The Beach Trees

Image courtesy of
www.karen-white.com

The Beach Trees
Karen White
2011

The Summary
After the death of her best friend, Monica, Julie Holt is left with guardianship of Monica's five-year-old son, Beau, and a house called Riversong all the way in Biloxi.  However, when she arrives in Mississippi, Julie discovers the house she hoped to find is no longer standing - and she is left with only one resort:  finding and embracing the family Monica mysteriously left behind nearly a decade before.

The Good
In Karen White's novel, you'll find a beautiful amount of detail and human emotion that reflects both the beauty and the struggles found when living on the Gulf Coast.  But it's also an interesting book, being equal parts drama and mystery, because it leaves you guessing what happened in Monica's family that made her leave them behind and what will happen now with Julie's own investigation.

The Beach Trees also has a unique narrative style by using dual protagonists:  Aimee Guidry, the family matriarch, and Julie Holt.  Not only do you receive an intimate glance into the life of Julie, who struggles daily with her sister's disappearance and figures out how to raise a five-year-old boy on her own in a city she has never seen, you are able to look into Aimee's life and discover what it was like to grow up on the banks of the Mississippi River, weathering year after year of hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.

It's raw, real, and resonant, because the story will linger with you long after you close the pages for the last time.

The Bad
The Beach Trees, like the cities in which it's based, sets up a slightly languid pace.  While I wouldn't say this is a bad quality in a book - personally, I rather enjoyed the pace of this novel, because it allows you to adequately soak up the detail and the emotion written into every word - it may prove slightly frustrating when all you want are answers to that questions that keep arising from this novel.

For instance, I was dying to know about Aimee's past - who murdered her mother?  And what happened to her mother's wedding ring? - and Caroline Guidry - where did she go?  What happened to her?  And what secret has Wes Guidry, her son, been keeping?

It certainly manages to keep you glued to the pages for want of answers.

The Ugly
Some family secrets are too ugly to share.