Customer Reviews

Juniper Tree Burning: A Novel

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had the pleasure of hearing the prologue to this effective novel read to me by Goldberry many years ago at Christmas time. It was so beautiful, I cried. My mother had to leave the room; she didn't like the idea that the youngest in the Davis family killed himself. We have a young brother, who at 24 was still the baby. I think Mom was afraid of the possible prophetic effects of the words. Even today, I don't think Mom has finished the novel; too close to home.

Jennie Braverman, formerly Juniper Tree Burning Davis, doesn't have the luxury of leaving the room or closing the book. Sunny Boy Blue is dead. This is her reality and she can't hide anymore. This death sends her on a quest to come to find the answer to the question of who she really is, and to come to terms with the influence she has had (and is still having) on the people in her life and theirs on her.

In the manuscript, Goldberry told many stories from all the generations that influenced Jennie's current behavior: stories of the grandmother she never knew, the mother she never knew, and the Jennie she never knew. I laughed and cried aloud, and as I did, the words became my reality. Memories of my grandmother and her relationship with my mom were suddenly vivid. The fact that they are fictitious doesn't bother me; these are cathartic memories all the same, ones that help me understand my own behaviors.

The novel is pared down from the manuscript: trimmed for printing and sale. (Have you ever bought an 800 plus page novel?) I miss the stories that didn't make it into the book. But the journey that remains, in memory, fantasy and reality is focused on giving Jennie (and the reader) the answers sought.

This is a wonderful novel, written by someone with a wealth of knowledge and advice, and who is sharing but a smidgen of it with the lucky reader who experiences it.

I don't believe we really know what we were all about as a generation until our children tell us what it was like for them. Why did we choose voluntary poverty? Why did we choose to live among and be instructed by Indians? Why did we bake our own bread, learn about herbal medicine, and live with outhouses, without running water? Why did we give birth to our children at home and why did we name them after the flora and fauna of the places where we were? Names like Cedar, Sage, Juniper, Coyote, Sunflower, Chamisa? Names like Goldberry? Lady Goldberry was a golden girl in the Tolkein Trilogy, *Lord of the Rings* which we had all read. We were living in a fantasy, to be sure, but who is to say that our fantasy was not lovelier, lighter, and more compassionate than the fantasies of the '50s in which we'd grown up - except our children.

*JUniper Tree Burning* is in novel form, but it tells the truth about our generation as well as the author's generation. "You need not tell all the truth, unless to those who have a right to know it all," said Horace Mann, "but let all you tell be truth." Ms. Long has succeeded admirably in telling the truth about her own slice of space-time from the '60s on to the present.

The book is deeply psychological and intensely autobiographical even though circumstances, events and characters are altered by the magic of a sure novelist's art. The author changes only the closest geographical names, for instance, but accurately portrays the life and landscape of Arroyo Hondo, Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She changes names and edits events, but you hear Goldberry being told that "you don't think - you just barge ahead like the Capricorn you are" - her mom's self-fulfilling prophecy. You can see her hiding beind her own face. "It's a good trick to have. You turn your face into a mask and then you are safe behind it, especially when your mother calls you a stupid name which is not yours, and which you hate."

And you look into the eyes of Juniper/Jennifer/Goldberry's father and brother - "pale green, so light they almost seem transparent. See-through eyes I've always called them." But you could easily read the whole book and not have a clue that the god-medicine, the sacred host of the Meeting Way - is peyote. The word is never mentioned, because it does not need to be mentioned in the interests of truth.

The truth is, "That's how to be a woman. You cook for a hundred people on Christmas Day." The truth is in "the confusion of loving and hating, leaving and arriving, leaving and arriving, like the ocean, the tide, the waves." The truth is that "...he'll never be a woodsman in the forest who saves the children. That is why he is so sad." The truth is contained in the very real problems and persecution the little hippie kids experienced from both teachers and students in Northern New Mexico at the time. (I know. My own children suffered similarly.)

The truth is in Ms. Long's self-awareness. Her alter-ego, Juniper, got into a private school on scholarship, "by hawking my sordid past, making it seem tragic and lovely, and painting big idealisitc plans for the future...because you tell the part of the truth that gets you what you need. You make them believe they should be astonished." And she knows what she's doing. "You can't have it both ways, you teenage monsters. You don't get to act like you know everything and then cry, But I didn't know!"

Reading the first half of this book, I was struck by how the author skillfully uses various literary devices - moving fluidly between third and first person for instance (you never have to go back as you do in a Russian novel to figure out who is saying what). I marveled at the lyricism, the true voices in her dialogue, and the penetrating psychological insights. I felt a fair amount of generational pride. This girl - this incredible young woman - can really write! Having been so dismayed by so many children-of-the-'60s and children-of-the-children-of-the-'60s stories that capitaize on half-truths and downright lies - this was a breath of fresh air. And not only that - it's honest-to-god literature!

But then, I became caught up in the STORY - and read it in immense gulps right through to the very moving and redemptive end. It made me cry (and I'm a tough old bird - not much can make me tear up like this). Goldberry was able to appreciate her family - the parents who taught her how to live on the land. "I will say to my father and mother, I think I understand. You did your best. You loved this valley, nestled into the mesa." They taught her so much and gave her so much of themselves, and the love that shines through all this is dazzling. Redemptive. The fact that she kept her name, Goldberry, speaks volumes.

This is a splendid first novel by a mature and insightful young woman who knows whereof she speaks and doesn't tell lies to pander to any literary styles or expectations. Critics have said that it's too long, but I maintain that not a single word is wasted. Even if you're going into it cold - not knowing anything at all about the space-time coordinates of the story - its appeal is universal. That's the mark of great writing by a master craftsman and artist. Bravo Goldberry! Keep on keeping on. May you live LONG and prosper.

