Savi and the Memory Tree

Thanks to the publishers at Blackstone Publishing for the chance to read “Savi and the Memory Keeper” by Bijal Vachharajani in exchange for an honest review.

Part coming of age, part parable of grief but all love letter to the magic of nature, “Savi and the Memory Keeper” is a sweet little novel about a grieving teenager. Never preachy or mawkish, the book strikes the delicate balance between talking about the need for environmental action and the joy of falling in love with nature.

It’s no surprise that this book centers young people in a fight against climate change. In narrative around climate change, it’s so easy to fall into doom and gloom narratives given how vast and overwhelming the problem is. What “Savi and the Memory Keeper” does is inject humor into the conversation and a level of whimsy that feels irresistible. That’s partly due to Vachharajani’s style of writing, and the way the story cleverly imagines nature as its own form of magic. There aren’t any wizards, or fairies, or ghosts in “Savi”, but there are giant pigeons, sapient wasps, and the vastness of nature itself.

It’s a story that I’m so glad is here for all the little environmentalists in my life, especially for our youth of color.

This book was a great read. The premise was interesting and the handling of grief was powerful. My students will benefit from this title and I am going to try to get a copy for my library.

First of all, I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing this book in exchange to my honest review.

I love the cover and the illustrations inside the book. I also love the way the author articulated the heroine's feelings throughout the story.

Yet, the story itself, while the first half was very promising, the last half was not my cup of tea.

Some things left holes in plot and maybe this was intentional assuming there would be a sequel? I don't know.

I just feel like the book needs more of concrete way for teens to save the trees. Not just some tips from the Ents.

And I also a bit confused about Maharukh’s partner. Was it a she/he? I think it would be best she because naturally, sir is partnering with ma’am. Wasn’t the book is about natural world that needed to be saved?

Hence, 2.5 it was.

When you are about to turn fourteen, you don't even need additional reasons for the entire world to hurt. But Savi has them in abundance: her father has just recently unexpectedly died of a heart attack, and then the remaining family moved from Delhi to the city of Shajarpur, which boasts a perfect climate and where everybody is disgustingly happy. In Shajarpur, weird things start happening to Savi, making her doubt her sanity: trying to keep her father's plants alive, she starts getting weird flashbacks about something the plants witnessed years ago, and the same occurs with the huge ficus tree that grows behind her new school. Savi at first relishes these memories as a connection to her father - but ultimately she reluctantly realizes she becomes a part of an ongoing battle...

As far as understand, the novel had previously been published on the Indian market and is now being prepared for the international audience. I wish there were more explanations for the Indian elements for the international reader!
I also found the depiction of time passage a bit wanting. I know, I know: it is hard to tell a story both on the scale of climate change and on the scale of the development of relationships with new schoolmates.
Moreover, I would say that the target audience is a bit younger than the protagonist herself - just based on how the main conflict is represented. That's not a drawback but something to keep in mind if you are looking to offer the book to a young reader.

Other than that, I totally loved how this book tackles even more than one major important issue and communicates with the young reader about them. One is grief and depression and coping with the loss. (Vachharajani uses a wonderful metaphor of "the purple frog on my heart"). Another, of course, is the topic of how humanity's pursuit of progress affects the environment and makes the planet a bit less liveable place. The novel is a good primer that may give some initial food for thought.

Thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the eARC. The opinion expressed above is fully my own.

this was a beautifully done climate change book, it had a great concept and it did everything that I was hoping for. Bijal Vachharajani has a great writing style that I enjoyed a lot. The plot worked well overall and it had everything that I was looking for, and the characters worked with the story. I enjoyed the magic elements going on and it did everything that was promised.

"No, that’s ridiculous. This was my grief causing me to imagine strange things. I wondered if I should tell Meher, but she’d either laugh at me or show me some social media gyaan on grief or insist I see a therapist. Or maybe she wouldn’t even listen. Mom had enough on her plate. Anyway, what was I going to say? “Hey family, did you know, these plants and this one tree keep telling me all kinds of stuff?”"

Thank you Bijal Vachharajani, Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this free ARC in exchange for a review.

Unfortunately, I only made it 32% through before I gave up. It's marketed as funny, thoughtful, moving and magical, but it mostly seemed like a typical, generic novel about teens. Maybe it gets better and there's more actual magic, but I shouldn't have to read more than 30% of a book before it stops being boring.

This was a sweet and lovable story that felt like sunshine. If you want something to read to put a smile on your face, this is it. It's also a quick read too.