The Maytrees: A Novel | Annie Dillard

The Maytrees: A Novel | Annie Dillard | Annie Dillard Rocks

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The Maytrees: A Novel

	The Maytrees: A Novel Annie Dillard HarperCollins, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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Novel as Poetry

This astonishingly poetic novel is one I hope to read over and over again and am considering forming a book group just to read it with other people (and then promptly disband the group because what could you possibly read after this?). I think it helps to be familiar with the cultures and landscapes of Provincetown and Camden because they are sketched lightly and esoterically here - this book outlines the emotional landscapes of these these New Englanders, and it is fittingly spare and exasperating even as it enchants and imparts its own poetic wisdom. There are moments when people are obtuse and unsympathetic, and having choked too often on romaticized renderings of native Cape Codders I find it enthralling, at last, to see revealed the plain spoken yet complex thoughts of those given to few words. And there is, of course, the arc of the marriage and the midlife retooling of the main characters. Ms. Dillard's characters open windows to marriage, love, motherhood, death, materialsm and self that were long painted shut. How you find this book - believable or sympathetic or noble or startling - says a lot about what you expect from your reading experience. I began by expecting something much more straightforward (I had just finished On Chesil Beach, which is also wonderful in its way, but more direct in its telling) and instead found poetry and wisdom that will take me through the rest of my life.

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Annie Dillard Rocks

"The Maytrees" kept me mesmorized from beginning to end. It was a "grabber." Annie Dillard is a skilled wordsmith, and this novel was no exception. Her writing just gets better and better. I loved this book, and can't wait for her next endeavor -- she is among the best!

The Maytrees

Some may find the complex writing style of this book offputting, but for me each line was a testament to the beauty of language that is lost in our now manic, quick paced times. Dillard has crafted a book that makes you read and re-read each and every line so that you mull it over, consider it, toy with it. A sentence may not seem to make sense but it steeps the reader in imagery and helps us to live and feel more completely the existence of our inner/ outer senses and consciousness. It seems difficult to find such a way in every day life.

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Perplexed and perplexing...

Yup. This book left me perplexed. And,while reading it I found it perplexing. The language...more in the style of poetry...was profoundly inventive, yet, didn't I also find myself scratching my head? Sometimes I reread sentences for their beauty; other times I was simply .... perplexed! The characters are drawn rather vaguely, and awkwardly, and I want to discuss this with others, because I am unclear as to the motivations and inner lives of the main characters. Yet this very spareness lends the mystery and becomes unique, I suppose. We are sooo used to complexity in this day and age. All I can say is, I did find myself wanting to use language differently upon finishing this book. And, in fact, I actually found myself writing in an email "....when summer sprouts Fall" ... Megawd. What has happened? Thank you Annie.

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