The Trees. [Library Binding]

Conrad. Richter (Author)

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (1955)
• ASIN: B000L2C63Q
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical and poetically beautiful in its simplicity, May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trees: First Book In Awakening Land Trilogy (Paperback)

The first part in "The Awakening Land" trilogy, "The Trees" chronicles the settling of the Ohio wilderness in the early days of the Republic. With an ear toward authenticity, Conrad Richter has seamlessly mixed history with fiction by introducing realistic characters who tamed Ohio when it was the "West." The story is simple, but beautifully told as Richter introduces the Luckett family, especially eldest daughter Sayward. The Lucketts claim the land and eke out a living among a howling wilderness as Sayward becomes the true head of the family. Richter is to be congratulated for introducing a realisitically strong character who, representing nameless and countless pioneer women, is a true hero. Read it for history or read it for fiction, it will touch you and teach you.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, must-read book., March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trees: First Book In Awakening Land Trilogy (Paperback)

I read the trilogy back in the '70s and was enthralled. I re-read the books every few years now, and find them richer and more beautiful every time. Richter's way with the language of the people and times is rare and valuable to anyone who is interested in how our country grew. This trilogy is one of the jewels of my book collection and one that I love to share.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is not an Arborists Guide, February 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trees: First Book In Awakening Land Trilogy (Paperback)

Far from a catalog of Agronomy, this book is the first novel of a trilogy concerning the Western Reserve frontier in the post Revolutionary War period. "The Trees" is the story of the Luckett Family arrival in the Ohio wilderness about 1790. Mr. Richter wrote this novel and the following two, "The Fields" and "The Town", to display and preserve the distinct language of the frontiersmen and their contemporaries who moved into a primordial forest wilderness. This first of three is primarily concerned with the impact of a new wilderness environment upon the characters. To accomplish this Mr. Richter has to show, much like Mark Twain, the humor, the internal references, and the external conflicts between the whole language used by these first pioneers and that used by the people who followed later and chronicled that pioneer experience in print. This first book sets the landscape of the North American forest, and introduces characters and their struggle.

As for Mr. Richter's method and purpose find David McCullough's "Brave Companions- Portraits in History" chapter 10. For a good look at the Ohio Geography pre 1800 there is no equal to "Wilderness At Dawn- the Setting of the North American Continent" chapter 20. by Ted Morgan (alias Sanche de Gramont). For an equally forceful display of the spoken historic vernacular try Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian".

Put this book up on your shelf next to Mr. McCarthy, and Mr. Faulkner and those others who use the sound of the language as well as the letters in print to communicate.