Adoptee Lia has followed her Spanish teacher, Rafael, to Guatemala for romance and adventure. She doesn’t know much about the country, but she’s happy because she’s finally living life on her own terms. On their first night together, Lia decides to declare her feelings, but before she gets the chance, the unimaginable happens and Rafael is brutally killed. Devastated, Lia travels to Rafael’s … family home in the countryside, where she becomes determined to find out why. But not everyone is keen on her investigation. The locals are hostile and the landowner has family problems. Lia has to decide what is more important: living without answers or taking the deadly consequences that come with the truth. Set against a backdrop of civil unrest and huge political change, Naylor shows the powerful impact the past can have, decades down the line.
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Thank you to the publisher and BookSirens for providing me with a copy of this novel for an honest review. It has been published in September 2019.
“The Land of Trees” by L.A. Naylor is a travel fiction book based on a very original premise and graced by a huge cast of out-of-the-ordinary characters moving about in an unusual setting.
It will take you straight to post-war Guatemala and with its vivid descriptions it will allow you to fully immerse in the country’s sights and atmospheres, skillfully evoked by an author who undoubtedly knows the place first-hand and has extensively researched the country’s history on top of that.
I think it’s a bad idea to advertise this novel as a “crime thriller” or a “crime mystery” work, because it’s bound to disappoint readers who are after the “thriller” or “mystery” part. True, there is a murder in the very beginning of the story, but that’s not enough to make this a crime novel.
There’s no thrill or mystery, and no actual investigation takes place (the characters who proclaim to be investigating Rafael’s murder are simply throwing blind accusations around based on hunches, without the slightest bit of evidence, and hoping to get the culprit to confess in the process).
As a fan of crime novels, I found this quite a frustrating read.
At the same time, as a fan of travel fiction, I loved how this story transported me to little-known Guatemala and allowed me to get a glimpse of such a different culture and way of living.
The rhythm of the narrative felt too slow at times, with the story lingering way too much on the inner monologues of the three main characters. There are too many scenes without any action at all.
The characters’ motivations are somewhat foggy throughout the story, which sadly detracts from the pleasure of reading.
The writing style is fluctuating, with brilliant quotes such as “You have to choose to belong wherever you are, whether it’s in between two worlds, on an aeroplane heading somewhere new or back to a landscape of already-lived experience” alternating with pedantic lectures about politics, religion and economics.
The endless philosophical discussions among the three main characters get boring and repetitive after a while, sounding more like an excuse for the author to propagate her own ideas and personal beliefs rather than like scenes contributing to plot progression or to characterization. I ended up being annoyed by all the propagandizing even when the idea I was being force-fed through the reading was one I agreed with beforehand.
Overall, this story is entertaining enough, but not a novel I will be re-reading and certainly not one to make me look up the author and get a copy of the rest of her work.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
What Happened to Rafael?
Lia follows her Spanish Teacher to Guatemala seeking romance. Her wealthy neighbor Richard travels with her to escape his domineering father. Along the way, they meet up with Maya who speaks Spanish and helps them with the language. Just as they find the bar where they are to meet Rafael he is murdered in front of them but not before he gives Lia an address to his home and the Pueblo where he works and she can possibly get a job.
Lia Travels to the Pueblo and Richard and Maya follow. They all begin to work there reforesting a section of land for Miguel the landowner. Lia is determined to find out what happened to Rafael. This is where the story really begins.
There is adventure, and danger in this book but also a great understanding of the Indigenous people of Guatemala amid the disputes among them and the large companies and landowners that are stealing their property. The descriptions of the land is wonderful. I loved that part , however, the characters were not quite right with the parts played.
I enjoyed reading it for the historical and lovely description of the land of Guatemala, for those features I would recommend it. If you are reading for a novel…not so much.
Thanks to L.A. Naylor, and Book Sirens for allowing me to read a copy for an honest review.
This is a fabulous book that is excellently-written. Lia and the other characters are bought to life in a realistic manner. I am interested that this story took place in Guatemala – a place where I have an interest in. This is a fabulous story that is heart-breaking and nail-biting.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It pulled me in fairly quickly. Lia is left alone in a country she doesn’t know much about and she wants to know the why of it all but there are lots of obstacles in the way and some things are best left alone. A story about consequences I am not one for giving away plot or story content so I just tell you it is a really good book and worth reading.