Hoewel het boek de sfeer van net na de oorlog ademt, is de taal fris en actueel. De emoties en psychologische verwikkelingen worden onderkoeld en scherp in beeld gebracht, zonder zweem van freudiaans geïnspireerde zwaarmoedigheid. Het boek had ook vandaag (maar dan als historische roman) uitgebracht kunnen zijn. ( )

At root (no pun intended), The Tree and the Vine is an exceptionally told story of repression and regret. It tells the story of the erratic Erica as seen through the eyes of Bea, the friend who grows increasingly obsessed with Erica but refuses to makes sense of what she feels. The story is told in retrospect by Bea after she has come to realize that Erica was the event of her life and the most poignant emotional opportunity that she missed.

As a Jew living in the occupied Netherlands during WWII, Erica comes to a predictably bad end, but Bea's end, though she lives, is certainly nothing less than tragic as well. The novel is exceptional in the way in which Bea is able to tell of her refusal to participate in a life that obviously obsessed her from the perspective of an older woman for whom the past has now come into focus. Or has it? The psychological nuances of the story are both complex and perplexing. A good read, though highly depressing and somewhat slow for such a short book. ( )