angry that her practical father has taken her far from home to a lonely house by a cemetery. As her father tends to a blackened orchard, Evie befriends a dead boy and an elderly woman who gives her an ancient seed that brings the children to an alternate world. Evie dreams of finding her mother there, but instead discovers the love of her father.

Chapters flow from one to another with suspense that should not frighten the "average" child. My fifth grade daughter and I read this aloud and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh, natural dialogue between Evie and the strange boy, the mysterious magical happenings and the realistic relationship troubles between father and daughter. This might be a good book to read to upper elementary or middle school children dealing with the loss of a parent, or even a sibling as the boy grieves the loss of his brother, but might be disconcerting to some younger children.

The storyline is creative and although the last chapter does wrap up a little too well, we are glad that Evie finds a final, surprising connection to her mother.

My daughter was so excited to get this for Christmas- she loved this story. The story was well told and not monotoned. It was not a cookie cutter story but an enjoyable original.

For eleven year old Evie, moving with her father from Michigan to New York is torture. Not only is she leaving behind her family and friends and the only life she's known, but she's leaving behind her Mom, who died ten months ago from cancer. For Evie, the apple orchard means nothing and her life is devoid of magic because her mom is gone, but with the gift of a seed an adventure blooms. One that may help Evie believe in magic once more.

Evie's story is heartfelt with lovely little touches of fantasy. As a character, Evie is wholly realistic. Her grief radiates off the pages and is enhanced by the stark atmosphere around her. Her new home of Beaumont, NY is full of dead trees and empty buildings. Thought to be cursed, the orchard that her father just bought is not only their home, but also a place that sits directly beside a cemetery, constantly reminding Evie of her loss.

Evie's father reminds me of people I've met in the past, lost in their own lives and doing the best they can in the only way they know how. He's not the best, most sensitive father in the world, but he loves his daughter with his whole heart. Snippets of flashbacks to Evie's mother Tally bring the woman to life and make both Evie's and her father's grief resonate that much more.

The fantasy elements arise with the story behind a seed given to Evie by Rodney, the man who used to own the house. Rodney had never met Evie, but he insisted that his sister give a girl named Eve the seed. With this, the Biblical story of Adam and Eve begins to play out. Evie goes on quite the adventure with a ghost boy named Alex, where they both learn that magic is all about believing.

K.L. Going has weaved a beautiful tale about grief, magic, hope, and life beyond death with The Garden of Eve. I've read some reviews that complain that the book is too overtly religious and has too many Biblical references, but I'd disagree. School age children are not going to be reading this book and thinking about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. All these things are mentioned, but religion is so far from being the focus here. The Garden of Eve is the perfect story for a blustery day - with the right amount of grief, countered by a touching story of believing in the magic that still exists after death.

Opening line: "Once there was a beautiful garden." ~ pg. 1

Favorite lines: Watching him now was like meeting someone on the street who you hadn't realized was missing - you felt all the pleasure of seeing them and all the pain of missing them at once. ~ pg. 29

And this one captures Evie's grief:

"How long ago did your mom die?"
"It's been ten months now," Evie said.
"How can you live without her?"
Evie studied the darkened trees. "Sometimes I don't want to." ~ pg. 115

I got this book to read to my kids. It's amazing even on the first page! I LOVE this book. Can't wait to get to the end. Such an easy read!!!!