The Language of Trees by Ilie RubyPublication date: July 20, 2010
Publisher: Avon A
ISBN: 9780061898648
Price: $14.99
Pages: 368
Ilie Ruby's website here
As warm weather approaches the small town of Canandaigua Lake, Grant Shongo returns to his family's summer home to recuperate after his failed marriage. His high school love, Echo, also returns as her father appears to be dying and Echo and Grant reunite in the awkwardness of their shared past.
The town is haunted by the tragedy of the drowning of little Luke Ellis years earlier. And when Luke's older sister Melanie goes missing, some think she's had another drug relapse. But those closest to Melanie think something darker may be at play, and Grant becomes involved in her rescue.
This is a novel about love, pain, choices, consequences, guilt, recovery, and ultimately letting go. This story has a unique setting infused with Seneca tradition and a cast of characters that I really cared about. I also liked the use of magical realism. I felt like there was some uneven pacing in the plot and I had a rough time with the use of present tense. There were a lot of flashbacks and I was sometimes unsure of what was past and what was present. But the words were beautiful and I felt transported to the town as I read.
This is Ilie Ruby's first novel and I think she has a promising career ahead of her. She writes her characters with depth and their relationships with real emotion, which made this an ultimately satisfying novel to read.
Other tour stops:
Tuesday, July 20th: I’m Booking It
Wednesday, July 21st: Café of Dreams
Wednesday, July 28th: Fizzy Thoughts
Thursday, July 29th: Alison’s Book Marks
Monday, August 2nd: Chaotic Compendiums
Wednesday, August 4th: Take Me Away
Thursday, August 5th: Booksie’s Blog
Monday, August 9th: Jenny Loves to Read
Tuesday, August 10th: Chefdruck Musings
Thursday, August 12th: Books Like Breathing
Book 66 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge, Book 41 of 50 for the New Author Challenge, Book 5 of 6 for the What's in a Name? 3 Challenge
Source: I received this book from the publisher as part of a TLC Book Tour.
3 comments:
I attended a panel that Ilie Ruby was on and she's fascinating. I'm looking forward to this book.
Magical realism is a tricky genre for me - sometimes I think it works really well and other times I can't stand it. In this case it sounds like it is used in a very effective way. Although I'm leery about the missing child part, the rest of the story sounds fascinating.
I'm glad to see you enjoyed this one - thanks for being a part of the tour.
This is one that I'm not familiar with, but it sounds fascinating. I need to check into it.
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