The Tree-Sitter: A Novel

By Suzanne Matson

Book Overview

Julie Prince is a top college student, destined for conventional success. But then she falls in love with Neil, a radical graduate student, and abandons her privileged East Coast life to tree-sit in the forests of Oregon. At first it is a romantic field trip; soon, though, Julie finds herself increasingly moved by the magnificence of the endangered forest and, like Neil, invested in its protection. Eventually pulled into a militant act of sabotage, Julie is forced to reassess her deepest held loyalties and beliefs.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393060462
• ISBN13: 9780393060461
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Very good...

When I first saw this book, my thought was, "A fictionalized version of "Legacy of Luna." I put it back on the shelf. Later, I found myself drawn back to it. I'm so glad I read it. It reminded me, style wise, of Ann Hood's "Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine." (Hood endorsed the book; perhaps Matson is a protege.) It is a very nicely written examination of extremists in the environmental movement, told through a protagonist who is new to the politics. It is a light read, and yet has substance to it. I think a lot of people will enjoy this.

Tree-Sitter left me uneasy

Tree-Sitter was really well written and left me feeling uneasy for those with an extreme calling. I have always admired Eco-Warriors for their accomplishments. The difficult choices they need to make every day to protect our land. I do not agree with Eco-Terrorism. Violence will not help the cause. I can't wait to read more from Suzanne Matson!

How easy it can be to lose yourself in activism and love

Julie leads a privileged life. She grew up an only child, her mother a successful Boston lawyer, her father an unknown sperm donor. She is finishing up her junior year at Wellesley, a prestigious private college, and has a healthy trust fund waiting for her. One night at a frat party, she meets Neil, who is writing his dissertation on the economics of deforestation. They start dating, so when Neil decides he's had enough of words and statistics and academia in general, Julie agrees to go with him to Oregon, the site of much of the deforestation Neil has been researching. So Julie drives west with Neil and they become part of "the movement." For the first two weeks, they are in the forest, the site of secret camps and living platforms rigged high in old-growth trees to prevent them from being cut down. Julie enjoys herself at first. But it quickly becomes clear that Neil is so obsessed with the cause that he can't see beyond it. He's exceedingly cynical, reminding Julie that that if you try to tell an American about ozone depletion, global warming, and species and habitat destruction, you will get laughed at or categorized as a kook. So he has chosen action, and if people accidentally get hurt as a result of that action, then so be it. Julie's love for Neil causes her to lose herself. She acquiesces to Neil's wishes and desires, whereas he does not do the same for her. She does and says things (or more often DOESN'T do or say things) based solely on how Neil will think and react. At one point, Julie is thinking about Cathy and Mole, two other members of the movement who are somewhat romantically involved. "I wondered how much her involvement with the movement was simply to please him." What is ironic about this observation is that Julie hasn't yet realized that much of her own involvement with the movement is simply to please Neil. This story - narrated in the first person by Julie - is a tale of self-exploration and self-discovery, and a great deal of that has to do with Juile's mother. Throughout the summer, Julie is constantly reflecting on her relationship with her mother. Whenever she has a spare moment for idle thought, she is thinking about something related to her mother. "Running away" with Neil to Oregon for the summer was a rebellious act against her mother, and the consequence seems to be that Julie can't stop thinking about her. Oregonians and other Northewesterners will enjoy the familiar descriptions of this scenic corner of the country, as well some of the local references in this book. My favorite was when Julie is being given a tour of the university town of Eugene, and her guide explains the abundance of coffee shops: "Northwest coffee is a necessary drug to cope with the unrelenting gray and rain." I enjoyed this book a lot. Matson's prose is lovely to read, and the story she tells here is both interesting and informative, without being preachy. Though Julie's story, Matson shows the reader how easy it is to get caught

"I felt our hungers merge into one hunger. I agreed to go"

When Julie Prince spies the smart and charismatic Neil across the room at a weekend University frat party, little does she know how her life will become so interlinked with him. Neil is a left of center Ph.D. student, studying the economics of deforestation on old growth forests. He's also planning to participate in some activism, and is preparing to go to Oregon during the summer to play cat and mouse with some loggers and perhaps help with a planned sit in. From the moment Julie meets him, Neil touches something completely different within her; it's not just his powerful sexual allure that encapsulates her, but also the fact that in every word he says his conviction is like a palpable, almost physical force. Julie's lawyer mother Ginnie, however, is suspicious of this idealistic young man who is intent to put civil disobedience and the willful destruction of property above political jurisprudence. Ginnie is also a worldly realist, blessed with a formidable intellect; she dismisses Neil and his ilk as "impressionable fanatics," and worries whether her daughter is making the right decision in hooking up with him. Her training as a lawyer has made her pragmatic, and she's all too aware that life needs to be built out of compromise, not hair brained activism. Rebelling at her fraught relationship with her mother, "who battles around inside her head, whether she wants her there or not," and pressured by the weight of her longings for her to be this perfect person she had in mind, Julie refuses to listen to her mother's qualms. Armed with enough money from a trust fund established by her late grandfather, she embarks on this romantic, road trip adventure with Neil, convinced that they will both be able to change the world. Upon arrival, the forests completely overwhelm Julie. Moved by the practical beauty of the woods; she feels the trees alive beneath her, part of a tapestry of forest branches, slanted, always changing light, "a feeling of being woven into the tree's purpose and place." And with Neil she begins to feel marooned, in a lovely way, everything elemental and natural, no static from anyone else's expectations. It is in Neil's presence day and night, his smell, and his smile, his voice that grows into her very consciousness, "the boundaries between them becoming indistinct and blurry." The activist group's first confrontation with the loggers is loaded with anger and intimidation. The loggers are determined to proceed with their felling and are intent to ignore the boundaries of the "clear cut." Their attitude, and the damage that they have willingly caused, enrage Julie, and she begins to see the forest as contested ground, each tree like a child in a custody battle. When she eventually gets to tree-sit and sees the clear-cut zone, "stubbed only with stumps and discarded branches, the barrenness so authoritative and total," her commitment to the cause becomes complete. Julie throws herself into supporting Neil's fervor, based

A big book -- and a gorgeous one too

Don't let its brevity fool you: The Three-Sitter is a big book, about major topics. In 246 pages, Suzanne Matson explores first love, true love, what actions we owe the people in our lives, and the price we're willing to pay to pursue our ideals. Add a gorgeous prose, and you have a book that will accompany you long after you've finished reading it.