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3 out of 4 stars
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We have a book about trees and how each is significant to the characters in every story. One tale is about a girl named Claudia. Her family left El Salvador for America to look for what they termed “a temporary haven.” Claudia finds a sanctuary in a tree where she goes for shade and some alone time. The tree has a heart carving with writings: “C + J.” The girl imagines what those words could represent and who did it. Claudia wonders whether it could be a romantic venture between two people.
In another story, Miguel, Beto, and other people are traversing a desert to the United States to seek greener pastures. The anecdote details the challenges they withstand: trekking the long and arduous paths under the scorching sun, shortage of water and food, etc. Also, they think of how their families back home are left worried for their wellbeing. Amid nowhere, they find a mesquite tree with water beneath it. The conclusion of the tale is tragic, nonetheless.
One thing that stood out was the uniqueness of each story and its characters. The characters’ names employed are unique, and each tale has its meaning and storyline. I enjoyed that the author inserted a picture of a tree at the beginning of every story. Albeit being monochrome pictorials, I admired them, as each is different from the other.
I loved how Kathy used terms with inner meanings, and it was up to the reader to make sense of them. In one story, talking of Xochitl’s pregnancy was not straightforward. The author says, “Xochitl began to feel life growing inside her again.”
There is a lot of Spanish that I could hardly read, let alone understand. I appreciate Kathy’s use of foreign dialects to promote language diversity. Nevertheless, the consistent use of Spanish gave me a hard time understanding segments of the book. It was hard to comprehend. Plus, repetitively looking for interpretations on Google became monotonous. I did not enjoy that. Inevitably, I rate the work 3 out of 4 stars.
Tree and Other Witnesses is professionally edited, as I detected no grammatical flaws. Kathy Taylor’s proficiency in literature is showcased by how the various stories in the book grip a reader. The choice of lexis and sentence phrasing demand thumbs up! I recommend it to people who’d love to devour a volume with random stories packed with difficulties, racism, struggling to belong, and foreign dialects.
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Trees and Other Witnesses
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