Do kielbasa and sauerkraut taste better on an expensive plate trimmed in gold? Are 12 jars of homemade pickles an appropriate gift for newlyweds? Can a family with deep roots in Poland produce a generational harvest in America?
Those questions — and many more — flow from the pen of Leslie Pietrzyk in a book as multi-faceted as a diamond and just as fascinating.
Pears on a Willow Tree tells the story of the four Marchewka women — as different as the points on a compass, each maneuvering her own voyage in life’s journey, balancing the traditions of an immigrant family from the Old World while adapting to the ever-new, ever-changing terrain of a New World that doesn’t always welcome newcomers.
Rose, who leaves her mother behind in Poland and goes to America; Helen, who grows up in Detroit and never leaves; Ginger, who was ready as a child to leave the grey skies of Michigan and the suffocating emotional bonds of family life; and, Amy, who eventually travels to Thailand to find her place in this world.
Imagine four individuals, each standing on the corner of a four-way stop describing an accident that happened right in from of them. Then think about the four spending the rest of their lives trying to reconcile what they saw while hearing reports from the others. That’s an over-simplification of the swirling-twirling emotional twists and turns woven into Pears on a Willow Tree.
Pietrzyk handles the intricacy of multi-level, multi-generational relationships with skill and purpose. Each Marchewka woman — Rose, Helen, Ginger, and Amy — gets the chance to share what she saw unfold from her position in time and space. Understandably, each sees something different — and the fact that the women are admittedly stubborn (and each subsequent generation is progressively more American) makes interpersonal interaction ever more complicated.
It should be noted that food, as it does in so many immigrant families, plays a key role in this saga — and the Marchewka women making pierogi (pih-ROH-ghee) in Rose’s kitchen (beginning on page 2) is a Keystone Cops adventure worth the price of admission all by itself.
Amidst the flying flour and shouts of ingredients, there’s even a semi-sacrilegious moment, when Helen says, “I saw they’ve got ready-made pierogi at Kroger…”
Her daughter Ginger asks, “Are They good?”
To which the seasoned grandma authoritatively responds, “Who would buy them?”
But Pears on a Willow Tree isn’t a lively “Brady Bunch” episode — though it does have its lighter moments. Rose’s journey to America and struggle to adjust will resonant with most immigrant families. Helen’s dichotomy of having one foot firmly planted in each world illustrates her inability to leave either. Ginger’s desperate desire to escape the chains of family and tradition are unsettling at best and tumultuous the rest of the time. Amy’s freedom to make her own choices ends up landing her in Thailand — a country so exotic that neither her Polish roots nor her American upbringing fully prepare her for what she finds.
Suffice to say that Pears on a Willow Tree mixes up batches of humor, drama, success, and tragedy — each served up with its own distinct texture and taste.
AMAZON:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049B1VVI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
