Another book I read so long ago that all I remember is that I enjoyed it very, very much. ( )

Evergreen—the first in the Werner Family Saga—is Anna's moving story, a poor Polish girl, who at fifteen, leaves her small village and immigrates to America in hopes of a better life. After falling in love with the wealthy, unattainable American, Paul Werner, she marries Joseph Friedman, a Jewish man who worships her. As their family grows, Anna maintains a secret relationship with Paul but always puts her husband and family's love before her heart. Anna and Joseph's lives bear witness to the immigrants' realization of the American dream, as Joseph builds his real estate empire while surviving two world wars and the great depression. Through acquaintances and Anna's extended family, their story also documents the Jewish people's persecution throughout Europe and the prejudices that follow them to America. I loved the characters in this book. They are complex and authentic—flawed and vulnerable. The author describes their struggles with identity, self-worth, love, and sacrifices with graceful insights into the heart of what we all face in our lives. ( )

AG-5

There are authors who can take a segment of time as little as a year, a month, or a day in one character’s life and write an award-winning novel. And then there are authors who have a story to tell. Some may not produce the polished prose of a Pulitzer Prize winner, but tremendous beauty is captured in their mesmerizing saga. That is the category in which Belva Plain’s "Evergreen" falls.

"Evergreen" was first published in 1978. Though it did not win any literary awards, the book did top the New York Times best seller list for a record 41 weeks. It is a novel of epic proportions - the story of a young orphaned Jewish girl from Poland who migrates to America to live in New York City with distant relatives. Taking the reader from 1906 when Anna is a naive, wide eyed, enthusiastic child of 12 years old, to 1972 at age 78, she has become a very wise sophisticated, loving grandmother.

"Evergreen" touches on many life altering world events and cultural issues of the passing decades: World War I, the Depression, World War II and the economic boom that followed, and the Vietnam War. Encompassing love, marriage, children and grand-children, a life of sacrifice and luxury, misfortune and tragedy through which Anna finds great joy and tremendous sorrow. The most prominent cultural issues emphasized are anti-Semitism, interfaith marriage, infidelity, and alcoholism. It is a story of family and tradition, and watching everything change as time passes: customs, manners, fashion, family values, and life styles.

It is not a perfect novel. Belva Plain falls short in detailing historical data. Often skipping over entire eras with broad strokes, she sometimes creates a choppy disconnect in the reading. The protagonist, Anna, being of Jewish descent, does suffer the loss of relatives in the Holocaust. But being safely tucked away in America the reader gets very little feeling of the kind of emotional upheaval experienced in Europe. Maybe that’s the way it really was during World War II. American families were primarily concerned with their own loved ones going off to fight. And of making ends meet with all the young able-bodied men gone, food and gas being rationed, and shortages of nearly everything.

Some reviewers found "Evergreen" to be outdated, stating they enjoyed it more years ago as a contemporary novel. My reading experience was quite the opposite. Rereading "Evergreen" as an older mature woman, I could readily relate to Anna. I now have more compassion for her situation- now thoroughly appreciate her life journey. And reading "Evergreen" forty years after publication as historical fiction emphasizes the eternal cycle of human life, from cradle to grave, generation after generation.

"Evergreen" stands alone as a complete story but if you really enjoy it, Belva Plain also wrote several other books about the Werner family; "The Golden Cup", "Tapestry", and "Harvest". ( )

Just as good as I remember it. The first time I read this book I was 20 years old. Now at 36, I'm seeing it through more mature eyes, and I'm learning new things. Belva Plain is a master of the family saga, and this book is everything I want from this genre. I can't wait to continue reading the Werner Family Saga books. ( )