The Danger Tree: Memory, War and the Search for a Family's Past

by David MacFarlane

Book Overview

Emulating the circuitous tales told by his mother's relatives, the Goodyears of Newfoundland, David Macfarlane has crafted a masterpiece of history and memory that will remain indelibly in the minds of its readers. Macfarlane weaves the major events of Newfoundland's twentieth century-the ravages of tuberculosis; the great seal-hunt disaster; the bitter debate over whether to become part of Canada; and above all, the First World War-into a saga of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802776167
• ISBN13: 9780802776167
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

so much more than a history book, or a memoir

I don't have a lot of time to write reviews, and I don't often write them, but I enjoyed this book so thoroughly that I'm sad to be finished reading it. It's one of the best memoirs I've ever read, though it's not really a memoir. One of the best family history books I've ever read, and yet it isn't that either. It is hands-down my favorite book about Newfoundland that I've read, though there are many more I want to read. Macfarlane is a masterful writer, and his work is filled with insight, thoughtfulness about the past, dead ancestors, and what they mean to those of us still living, even if we'd never met them. Though I'm wary of reviews that say things like this, he really does, quite improbably, tell a compelling story of Newfoundland itself through the story of his ancestors. The book somehow never descends into the maudlin or sentimental; it's quite a clear-eyed view of the meaning of World War I for Newfoundland and for the Goodyear family. The ending was striking--I'll probably never forget the image he painted on the last page. Loved it from start to finish.

Poignant and beautifully observed

I am ashamed to say that although I have lived in Canada for 37 years, I knew nothing about Newfoundland's history and consequently nothing about Newfoundland's participation in the First World War. A university lecturer recommended this book to me, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the First World War (and in Newfoundland, more broadly). It is a beautifully written, poignant book which compares favourably with Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That and in some ways is better than Graves; it has none of Graves' cynicism.This book inspired me to visit Beaumont Hamel on the Somme, where so many men from Newfoundland lost their lives on 1 July 1916. In the rest of Canada, 1 July is considered a day for celebration, because the country came into being on that date in 1867. Now I understand why Newfoundlanders cannot and will not celebrate 1 July as a holiday. For them, it is a day of mourning.Ironically, for us on the west coast of Canada, Beaumont Hamel is easier to reach than Newfoundland. Having visited the former, I hope one day to visit the latter.

An excellent overview of how WWI affected Newfoundland

This is a great novel about how a war can affect a family, the family business and the province for many years after the war. Before WWI Newfoundland was a the oldest and thriving member of the British Empire (they joined Canada in 1949). When they were called to war they sent their best sons, and they sent all of them. In one battle on July 1st, the Royal Nlfd Regiment was almost completely wiped out. This has effected the economy and liveihood of the island for years. The RNR monuments of a bellowing caribou on the battlefields of France are a testiment of their valour. While the rest of Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1st, to the Newfoundlanders it is a day of mourning and rememberance the RNR and the sacrafices they made. This book is a great testimony to the brave Newfoundlanders and their families during that time.

An amazing read

This is an amazing book: history, biography, auto-biograhy, philosphy all combined into a powerful tale of family character (and characters)that stays with you. In essence, a simple reflection on long past lives from a little corner of the world, Newfoundland, all wound up in the Great War, it becomes a haunting tour-de-force of the power of great events on everyday people.The chapter "Fire" is in itself a small masterpiece and one I find reading again and again even now two years after the first read.I picked this book up by sheer accident in a small bookstore in Banff and have been thankful for my good fortune of discovering this gem.

Its Subtitle Says It All

Pitifully few Americans are even aware of Canada's participation in World War I. Fewer still know Canada suffered horrible casualties which it honors on Rememberance Day, a deeply felt, painfully observed day of mourning.David MacFarlane's father was the only one of six brothers to survive World War I. Unlike them, he didn't go to France. One of his two sisters served as a nurse there, too.The Danger Tree traces the lives of these siblings from Newfoundland and the effects of the war on the survivors and the survivors' descendants. It is in part a memoir and in part a carefully researched work of journalism by a gifted "light" columnist for The Globe and Mail in Toronto.The ordinary deaths of these ordinary young men from a hard-working Scots family surviving in a very tough environment have found a memorial in MacFarlane's writing. But of greater significance is MacFarlane's insistance that the effects of their deaths, the effects of the First War, live today.It occurs to me that The Danger Tree is a book one should read immediately after Robert Graves' Goodby to All That. For MacFarlane adds dimensions of time and distance to the soldier's pain. MacFarlane is a fine writer, but Graves was a great one. Still, the two books sit comfortably together on my shelves.A brilliant book.