Stephanie Gertler

Gertler’s prose aptly captures the memories and emotions of a first love looking back after thirty years. She deftly guides the reader through the experiences of Emily Hudson and Jimmy Moran by juxtaposing each character’s narration in separate chapters. It is an engaging novel with a unique but not strident feminine perspective that one can tune into. Each character has changed. Both are married but reaching out to capture the past, Emily as mother and artist and Jimmy as Vietnam show more veteran and parent. In the end Emily remains “Jimmy’s girl” but neither leave their current families. show less

I loved this book! I think most people have a "Jimmy" or "Emily" in their past so it's easy to identify with the characters. For me, it was even more personal. I had my own "Jimmy" who also went to Vietnam in 1967 as a Marine. That's where the similarity in my story ended - I never had the opportunity to put my 'what if' thoughts to the test; but I could totally understand what the characters were feeling.

The author does a wonderful job with description - she paints a very realistic picture show more of the times. I loved the references to Rod McKuen, The Prophet, and the music from the 60's. The descriptions of the styles - bell-bottom pants, long ironed hair - - were spot on.

The story was bittersweet and I hated for it to end while knowing it had to. show less

This is about the mother and daughter relationship, where Claire struggles to understand why her mother abandoned her and her father, when Claire was just two. That story was concluded a few pages before the end, while the main story was a runaway father kidnapping his blind daughter.
Thoughtful and uplifting.

Do You Read a Book for its Title?: Stephanie Gertler's title "The Puzzle Bark Tree" is symbolism but you'll have to read far into the book to find the metaphor in a tree trunk. However, the first paragraph of her prologue sets up an immediate cut-to-the-chase, a puzzle that demands solution, exactly what we readers want.Gertler's pacing almost always races. You eagerly await the next chapter until you get to the middle of the book and, alas, the puzzle is solved. It's a letdown. You wonder show more why half the book remains to be read. You consider quitting, then something you never saw coming plummets, and your nose dives right back inside her book. This novel is part mystery, psychological suspense and love story, essential ingredients of the proverbial good read. Three deaths are part of the mystery but it's not a whodunit; it's not a 'how'; it's a 'why'. A married couple with grown children commit suicide on the same night. An enigmatic note, left unfinished, is found. Given the history of these two depressed and detached parents who literally turned over the raising of their two daughters to a live-in housekeeper, their tragic deaths, although not incredible, demands answers. What was the root cause that finally led them to give up? Unraveling one daughter's dreams provides answers. Since her childhood, Grace Hammond, elder sister of Melanie suffered recurring dreams of drowning. As a married woman, Grace still cannot go near the water. Eventually, she realizes, the keys unlocking buried memories lay in her dreams. Her husband, renowned heart surgeon, demands she see a psychiatrist, but not because he believes it would help her; he's got no patience for such nonsense, he shouts at her. He's very good at repairing strangers' hearts, but excels at breaking his wife's. Stephanie Gertler writes simply and easily in short chapters that glide you along page after page, then suddenly stop you with a 'wow' event you'll want to stop and digest. Of course there's a happy ending. Your ride to it is by reckless roller coaster of steep hills to climb, low valleys to cruise. At the end of the ride, you move on, embracing the future and The Puzzle Bark Tree. show less