The Space Between Trees

I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of this book, and I'm very glad I read it. Had I read this book when I was a teenager, I might have felt like the universe (or someone in it, at least) understood me. It's not that I've gone through what the characters here have, but the mood and the inner dilemmas seem very real and very finely evoked -- the loneliness of the friendless adolescent; the still-blurry line between fantasy and reality and its consequences. Reading it as an adult, I still felt the need to sit up and listen very closely to the narrator, who might be able to tell me something about my past and even present self, although I also felt the need to protect the characters.

What struck me the most about Katie Williams‘ debut novel is the voice. Evie is a sixteen year old girl who reads like she’s much younger — she’s awkward and naive. She doesn’t have friends, though she sits with a group of girls she calls The Whisperers at lunch. She makes up stories to tell them and the lies and exaggerations roll of her tongue like truths. And it’s this voice that makes THE SPACE BETWEEN TREES so magical. The voice of a girl who wants so badly to be a part of things that she lies to the father of the girl found dead in the woods. She accidentally convinces Zabet McCabe’s father that she was her best friend. And when the real best friend, Hadley, finds out, she at first toys with Evie, makes her squirm, show more knowing that she hasn’t known Zabet since they were little. Because Evie is a busser who lives on the outskirts of town in a rental home. And even though Hadley is one of the “bad girls” at school, she lives in the nice neighborhood of Hokepe Woods, walks or drives to school, and never has to worry about money.

But it’s not long before Hadley and Evie develop a strange sort of friendship. Hadley convinces Evie to flirt with her crush Jonah, the college drop-out who found the body, during her morning paper route, while Jonah is out patrolling for dead animals in the trees outside Hokepe Woods. Hadley wants Evie to find the exact spot where Zabet’s body was found. She wants to look for clues, to solve the murder, find out who killed the girl they had in common. And while Evie knows that Hadley isn’t exactly a good friend, she agrees to almost everything. Evie follows along and helps Hadley write suspect lists and go looking in places that two teenage girls shouldn’t be, because the intrigue is too much to bear for her, too.

THE SPACE BETWEEN TREES is an odd coming of age story — it is part mystery, part drama, and absolutely a story about friendship — even if Hadly and Zabet’s friendship is not ideal, their budding relationship is incredible to watch. It is the story of first loves and disappointments, and of the violence everyone things doesn’t happen in their town, to their friends, until it absolutely does. It’s the story of how when tragedy happens, we are both repelled and attracted by it. And it’s the story of two girls who are both brought together and torn apart by the horror of it all.

Poetically written, this is the sort of book that breaks your heart, that tears into you as you read it into the wee hours of the morning because you simply cannot put it down. I highly recommend you pick up a copy — it’s a work of beauty and a voice you will not soon forget. show less

Quick Word: Haunting prose with a powerful emotional undertow. The impact of the story was tremendous, but the plot and characters were full of contradictions. I was left wondering: what is the point? I prefer a story in which the characters develop, or at least have a definite view of the world. In this novel “good girls” were portrayed a shallow and timid and “bad girls” were trashy and angry. The protagonist was strange and fey, and I only connected to her on a purely emotional level. Compelling, but ultimately unsatisfing.

I'm not even going to pretend I didn't buy this book for its cover. The picture really doesn't do it justice, but it's beautiful. It is a hardcover that has been laser cut to look like branches that sit over the paper cover underneath. I found it in a bin at Border's last year during its closing sale (sob!). It took me a lot longer than usual to read the book because I kept flipping it over and staring at the cover. But anyway, I didn't get around to reading it for a long time and I didn't expect much. Luckily, it surprised me.

The story is about Evie, a loner who isn't really lonely at all. She has her paper route and she has Jonah. He hauls dead animals out of the woods behind one of the nicer neighborhoods in town (fun job right?). show more Evie loves him and follows him around during her route, but he seems to think she's just a silly kid. She twists the small conversations they have together into more romantic tales to tell the girls that she sits with at lunch. Her life with Jonah and her vacuous mother is blissfully boring until a body is pulled out of the woods. It turns out to be her childhood friend, Zabet, and Evie is immediately obsessed with the crime. She becomes entangled with Zabet's father, a sad, lonely divorcee and her best friend, the chain-smoking, slightly unstable, Hadley. She and Hadley begin searching for Zabet's killer and along the way form an unlikely friendship.

