Customer Reviews

Walking the Tree

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The tree is so big that it covers an entire island. People live within the tree and there are also settlements every 50 miles or so. Walking the tree is a rite of passage that young women and some children make. The young women or "teachers" are in search of knowledge and possible mates. As they walk from one settlement to another they are courted by the young men of that settlement. They may decide to settle down with one of these mates, or they may walk on to the next settlement. They are choosing, not only a mate but a way of life because each settlement is different and has its own culture, its own food, its own rituals, etc. The author seems to have a background in anthropology because the different cultures are very well described. I did find the story depressing because the protagonist seemed under constant guilt and obligation. She has decided to foster a young boy, her half brother, who may be suffering from a deadly plague. If his sickness is discovered, he will surely be put to death. The societies are very poor it seems to me because they lack any domestic animals, they have very few tools, and no transportation other than walking. Because life is hard and death common, there is plenty of superstition and ritual to cope with death and illness. I constantly was tempted to give up and stop reading because the emotions I felt reading this book were not joyful and exciting. However, after I have finished reading, I find that sticking with this book and sticking with the "walk" has made me somewhat better at sticking with tasks that I find necessary but not necessarily intrinsically enjoyable. This book definitely portrays characters acting out of a sense of "duty" and conformity to cultural rules\values. I kept thinking, however, that it is strange for the females to make such a pilgrimage to choose mates. Usually it's the males who wander in societies. I am a female myself, and I don't think I would enjoy such a walk. I give the book 2 stars for pleasant emotions and 4 stars for creating a consistent and well-developed alternative world. So the average is 3.

Every once in a while I enjoy reading a book that is, um, a little out there. This book definately fit the bill. It was different, made my brain stretch a little, and was overall, an interesting book to read. Many books are just a copy of our current world-view with a few tweeks here and there. This author created an entirely new and different society, with different and interesting rules.

I had a slightly hard time classify this book. It is an interesting post-apocalyptic/ fantasy-anthropology book... It was good and I never felt the since of wrongness the previous reviewer wrote about. Pick it up if you are itching for something a little different.

On an island which seems to constitute their entire world, the young women of small coastal communities lead groups of children on a years-long educational circumnavigation of the vast Tree at its centre. As they visit one community after another, the children learn about the various cultures of the island, Botanica, and the women seek a place to settle down.

This book represents some exemplary worldbuilding - each new village has its own distinct culture: crafts, sciences, cooking, superstitions, sexual traditions, beliefs about how to treat the Tree, behaviour towards outsiders etc. It's a thoughtful - though never preachy or obvious - examination of gender politics, cultural tolerance and the role of tradition and superstition in shaping communities. It's also a tense, suspenseful drama - the longer that protagonist Lillah keeps her deadly secret, the fewer allies she can depend on for protection.

I think that it might do this beautiful, melancholy journey an unfortunate disservice to classify it as an epic anthropological mystery, but I think that's as close as I can get. I highly recommend it.

For me the most terrible nightmares aren't those where you are being hunted by a monster (or such). Those kind of dreams are quickly over because you wake up. The most terrible nightmares are those that might seem not like nightmares at all, in the dream you simply know that something is wrong/slightly of/skewed. This book is like that. A long grueling tale of anguish.

It is not badly written, but why would anyone want to feel anguish and dread? This book will enter my top 3 worst books of all time together with "Look to Windward" by Iain M Banks (most boring) and The Weapon by Michael Williamson (the author must have been dr Mengele in an earlier life).