The Silence of the Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu promised to draw me into the mysticism of gypsy magic and fortunetellers. Rather it drew me into a story about a woman named Nadya Lysenko who ran away from her home country of Ukraine to Chicago, which holds its own Ukraine village; during the aftermath of World War II. The back cover spoke of a gypsy's prophecy and it led me to believe that this would be yet another fictional tale written for pure entertainment and that literary amnesia that sometimes takes over with unmemorable tales. Instead Nadya made me feel the havoc that the beginning of World War II brought on so many people and made it personal. Her tale of her first love made me think of my own and I felt her pain so easily. The tale quickly brought me to a modern time of Urban Chicago. By chapter four I was reading the thoughts of a 70 year old Nadya, remembering her youth. I liked the fact that this novel was not written in chronological order. The fact that the first three chapters were written from the perspective of a sixteen year old Nadya made the narrator trustworthy to provide the basis of the story. While the flashback tactic used through the rest of the novel provided mature insight into Nadya's past and present. Having worked so hard to hide the pain and questionable adventures Nadya has become the identity she made for herself to be someone she thought her children, grandchildren and grand-grandchildren wanted her to be. However, the traditions and spirits of her past combined with the spiritual influences of her present enable her to slowly peel the layers of paint from the concrete wall of her past. Becoming who she used to be allowed her to finally become who she truly was. This novel not only left me anxious to read the next passage but in tears for the adversity that had to be fought throughout. More importantly, it left me nostalgic for my own country, for folklore and for tradition. Because we are nothing without our past.~Timea Kernacova~