So what did I think about this book? Overall, it was better than expected. There were moments of real truth. This was especially true with Hadley. Her grief over the death of her only real friend sends her into a downward spiral that is realistic and painful to watch. She tries so hard to be tough and act like nothing bothers her, but throughout the book you can see her mental instability growing and you really start to feel for her. Mr. McCabe is another character that seems very well thought out. He tries to hold on to his daughter by forming a relationship with Hadley and Evie. His desperation is palpable, from only making spaghetti because it was Zabet's favorite to keeping her room in the complete disarray in which it was left. He is possibly the saddest character in the whole book. Finally there is Jonah. He is sort of an enigma in the book. He is around but he doesn't say much and the reader rarely knows what he is thinking. This is the same way that Evie sees him. The reader wants to get to know him as much as she does. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like he was given a chance to really come into his own as a character. I would have liked to understand him more. Another character who left me wanting was Evie's mother. She was so self-obsessed and vapid that I couldn't help but dislike her. I kept hoping that she would evolve through the story, but unfortunately she didn't. There was sort of a moment toward the end of the book where she seems to have come to her senses (she left the house without makeup, oh my!) but it was lackluster. The biggest problem I had with the book though was the mystery aspect. The whole story seemed to be leading up to this thrilling ending. Some big epiphany and, instead, it fizzled out. I found myself going, "that's it? It's over?" which is never much fun in my opinion.

Negatives aside, this book does have merit. Some of the characters are very fun to get to know and the story, itself, was very interesting at times. Evie is a sympathetic protagonist with real feelings and insecurities and the story does make you think. I wish that the author would have delved a little deeper into the characters and their relationships with one another, but for the most part the story wasn't bad. I'd recommend this if you want something a little dark, with some quirkiness to it. show less

THE SPACE BETWEEN TREES, by Katie Williams, is a unique tale of two teens outside of the normal cliques of high school. Evie is a loner who tends to make up stories to impress her school girlfriends, and Hadley is one of the "bad girls" who happens to be best friends with the recently murdered girl, Zabet. These girls become friends because of their common ground, Elizabeth/Zabet, and soon Evie is getting more than she bargained for with Hadley.

This book was unlike anything I have read. The title and cover did not reveal much about the actual story. At first sight, I had a feeling it would be a bit mysterious, and I was correct! Throughout the book I was wondering what the "bigger picture" was, and when time came for the big reveal, I show more have to say I was stunned. I have mixed feelings about how the book ended, but after thinking about it, I felt it was appropriate. The story steadily went and I was left expecting a huge surprise ending with big explosions and an "ah-ha!"moment, but that would not have fit with the overall "voice" of the book. It was definitely different and more low-key than I am used to, but not bad!

I did enjoy the fact that the main girls were outside of the normal groups that are usually explored in YA. Neither were popular and were content with that. Evie never took any chances until she met Hadley. And with this new relationship, Evie grew up a lot. With one little stretch of the truth, Evie entered a whirlwind relationship with Hadley that forever changed her. As a side note on characters, I have to say I did not know what to think about Evie's mother. Williams created a character that was strange, and quite entertaining. Every time her mother was present, I was eagerly anticipating what gesture or random thing she would come up with to make me shake my head a smile.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I stepped outside of my comfort-zone with this one and delved deeper into a coming of age novel. Williams has a great writing style and her characters are honest and inventive. I look forward to reading her future works. show less

I literally couldn't put it down as I was speeding towards the book's end...10 pages left and time for bed, NOPE! Simply had to stay up a wee tad longer to see where the author would conclude this interesting addition to the YA genre. The surface story will keep you guessing as the book progresses through twists and turns. The ending, though not what you might have been expecting, holds a power all its own as secrets come to light and a message reveals itself that runs much deeper than the discovery of "who-dun-it". With a fabulous cover to match both title and story, this is one book that will certainly draw readers to its pages. Happy reading!

I wanted to like this book more than I did, to tell the truth. Evie was such a fun, unique character who had a quirky personality that sometimes has the reader embarrassed for her, though she has no idea just how weird she’s being. But the book seemed to drag on, and I was never quite sure what the book was supposed to be about. The ending was very lacking, and I expected much more.

Evie and her new found friend, Hadley, are on the prowl, attempting to find Zabet’s killer. There’s also Jonah, the mysterious college dropout that Evie ’happens to run into’ every Sunday while she’s on her paper route. Every character has their own flaws, some not so obvious until the end.