The Trees

Awakening Land Series, Book 1

By: Conrad Richter

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

The Awakening Land trilogy traces the transformation of a middle-American landscape from wilderness to farmland to the site of modern industrial civilization, all in the lifetime of one character. The trilogy earned author Conrad Richter immense acclaim, ranking him with the greatest of American mid-century novelists. It includes The Trees (1940), The Fields (1946), and The Town (1950) and follows the varied fortunes of Sayward Luckett and her family in Southeastern Ohio.

The Trees is the story of an American family in the wilderness - a family that "followed the woods as some families follow the sea." The time is the end of the 18th century, the wilderness is the land west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. But principally, The Trees is the story of a girl named Sayward, eldest daughter of Worth and Jary Luckett, raised in the forest far from the rest of humankind, yet growing to realize that the way of the hunter must cede to the way of the tiller of soil.

©1940 Conrad Richter (P)2019 Tantor

the authentic dialogue

The narration, the story line and the authentic dialogue. an older scotch Irish Appalachian Southern, many of the expressions and grammar familiar. the book feels rather short, but it is part of a trilogy. You will not be disappointed.

A taste of early frontier life

I read this book 50 years ago and am pleased to say it’s still a favorite, holding my interest to the end. The reader has a unique voice which may have put some off—it did me initially. But by the end I felt it was the perfect voice for this book.

Very

well written! I enjoy, so much, writing that comes from long gone generations. Buy it!

Excellence at it's Best

This was well written and narrated. In search of the mini series to watch. Vivid tale of a woman in the wilderness, on to Fields.

Good, wholesome story

I've loved this story since I first read it as a teenager and have reread many times over. I was thrilled to see it as an audiobook.

The reader does a fair job, until he came to the pronunciation of a major character name. How is it that someone cannot pronounce "Portius"? The repeated mispronunciation certainly is jarring and lowers the quality of listening to the story.

No plot, no development of characters…

The novel is pure description… leaving nothing g to imagine nor anticipate… there is no plot nor any real character development.

An incredible story; drab performance

I love this Award winning trilogy of books by Conrad Richter. I’ve read them all. He captures so vividly and touchingly, the early 19th century development of a community in the Midwest. Characters and conditions come to life with Richter’s beautiful writing.
Unfortunately- this narrator - does not do the material justice. He seems to have put on a “Woodsy” character voice with a sing songy style that - to my mind - diminishes the seriousness - and humor - in the material.

A very shallow rendering of a very deep story.
If you can get past that - you may love this book!

I’d love to dive into “The Fields” next - but I’m not sure I will if it’s the same narrator.

Please Don’t Reincarnate Me In The Trees

First time reader of Conrad Richter though he is famous. Book group selection so had to read it. Found the backwoods setting, hard-scrabble lives, male characters so ignorant of feelings for their families , especially the women who held their lives together, hard to take. Found the reader monotonous and boring. Got more into it about 3/4 of the way through when a child disappeared. The last scenes with Wayward and husband the best.