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My husband and I read “Trees” aloud when we were vacationing in France. Consisting of 13 stories, the author introduces the reader to a wide range of passionate characters, all of whom are struggling with their identities, their fears, their childhoods, their families, and their place in life. Because each story is so abundant in character development and description, we decided to read one story at a time, lingering with the colors, flavors, emotions and moods that each story evoked.
Like a rich seven-course French dinner, each story has its own creative flair and stimulates the five senses; some courses are so rich you can’t imagine eating anymore, but after a pause to digest it, the next course arrives and tantalizes you with distinct aromas, pungent seasonings and elegant presentations: a literary feast to be cherished and remembered long after the meal is over.
The author weaves each story around a unique and symbolic tree, a tree that represents the connection to the land, the history of the villages and all the celebrations and hardships that have taken place under its protection.
Take time to read and digest this book. Go to France if you have to. It will fill your well and compel you to walk in the woods and reunite with your special tree.
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As wistful as childhood dreams and as heart wrenching as tomorrow’s headlines, Kathy Taylor’s Trees and Other Witnesses reminds us why stories are so essential to our understanding of the world and the challenging paths of immigration, and why we must never stop reading them. From remembrances of the caress of the bark while climbing the springtime tree of youth, through the fears of skeleton-limbed winter, to the sad destiny of a failed promise of blossom, Taylor’s stories sooth our hearts and startle our complacency with her perceptive and insightful vision. Trees, in their ever-present connection with—and witness of—the yearnings of our lives and the turmoil of our times, serve to link and reflect our struggles, our emotions, and our triumphs, in searing and evocative detail. Savor each story slowly, from the reveries and longings of childhood in “The Rope Swing” to the whimsical and rapturous “Burnin’ Love,” the centerpiece of the collection, and share in the lives of those who pursue today’s difficult paths of finding home in a new land.
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Here are 13 short stories from the store of a perceptive traveler’s experience in Central America, esp. Mexico. They are sensitively, charmingly presented. She draws on her academic life as a teacher, her love of Spanish and Mexican culture. “New Dance” recalls the ambivalence of every newcomer arrived in an alien land. “Mirage” tells again the terrible story we’ve heard about so often of a group of Mexicans crossing the border. “The Amate Tree” looks at what might be hidden from the day-to-day by someone who wants to dig deeper. Each story is in some way connected to a significant tree, so the tree-theme has to be thought about. The writer loves the natural world, embraces the need to cope with the stresses we live under, manages to view it with a smile.
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When I picked this book up to read, I honestly had no idea I was in for this deep level of heart-opening connection. I couldn’t put it down. Then, between stories, I had to put it down, to cry and recover. Picking it up again, I couldn’t put it down.
Read this extraordinarily compassionate and penetrating collection of short stories slowly, because, through individual voices, beginning with the voice of the author as a young girl, these stories will pierce your heart and then nourish and feed it in breathtaking ways.
Like rings on a tree, each story builds a foundation, replenishes, and gives the reader space to grow, through entering and witnessing the stories of vibrant, strong people, refugees, and immigrants who, like their ancestors, dreamed of freedom.
Each story conveys the vastness of a tree, of what it means to feel safe under or in the boughs of a tree, through the lens of justice. These are social justice stories, unsettling, humbling, and healing stories of everyday people around the world, who despite threat, pain, and harm, fight for their right to safety.
This is a big little book. Read and inhale the words.
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Our minds, experiences, and emotions aren’t confined to our heads and bodies–they’re stirred by the world outside us. Beautifully, this is what surfaces as I read Taylor’s Trees and Other Witnesses. A collection of 13 short stories, each tale follows a different character; each, it seems to me, between the space of memory and immediate experience, origin and new soil. And so the motif of trees is fitting: the ecology of trees mirrors the ecology of self. Trees are anchors in this book, and Taylor’s are heavy with cold, earthy water running through them. She subtly and cleverly explores and unlocks impressive dimensions of this woody, ancient plant. It seems to me that Taylor reaches far back into shared human experiences tied to this symbol. Seeds, water, roots, branches, leaves, of course; but shade, sky, buds, vines, and sap, too. These images and surfaces punctuate every page of this collection. And, ultimately, Taylor crafts a most impressive metaphor across her text that will, by its sheer depth and expansiveness, mean what it needs to mean for each reader. I experienced each tree through new eyes and new contexts. What each character projects onto their tree; what each tree projects onto its character–an absolute joy to read.
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Every story in this collection deserves its own praise but, as a whole, one can say the book is a blend of sadness and happiness that only Taylor can package in a perfect, memorable symphony. Taylor’s artistry is driven by her talent for making the reader feel. Giving us a raw yet gentle look into what it means to be human by the hand, or under the shade, of enigmatic trees, the captivating worlds in these pages open doors to every dimension of the unsuspecting reader’s emotional capacity. Her obvious compassion for her characters, when not even she can save them, and the respect and tenderness in which their dignity and uniqueness are held, makes it so that a few pages alone commit you to a long-term relationship with them. If memory goes hand in hand with emotion, then one is sure to hold on to some of these stories for a very long time. Although the stories move at a fast pace, the characters stay and the emotion compounds. As for style, Taylor’s elegant prose is enchanting, as even if this is not the intent, the words here are nothing but magical. Maybe because of the obligatory presence of a tree and the cosmic weight it carries, or because each story awakens wonder, love, awe, and shock—which prime our minds to venture deep into a magical domain—reading a story in this book is a process that, to me, amounts to literary meditation and submitting yourself to the effects of poetic spells working their charm. Each tree, as a proficient companion to Taylor’s voice, influences the world in powerful ways, so to become a force, not only a witness. A chariot of clashing forces, the tree does more than seeing; it heals, it saves, it deceives, it hides, it deliberates, it kills, it sustains, and it laments. At every surprise, at every turn of the world, while the tree still stands, the tree’s omniscient and quiet voice reminds us kindly, through the lives that it oversees, that everything around us is pure magic. Taylor’s work is a gift to all readers and a worthy homage to beautiful beings.
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Stunning, mesmerizing stories!
It pains me to discover I don't have words strong enough to convey the depth of feeling these stories aroused in me. Painful, poignant, wistful, evocative, hopeful, sensual, tragic . . . real. Taylor's command of words--in multiple languages, no less!--entices readers with sensory images so intensely immersive that we forget we're reading in the sterile surroundings of our safe homes. Her use of figurative language embellishes every story in ways that surprise and delight. These are stories to savor and share, to reread and remember. Simply stunning.
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An unexpected joy.
When I picked this book up to read, I honestly had no idea I was in for this deep level of heart-opening connection. I couldn’t put it down. Then, between stories, I had to put it down, to cry and recover. Picking it up once again, I couldn’t put it down.
Read this extraordinarily compassionate and penetrating collection of short stories slowly, because, through individual voices, beginning with the voice of the author as a young girl, these stories will pierce your heart and then nourish and feed it in breathtaking ways.
Like rings on a tree, each story builds a foundation, replenishes and gives the reader space to grow, through entering and witnessing the stories of vibrant, strong people, refugees and immigrants who, like their ancestors, dreamed of freedom.
Each story conveys the vastness of a tree, of what it means to feel safe under or in the boughs of a tree, through the lens of justice. These are social justice stories, unsettling, humbling, and healing stories of everyday people around the world, who despite threat, pain, and harm, fight for their right to safety.
This is a big little book. Read and inhale the words.
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