13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Journey, January 11, 2005
This review is from: The Language of Sycamores (Tending Roses, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is the follow-up of Tending Roses and Good Hope Road. This book also combines the main characters' stories into one ~~ Jenilee of Good Hope Road meets up with Kate and Karen of Tending Roses as they try to discover their family heritage. This book, however, focuses on Karen, the super successful one of the family. Karen who is so perfect, dresses like a fashion model with her immaculate hair, a dashing career that takes her everywhere and happily married to a dashing airline pilot. In Tending Roses, Kate shared some of her resentments of her perfect older sister.
In this book, the perfect older sister just got laid off from her successful job and her annual pap smear came back with an abnormal reading. Desperate to get away from Boston, Karen came to the farm in Missouri to get away from it all for a few days. Only that few days turned into a couple of weeks. Involved with JumpKids, a local community group that involves kids into making a production of a famous movie, and mentoring the neighbor girl, Dell, who was Grandma Rose's protege, and rediscovering her marriage again to James.
Written beautifully and with elegant prose, this book is a great sequel to my other two favorite books of all time. The message is essentially the same: Take your time, smell the roses and forgive your grudges. Life is too short to hold grudges and bitterness. This is an awesome book for moms to give to their daughters, sisters to give to one another and friends to share. It is a book that is poignant of a time past when things seem to be simpler and the answers were clearer. It reminds us that after all of the things that has to be done in the day, it's better to have family around.
1-11-05
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!, March 11, 2005
This review is from: The Language of Sycamores (Tending Roses, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES by Lisa Wingate
March 11, 2005
Courtesy of WWW.LOVEROMANCES.COM
The third book in a trilogy by Lisa Wingate, THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES is a beautifully written story about a woman who finds herself at a crossroads in life.
Karen Sommerfield receives news that she is being laid off, despite years of loyalty and the fact that she helped build the company to what it is today. She also receives bad news that a cancer that she thought she would not see again has returned. Her doctor has asked her to make an appointment as soon as possible, as he thinks that the initial test results are pointing towards the return of this disease, but he is not one-hundred percent sure. Karen, not wanting to deal with this possibility, decides it's a good time to take up her sister Kate's invitation to return home to Missouri, in time for a small family reunion.
Karen has not been home in ages. One of the reasons she has stayed away from her hometown was the death of Grandmother Rose two years ago. Rose was a big part of Karen's life, and her death was something Karen could not accept. Going home brings back many happy memories of a woman Karen had loved more than she had loved anyone. The thought of being in the home that reminded her so much of her beloved grandmother was difficult for Karen, but this was better than having to deal with the layoff and the possibility of cancer.
The trip back home does Karen a lot of good. She realizes how much she's missed being there. She also meets a shy insecure twelve-year old girl who lives down the road with a grandmother and uncle. It is obvious that this girl, Dell, needs a lot of love and care, and while Karen has never had children of her own, she finds herself being motherly to Dell and they become very attached to each other.
Besides getting involved with the young girl, Karen also becomes involved in a summer camp program called JUMP KIDS, and it changes her outlook on life as well as Dell's. It's a summer of fun and excitement and a newfound interest that has Karen looking forward to each day. It helps Karen forget about her lost job and her health concerns, and also opens up a brand new world.
The central theme of the book is that of family ties, and while Karen's cancer scare and her job could have been the only focus of this book, instead the story also revolves around Grandmother Rose and the legacy she left behind. Kate and Karen's relationship is also a central theme, with the two of them drifting apart due to different lives and focuses. Kate is busy with her children and a husband, having chosen the life of a housewife and homemaker. Karen and James could not have children, and focused on their careers to forget what was missing in their lives. There is also sibling rivalry and jealousy that keeps the two sisters apart, and it is their search for the truth about their family that brings them back together again.
This reviewer extremely enjoyed and highly recommends THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES. Wingate has a wonderful way with words, and one word to describe her writing is "beautiful". She did a good job in setting up a backdrop that was the beauty and charm of the rural town of Hindsville, Missouri. She also has a talent for creating characters that are real and although they may have faults, the reader will want to spend more time with these fictional people, getting to know them better and wishing their story never ends. What this reviewer did not care too much for was the abrupt ending, although it did help wrap up loose ends and also solved the family mystery. It was in fact a plot twist of sorts and certainly surprised this reader. THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES is a must-read. The first two books in the trilogy will certainly be on this reviewer's list of books to read in the coming year.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner by Lisa Wingate, January 23, 2005
This review is from: The Language of Sycamores (Tending Roses, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
Lisa Wingate is the author of two of my favorite books, Tending Roses and Good Hope Road. With her newest effort, The Language of Sycamores, she brings back characters from both of these books and makes one must read story.
Karens life was about things she could program and control, but that all changed one fateful day. First, she was in the doctors office for a check up and was told that she may have cancer and later that same day, she was fired from her job due to a lay off. Spinning out of control and at a loss about what to do, she unexpectedly gets an offer from her sister Kate to come home to Missouri for a small family reunion with a long lost relative. With the help of Kate and Dell from Tending Roses, and Jenilee from Good Hope Road, Karen begins to see that her and her husband James have just been going through the motions of marriage and life without really being happy.
In reading The Language of Sycamores you will once again be inspired to change your life and feel the love of God. Settle into a quiet room and treasure this story, I know I will again and again.
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