BOOK: Pears On A Willow Tree

AUTHOR: Leslie Pietrzyk

SUMMARY: This novel, with its unique title, is a multigenerational story of four Polish-American women. It traces the family's evolution from 1919 through the 1980. Rich in Polish traditions it starts with a recipe for pierogi and ends with one for poppy-seed cake. We meet Rose as she emigrates from Poland. She is a strong matriarchal figure who wants to preserve the old ways. Her daughter, Helen, is a first generation American who assimilates into life in Detroit while accepting the importance of the Old Country ways. Ginger, the next generation, has the most difficult time. She is angry and depends on alcohol as her lifeblood. She is the first Marchewka woman to leave Detroit. She raises her daughter in the American West, away from the safety and suffocation of her extended family. Amy, as Rose's great granddaughter, brings the family full circle. Leaving her alcohol dependent mother for a job teaching in Thailand she returns to this country after her mother's death. She shows us that there is room for both the Old World and the New. Each chapter is a monologue or a dialog featuring one of the four women in this Polish-American clan. The author uses this device to present more than one point of view. It shows us a compassionate family that has learned through struggle to survive and move beyond tangled relationships and complex emotions. The discussion of this book was quite lively and lengthy. Many readers said, "I know these women!" We truly liked this book.

PLOT: This Polish page-turner is a real charmer. It is thought provoking with wonderful character development. Each of these distinct people has much to share with us. The roles which these women filled are what were expected and relegated to women by each generation. The author shows us the closeness, struggles, traditions and the Americanization of four generations of one family. They are bound together by history but misunderstandings occur between generations because of lack of communication. It could have been about any immigrant culture but people of Polish heritage find a lot to enjoy and ponder. The author uses a story of wolves in the snow as a parable. Rose recounts it in a letter to her Matka(mother) in the beginning of the book. At the end of the book, Amy is putting the words and her drawings together in The Night The Wolves Ran Through the Snow " with a blue ribbon, my daughter's favorite color".

ASK YOURSELF: The old ways didn't follow us here. We brought them with us as any piece of china or candlestick or photograph, wrapping them carefully as we did all of our treasures…." Are our heirlooms more than objects?

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