Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan’s Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family’s Past

TWO TREES MAKE A FOREST is a memoir in which Jessica J. Lee reconnects with her Taiwanese heritage after her grandfather passed away.

Going back to her grandparents’ native land, she found in the landscape a developed and inexplicable affection and need to return again to this place that couldn’t be translated into words. Part memoir, part nature writing, Lee delivers the history and colonization of Taiwan as she walks the island’s hills and cloud forest while also sharing her Taiwanese family history. Through Lee’s exploration of fauna and flora, it was impressive to see how she intertwines the nature with history, which plants have an intimate connection with the people and buildings.

We get to see the troubled relationship/social-political divide between China and Taiwan as well as the familiar Chinese myths (Matsu, Kuafu). When I began to read about Taipei – its familiar food, high-rises and streets – I longed for my memory of Taiwan and like the author, I am often in search for a sense of belonging.
The passages which her mother gets lost with the nature and culture brought to my mind the memory of my mother: of how she would feel if she had the same opportunity to go back to Taiwan since she emigrated.

Our shared love of Taiwanese literature vibrated through the pages and the overall enjoyment of the story was highlighted by the letters from Gong (grandfather). I could tell from the extensive and technical nature details that Lee is an environmental historian, however these palpable descriptions were repetitive at times.
If you enjoy nature writing or want to learn more about Taiwan, this book is for you.

I read this for my book group and we are writing this unanimously. We felt that this book was a missed opportunity, there was a lot more that we wanted to know about her family and we wanted to know a lot less about the flora and fauna. The timelines weren’t logical and the promise of a big reveal was never fulfilled. If you’re really interested in the plants and geology of Taiwan then this is the book for you, but if you’re after a story then…

Wonderful mix of science, nature, personal histories, Taiwanese culture, in a way that doesnt feel too forced or trying to come to a conclusion. Great to learn about Taiwan in this way.

My final book I finished for Canada Reads.

This book is what I would call a slow read, in the way that its not a book that I can sit with and read for long periods of time. I found that with this one I had to consume it in smaller portions.

The story itself is quite beautifully written, the author goes into great detail with her descriptions of the landscape, Chinese characters and their meaning, and how life was in the past in Taiwan. The book itself is well researched in terms of history and geography.

As a contender for Canada Reads, it wasn’t a very strong one as it was the first one eliminated. Not saying that this book doesn’t have any merit, because it does, but for the Canada Reads competition I can see why another work was chosen over this one.

The author does a wonderful job connecting the social and natural history of Taiwan to her family’s story. I learned a lot. A perfect read for dreaming of the outside world during quarantine.

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