...

Juniper Tree Burning is one of those books that I hesitate to praise too much because it is so good, so courageously told--and I don't just mean the subject matter, which includes a poverty-striken childhood among hippies, suicide, and a not-entirely likable main character--but the literal telling of it. Ms. Long weaves back and forth in time masterfully, gradually revealing the reality behind the half-truths that Jennie, the former Juniper Tree Burning, the self-named Ugly Chick, has told us with more than a mere glaze of rosy glasses. The story also blends points-of-view, sometimes in Jennie's own voice, in a third-person storyteller, and often in a stepped-back voice of Jennie, admittedly speaking of herself from the outside.

This is, at its most essential, a book with a beating heart. Let this complicated woman into your life--watch her play pool as a bloodsport, let her husband finally pierce her toughness with how lovingly he makes guacamole for her, and weep for the determined resilence of the young Juniper Tree Burning struggling to make breakfast before school--you will not soon forget her, and her many journeys through these pages.

I love this book. The main character, Jennie, is one of the strongest female characters I have read in fiction - tough, smart and intent on re-inventing herself from the hippie child she once was. The novel weaves between the present - a road trip begun when Jennie's brother commits suicide - and the rich past of Jennie's hippie parents who invented their own new life in New Mexico. The prose is lyrical and lush, and each scene is so beautifully rendered that I felt I had lived it - the book draws you so closely into Jennie's world that, upon closing the book, I would sometimes find my own world a little disorienting.

Most important, I felt that Jennie is engaged in a task that faces each of us - carving an identity within a family and a marriage, sorting through the past to find the pieces that have meaning and truth for the people we are now. The book is wise and rich in the ways of grief and forgiveness, family, and, most important, love. A rare and unalloyed pleasure.

This is the best book I've read all year. It burns with passion, but quietly, a long, smouldering read that is so artfully executed you barely know you've just read 400 pages representing almost 30 years of life for one woman. The heroine is tough--a big heart carefully guarded, a strong personality (not meant to appeal to those who prefer blonds dumb and sweet), with painful memories and a huge complex to work through.... And somehow, Ms. Long gets us through it all with finesse and a sense of the greater beauty of Juniper/Jenny's world, saving us from despair and handing us over to hope, in the end. Buy this book. You'll be glad you did.

Goldberry Long's first novel, entitled Juniper Tree Burning, is a forceful tale of one woman's struggle to love herself. After enduring a childhood of cruelty and ostracism, including her hippie parents' scorn and derision and her community's contempt for her hippie upbringing, Jennifer Braverman (a.ka. Juniper Tree Burning) embarks on a pilgrimage to the site of her younger brother's suicide and, in the process, confronts the memories of her own tortured past. While the story is certainly one of compassion, Long dares to challenge her readers. Braverman is unusually bold, angry, and unapologetic. In other words, she is difficult to love, like the people in our own lives often are. In addition to Long's mastery of microscopic truthfulness with her characters, her writing is radiant and unflinching. She manages to describe the ugliest of humanity with the most beautiful of metaphors. Brilliantly written, powerful and moving, Juniper Tree Burning is a sparkling debut from a first-time author.

I just spent two days sitting on my couch unable to do anything but read this book. This impressive debut novel bounces the present off the past (and vice versa) with an ingenious narrative that tells the stories surrounding Jennifer Braverman's struggle to cope with the suicide of her brother. It explores how we use memory to define ourselves and how emotional growth involves not only confronting our past, but the stories we tell ourselves about the past. I couldn't stop reading it - the prose is mesmerizing and the interwoven story lines beautiful, touching and compelling. It's a fantastic read that left me wanting more, not fewer, pages to read.

In response to the review "I don't get it," obviously you didn't. Juniper Tree Burning is a fantasic novel. The novel struck many chords and brought forth many emotions. I found it's characters compelling and often found myself simultaneously moved by it's tragedy and it's humour. Regardless of one's background, I feel that every person can relate to some part of Jennie or her experiences. She is a strong and inspiring heroine. I am infinitely impressed by Goldberry Long's debut novel. I look forward to reading more from this gifted author. Bottom Line: Loved it.

I saw the main characters personality split in two, love the good side ("Jennie") but hate the cold hearted adult ("Juniper"); she is unlikable but its the typical "love to hate the bad guy" At the same time I could relate to the child "Juniper" feeling very sorry for her and understanding why she turned out to be a cold hearted adult. However she was not the only focus, all the other characters, small and large, were also great mix, complementing her and making her a great villain.
As time goes on you will understand that just like "Juniper" we all have our personality flaws and we must try to correct them to become a better person. "Juniper" does things with out really thinking about how/who it will hurt and not looking at the future consequences they may have, but don't we all? I highly recommend this book if you read a chapter or so a day. At times it is tedious and long. I might have refused to finish it, which would have been a shame. If you take your time with this book, you will laugh and cry. Sticking till the end (even if it is reading it an hour a day) will leave you pleasantly surprised.

Gripping; I could not put this book down...I love stories that use different timelines which truly enhance each other, and ultimately converge in a meaningful way. Usually when reading fiction, I feel as though I am a spectator watching the characters as they progress through the story, but with Juniper Tree Burning, I felt much more involved... I wanted to somehow jump into the story myself and hug or scream at the lead character; she is that compelling. She is certainly not always likable, but that is part of why I enjoyed the book so much... it is very different from anything I have ever read. I anxiously await more from Goldberry Long!