Synopsis
Traces the life and relationships of New Englander Tom Keene, as he and other settlers struggle for survival in Richland County, Ohio, the furthest reaches of the American frontier in 1811-12
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Praise for Hugh Nissenson and "The Tree of Life"
"Finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award"
"This small novel works like a laser beam, penetrating the American experience with searing and concentrated intensity.""Los Angeles Times"
""The Tree of Life" is one of the most powerful, original, and disturbing books that I have read in a long time. Hugh Nissenson has caught the voice of the old-time diary keeper just exactly. It's uncanny, marvelous, so direct and deceptively simple that you know what pains he has taken.The book is a work of art and no one who reads it will ever forget it."David McCullough
"It is a tale more moving and haunting than one thinks it can possibly be.""The Village Voice"
"The juxtaposition of horror and information perfectly captures the genius of this imagined diaryScarcely a word is wasted. Hardly an aspect of the struggle to found a new civilization remains untouched."The Tree of Life"dramatizes, sometimes with almost unbearable intensity, the American dream and its attendant nightmare.""Time Magazine"
"["The Tree of Life"] confronts us where our deepest and most disturbing fantasies intersect with our sense of historyGiven the richness of its texture and the strength of whichever of its threads one pursues, one can imagine that its force will grow and take an ever tighter grip on our understanding of the American past. It is a book that plants deep seeds.""New York Times"
"A beautifully paced book[it] allows the shocks and resonances to gather slowly, the way they do in life when you are taking everything in, but cannot yet allow yourself to admit how much you've been affectedIn thrall to the powers Mr. Nissenson has invoked and wielded with such fearful symmetrythe powers of documentation and of visionwe can only read on."Margo Jefferson
"
Praise for Hugh Nissenson and The Tree of Life
Finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award
"This small novel works like a laser beam, penetrating the American experience with searing and concentrated intensity."--Los Angeles Times
"The Tree of Life is one of the most powerful, original, and disturbing books that I have read in a long time. Hugh Nissenson has caught the voice of the old-time diary keeper just exactly. It's uncanny, marvelous, so direct and deceptively simple that you know what pains he has taken.The book is a work of art and no one who reads it will ever forget it."--David McCullough
"It is a tale more moving and haunting than one thinks it can possibly be."--The Village Voice
"The juxtaposition of horror and information perfectly captures the genius of this imagined diary...Scarcely a word is wasted. Hardly an aspect of the struggle to found a new civilization remains untouched. The Tree of Life dramatizes, sometimes with almost unbearable intensity, the American dream and its attendant nightmare."--Time Magazine
"[The Tree of Life] confronts us where our deepest and most disturbing fantasies intersect with our sense of history...Given the richness of its texture and the strength of whichever of its threads one pursues, one can imagine that its force will grow and take an ever tighter grip on our understanding of the American past. It is a book that plants deep seeds."--New York Times
"A beautifully paced book...[it] allows the shocks and resonances to gather slowly, the way they do in life when you are taking everything in, but cannot yet allow yourself to admit how much you've been affected...In thrall to the powers Mr. Nissenson has invoked and wielded with such fearful symmetry--the powers of documentation and of vision--we can only read on."--Margo Jefferson
Synopsis
Eighteen months of the life of Thomas Keene, a fictitious 19th-century congregational minister, is traced in this journal-like novel. Having suffered a loss of faith, Keene abandons the East for frontier life in the Ohio wilderness. His account is by turns violent, tender, and erotic. Keene is both a witness to history, describing the many ordinary and horrific details of frontier life (including the conflict between white settlers and Indians), and a man searching for personal meaning in a world without God. Like a true frontier journal, the novel includes illustrations attributed to Keene. As a foil to the main character, the historic figure John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, is portrayed as a believer who lives with self-doubt.
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