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Book Review of Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton (P.S.)

reviewed on + 1775 more book reviews


This is a literary book, Mr. Horan visiting and sharing his interactions with the flora of the old stomping grounds of well known American authors.
For example, the tree that grew in Brooklyn is no longer there, although the house is. Another has been planted, with a suitable plaque, but it is not an ailanthus, which is an invasive species imported from China in the 1850s. Horan spoke with Betty Smith's 87 year old daughter. "In the end, the treasures I gathered from the estate of the late Betty Smith came in the form not of tree seeds but of tender memories retold by friends and family about an esteemed author's love affair with a much-maligned species of tree."
No index, so I reduced my evaluation by one star.