Book Review: The Roots of the Olive Tree
The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: August 21, 2012
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women—an unbroken line of daughters—living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California.
Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin. Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women: the eldest two are defying longevity norms. Their unusual lifespans have caught the attention of a geneticist who believes they hold the key to breakthroughs that will revolutionize the aging process for everyone.
But Anna is not interested in unlocking secrets the Keller blood holds. She believes there are some truths that must stay hidden, including certain knowledge about her origins that she has carried for more than a century. Like Anna, each of the Keller women conceals her true self from the others. While they are bound by blood and the house they share, living together has not always been easy. And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company. Her return and the arrival of the geneticist who has come to study the Keller family ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.
The Roots of the Olive Tree alternates between the viewpoints of all five women. In doing so, I felt like I got just a taste of each woman’s life and a few hints at why each had the personality that she had. I would have liked to know even more about each woman’s past life. This book was more a slice of all of their present lives. Of course, it did venture into the past to reveal the secrets that some of the women were harboring. While I found the secrets interesting, I didn’t find them to be “explosive” as the blurb indicates. And all of these women were so tough and even-keeled most of the time that they didn’t seem to be phased much when they found out the secrets either – they definitely didn’t seem to be shaken to their roots.
I enjoyed reading this book but I felt like it had unrealized potential. There were some loose ends that could have been developed and I think would have added more dimension. Without spoiling anything, I think Deb and Erin’s relationship could have been explored more and I also would have liked to know what happened with the trip the ladies were planning. I also didn’t fully understand the symbolism of the tortoise in the story (you’ll know what I mean if you read it) but grasping that sort of thing is not always easy for me. If you have thoughts about the tortoise, please share!
Even though I found the story to be somewhat different from what the book jacket promised, I still found this book to be a pleasant and quick read. There is a short e-book prequel (that I have not read) called Under the Olive Tree that is free in the Kindle store as of this writing.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:
Tuesday, August 21st: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Wednesday, August 22nd: A Patchwork of Books
Tuesday, August 29th: A Book Geek
Thursday, August 30th: Book Hooked Blog
Monday, September 3rd: Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, September 4th: Iwriteinbooks’ blog
Friday, September 7th: Kahakai Kitchen
Tuesday, September 11th: Book Club Classics!
Wednesday, September 12th: girlichef
Thursday, September 13th: JulzReads
Wednesday, September 19th: Book Addict Katie
Friday, September 21st: Anglers Rest
TBD: StephTheBookworm
Buy this book at:
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