The Beach Trees
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Average rating4.5
From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can do to a family. At that tender age, her little sister disappeared-never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. It is a friendship that begins a long and painful process of healing for Julie, leading her to a house on the Gulf Coast, ravaged by hurricane Katrina, and to stories of family that take her deep into the past.
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I got this one on Bookcrossing, and had high expectations, that weren't met. The exchange of points of view didn't help, because they were too similar, and the story was never fully developed, it seemed. Didn't ‘talk' to me.
Calling this a murder mystery is really a stretch. But that aside, I had two main reasons for not being wild about this book.
First, the author overused some annoying gimmicks. Such as a person dying and leaving behind clues for a friend to figure out how she wants her son raised, rather than just spelling it out in a note or mentioning it while she was super sick. Worse still was drawing out the only semi-interesting storyline by having be told in increments by an old lady, who tires quickly and has to take a break from storytelling to draw out suspense, I guess. It felt forced and just didn't work for me.
The second thing that annoyed me was how the adults acted like children and kids acted like adults. A five year old in this book sits at a restaurant and eats his meal in silence, never interrupting adults or even speaking at all. I don't think so. Meanwhile an adult woman becomes totally afraid of some guy and thinks he is scary because he has facial scarring. Really?
Don't think I'll be reading any more from this author.
