SuitabookThe Girl Who Became a Tree
Joseph Coelho
- Reading
- Read in short sections, allowing time to notice shifts in poetic form, voice and image. Talk about emotional responses without requiring one interpretation; the ending offers closure, but the middle may need revisiting.
- Themes
- Grief and emotional withdrawal: Daphne distances herself from others and turns towards books, technology and imagination while grieving her father. Grief is shown as disordered, painful and isolating, with the narrative following a gradual movement towards emotional closure rather than presenting a simple progression.
- Books, technology and nature as refuge: Daphne uses a library, her phone, a games console, imagination and natural imagery to block out or make sense of difficult feelings. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Symbolism and poetic form: Daphne’s transformation into a tree and journey through a forest of memories draw on nature imagery, mythology and varied poetic forms. The unusual structure appears designed to mirror mood and emotional change, though the middle section is deliberately oblique and can be bewildering.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the reader would welcome a story centred on a parent’s death, loneliness and sorrow. The haunting mood, intense imagery and surreal transformation may call for pauses, reassurance and discussion.