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The Roving Tree (2013)

by Elsie Augustave(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1617751650 (ISBN13: 9781617751653)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

OpenLens

review 1: This delight of a novel has a wide sweep, taking Iris as a bewildered five-year-old from Haiti to a New York suburb, back to Haiti as a college senior, and after graduation, to a job in Zaire. Iris only learns much later why she was given up to be adopted by a kindly American couple, John and Margaret; Margaret is an anthropologist visiting Haiti to study the culture. They raise her and her white sister Cynthia (also adopted) with empathy and wisdom, and they form loving family. The book is full of rich detail—of landscapes, customs, characters, and history, particularly in the portion set in Haiti. The paranormal aspects of Haitian culture run through this splendid story from the prologue to the epilogue, especially as Iris becomes more attuned to her origins. They... more serve as a gentle reminder that we should all listen more closely to our inner selves.
review 2: 3.5 Papa Doc and his militia the Tonton Macoute make life in Haiti a danger and a struggle. When Hagathe has Iris, she wants better things for her child and when a white couple offers to adopt her child, with much heartache, she agrees. In America for the first time, Iris encounters prejudice and a hatred for her colored skin. Iris does not return to Haiti until news of the death of her birth mother leads her to return, where she is re-acquainted with her family memebers that are left. Eventually she will take a job in Zaire and find she can at last have a life that feels right. In a well drawn narrative the author takes the reader through the political repression of the dictatorship of the Duvalier era. I never knew that such a rigid class system existed in Haiti. I was also fascinated by their vaudou beliefs and how the Haitians mix this with Christianity. It also led me to think how hard it must be for an adoptee in a different county, being estranged from your own heritage and culture. Also how very difficult and loving one must be to give up one's child for the chance of a better life. Another new author to expect good things from. less

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