RollnSmoke Reviews: THE MAYTREES

THE MAYTREES by Annie Dillard (Harper Perennial, 2008). Toby Maytree, a Provincetown native and poet, falls in love and marries young, quiet and beautiful Lou. They live for years among friends, straw hats and the sand dunes on Cape Cod, itself a compelling character in its seasonal and shifting landscape. This portrait of an abiding marriage – a varying patchwork of glimpses into a long-lived relationship -- is old school, its words poetic and often formal. When Maytree abruptly runs off with their eccentric friend, Deary, the tone shifts from romance to contempt, the ruminations filled with rationalization and betrayal. When Maytree finally returns to Provincetown after a 20-year silence, the circumstances are nearly scandalous -- manifest in the conflicting feelings that arise in their grown son, Pete -- and reveal Maytree’s self-absorption and Lou’s wise generosity. (8/10).