Far from the Tree
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 2,459 ratings
Price: 21.25
Last update: 08-19-2024
About this item
National Book Award Winner and New York Times best seller!
Perfect for fans of NBC's This Is Us, Robin Benway’s beautiful interweaving story of three very different teenagers connected by blood explores the meaning of family in all its forms - how to find it, how to keep it, and how to love it.
Being the middle child has its ups and downs.
But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including:
Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After 17 years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.
Don't miss this moving novel that addresses such important topics as adoption, teen pregnancy, and foster care.
Top reviews from the United States
While this book is classified as a YA contemporary, the topics are pretty heavy and deal with things like teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, and depression. I think it’s an important read, but probably better suited to a more mature reader as this isn’t a fluffy YA at all (which, again, is totally my jam but not for everyone). There is some swearing but it was also realistic to older teenagers. Seriously, spend some time on a high school campus and I’m sure you’ll lose count of the various F bombs they drop, and this book is nowhere near that level. Also, in case you are worried about the type of adoption story this is: I can assure you it isn’t one of those that paints adoptive parents as lesser in any way then bio-parents. The message I got was: giving up babies is a trauma, even if it’s done for all the right reasons. It’s hard and heart breaking, but the parents who adopt these kids are wonderful and give their children the world and more in love and support. I think the author handles these topics wonderfully and with great care and respect to both those who adopt, and the bio-parents who choose to give up their children.
That being said, out of the three main characters, I felt the most for Grace. All her chapters kicked me right in the gut. She felt the most tangible and tortured to me, followed closely by Joaquin. Those two had me tearing up multiple times. Which is odd only because Maya’s situation is the closest to my own in terms of a child being adopted into a home when the couple has a biological baby. But I did love Maya’s sarcastic wit and she was often a good foil to the more serious chapters with Joaquin—who struggles with wanting to feel like things are going right for him, but he’s been hurt so much that he can’t trust anyone to get close to him—and Grace—who wrestles with giving up her child and struggling to figure out her new normal while battling her grief and guilt over not being there for her baby in a similar fashion to her bio-mom. Honestly, if it weren’t for the humor introduced by Maya (who is a lesbian with a great girlfriend!) and Grace’s friend Rafe, this book would be a little hard to get through because the topics and feelings Benway evokes are just that powerful. But even if that levity hadn’t been there, I’d still love this book. The stories and characters, and the situations they deal with, are that important.
Honestly there was only one thing I found frustrating about the book, and that was how the characters wouldn’t just talk to each other. Which is a very teenager thing to do so it adds to the realism, but at the same time when you as the reader know they could help each other out so much by just saying the thing they are hiding… yeah, got a little frustrating. Still, I loved these kids. I hurt alongside them, I loved the messages they had for their parents, friends, and each other. They address their issues in a healthy way (for the most part), encouraging therapy and support groups to get the help they each needed. I loved their struggles and wanted them to have a happy ending because they deserved it so, so much. I LOVED this book. Period. I give it all the stars! All of them! Or, you know, just 5 because that’s all Amazon and Goodreads allows… Anyway, READ THIS BOOK!
There are so many words to describe Robin’s brand new novel, which comes out tomorrow, but the first one that comes to mind is beautiful. This book is just beautiful.
First off, let’s talk about family. This book is first and foremost about family, how it can come from many different places. Two girls are adopted and one is in a foster family that loves him. The three of them find each other find each other and become a family. But there’s also the family they go searching for and the friends they surrounded themselves with. Robin writes family so beautiful, especially that bond between siblings, whether its the relationship between the biological siblings of Grace, Maya and Joaquin or the relationship between Maya and her sister, Lauren. I have five younger siblings and we are all incredibly closed and I felt such a connection with the story of family in this novel.
Second, I loved the discovery of self identity, especially for Maya and Joaquin. Maya is lesbian, has a girlfriend, and is sure of herself in that and I love that so much. It’s not a big deal at all and that’s amazing. I love that there’s that diversity in there and its written as if its not a big deal, because, hello, its totally not. But I also love Joaquin wanting to know more about himself, more about where he came from, what his culture is like. He wants to be Mark and Linda’s son but he doesn’t want to lose who he is at heart. I admire that so much.
Third, Grace. Oh, Grace. I bonded with her story more than anything. I know what its like to be pregnant in high school, to feel rejected, to feel unsure of your decision, to feel like you’ve let people down, to feel like you’ve been abandoned. I didn’t have my baby; I unfortunately had a miscarriage. There’s a part early in the book where she is overwhelmed by the loss of her baby; she feels it in her body. It feels empty, like there’s something missing and she physically feels it and I cannot even begin to describe how close I felt to that. That was over a decade ago for me but all those feelings came rushing back at me.
Overall, Robin has written an incredible novel here. I’ve always adored her and I remember reading Emmy and Oliver and thinking it was her best yet but this book blows it out of the water. She gets better and better with each book and this one definitely shows that. The story is great, and the emotions are real, and the fact that it centers on family and does such a great job at it is what makes this book a must read. It comes out tomorrow and I 100% urge everyone to get this book. I’m positive it’s my favorite of the year so far.