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The Tree Of Forgetfulness (2012)

by Pam Durban(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0807149721 (ISBN13: 9780807149720)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Louisiana State University Press

review 1: This is another book I read for my Southern Women Writers course, with the added bonus that I got to hear the author speak when she came to my class to discuss the book. I always feel a little bit of guilt when I say negative things about authors I’ve actually met or talked with, but I guess I’ll go to bed with a guilty conscious tonight.The novel takes place in 1923, the year of a brutal race related triple lynching in South Carolina and in 1946, when one of the characters apparently involved in the lynching is on his death bed. We get the story through several characters’ eyes and slowly unravel exactly what happened that night, and the effect it had on the two separate communities.Overall this wasn’t a horrible novel. I actually enjoyed it for the most part. The... more writing for the most part was actually quite lyrical and flowed very well. The characters were very real to me and I was interested in the story for almost the entire book (almost is the key word here.) My issue was that it was really too long. Unfortunately the book didn’t even get to 200 pages so that seems to me to be a problem.I actually found out from the author that this novel is based on experience with her family, based on her grandparents, which was extremely intriguing to me. I feel like that aspect of it could have been explored more, but instead Durban simply writes herself into the story as a bystander (in a really self righteous way in my opinion.)So it’s a meh story. I wouldn’t really urge anyone to read this, but if you have time and you want a fairly interesting story go for it.3/5 stars
review 2: This story is based on an actual event. It takes place in Aiken County, South Carolina. It tells of the lynching of three people in a horrific manner more in by what is not described as what is slowly revealed. The main essence of the story is cleverly told through the voice of a dying man as he speaks to his unborn granddaughter. As the crime is revealed the reader is given the opportunity to think about guilt, blame, and responsibility as well as the keeping of secrets and the hurt they can cause. The characters are well developed. The character that disappointed me most was Zeke as he was left the south but never really resolved his feelings for the family for whom he and his mother worked even at his mother's death. less

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