Reviews

• I found The Persimmon Tree Narrative to be one man's spiritual journey aided of course by Tree. Profound at the very beginning. Being open minded enough to accept the unseen. To look back through a lifetime with such clarity and honesty even in the face of heartbreak. And Jezu Christmas the humor! A privilege indeed!

  Sharisse S

• Dr. Brookshire relates a unique experience of being introspective while examining one's own areas of improvement and the journey to accomplish positive movement. The story is told with humor and compassion. The experiences are thought provoking while inadvertently causing the reader to relate to their own areas of needed improvement. I highly recommend this book and hope readers enjoy it as much as I did.

  Donna Y

• The author delivers an impressive rendering of a life fully lived, taking the reader on a humorous ride through the ordinary and the unusual, without dodging the unavoidable pain that comes with every life. His creative storytelling invites the reader to appreciate both the forest and the trees.

  Julie P

• In The Persimmon Tree Narrative, Michael Brookshire takes us on a remarkable spiritual and thought provoking journey. Only a master storyteller could produce such an entertaining and reflective dialog with a tree, resulting in the reader actually questioning their own relationships with loved ones as well as the context of the big and the small.

  Lewis P

• The Persimmon Tree Narrative is a sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant telling of one seeker's search. Through his curiosity and repressed pain, he found healing through a most unexpected relationship. If you are open to some tidbits of wisdom to fill the hole in your soul, this just might be the book for you. Spoiler alert: he found what he didn't know he was looking for and it changed his life.

  Doris R

• Even though The Persimmon Tree Narrative seems to chronicle his own experience, the author notes that the book is fiction. The idea of a living tree speaking to a human is fantastical, but the language used to describe the interaction is engaging and entertaining. Michael Brookshire’s ability to paint a vivid picture is astounding and the imagery is superb! The conversations between Mike and Tree cover many subjects, from football, grief, and dimensions to humor, aging, and anger-related issues as the tree reveals everything and nothing, Mike explores his own feelings about what he knows or thought he knew more deeply. A writer who can rationalize the viewpoints of the tree and a character, even one fashioned after himself, with the clarity reflected in the narrative has both a strong analytical and creative mind. I recommend the book to readers who like amusing fiction with a healthy dose of thought-provoking content.

  Excerpt of review by Courtnee Turner Hoyle for Readers' Favorite

• “The Persimmon Tree Narrative” by Michael Brookshire is a spiritual book with an intriguing premise. It is told from the first-person perspective, following the main character’s conversations with the tree spanning six years. Their engaging, often philosophical discussions were delivered in a way that made me see things in a new light. Questions and statements posed by the tree sparked further rumination. Further, Michael’s revelations regarding human existence, his mortality, and the All fed my curiosity... This is not a book that can be absorbed in one sitting—it needs to percolate. For me, that meant a few nights of tossing and turning while the proverbial wheels in my brain furiously turned, yearning to find answers to existential questions. What do human lives mean in the grand scheme of things? Why do I matter, and are my fears protecting me, or are they holding me back? Through the interactions between Michael and the tree, the author has done a compelling job of taking readers by the hand and leading them down a path of self-discovery.

  Excerpt of review by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (10/22)

• Michael Brookshire’s riveting tale, The Persimmon Tree Narrative, reads like a memoir, a piece of creative nonfiction that is both intellectual and inspiring, as well as packed with humor, grief, and all the diverse emotions within the human psyche. Told in the first person narrative, this is Mike’s story, and from the very beginning of the unusual and unexpected first meeting with Tree that prompted Mike to tumble into the world of insanity, readers will embrace both the complexity and simplicity that abound in this narrative. Although tragedy strikes everyone at some point in their lives, this is generally a happy tale of a simpler life, one for which we all crave despite our insidious desires to allow complications to intrude. The narrative flows smoothly with engaging dialogue between Mike and Tree, and the characters of both (if one could define Tree for his/her character) are equally well developed. Powerful, sensitive, and simple, like Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, this narrative is a journey you don’t want to miss.

  Excerpt of review by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

• In The Persimmon Tree Narrative by Michael Brookshire, the author has written a book that will have the reader reading and then walking away to digest what they have read, and then promptly returning to read some more. Brookshire’s narrative is wickedly truthful and with underlying hints of humor and life’s death blows, and is narrated with a very dry sense of humor... The Persimmon Tree Narrative is full of humor as well as being very true to life if you have the courage to examine your life objectively and not color it with what you would like it to be. Thank you to Michael Brookshire for allowing me the faint hope that I am not going insane. It is a lovely read. This is definitely a book that is worth being read more than once

  Excerpt of review by Bernadette Longu for Readers' Favorite

• I felt through your words that all humanness is related to the universal language of love; with help we bravely transform life's tragedies and triumphs into courage and dare to put ourselves somewhere out there in the universe. We are ultimately rewarded many times over.

  Lynn R.

• Not since Aesop's Fables has there been such a collection of parables used to teach values in our world today.

  Bob H.

• A deceptively simple, funny, touching tale of spiritual growth. The book is a joy to read and a beacon of light for becoming our best selves. Thank you Tree and Mike!

  Karen F.

• The author has a unique narrative style, quirky, and original with regional overtones. The growth of both main characters throughout is surprising and heartwarming.

  Beth M.

• "The Persimmon Tree Narrative is a tightly written book about a person's exploration of the meaning of life as they approach their later years, but with the assistance of a talking tree. The tree guides the protagonist into understanding that even though there are no ultimate answers, one can live life with confidence and meaning. Highly recommended."

  Frank S.

• "Dr.Brookshire's imagination is as bold as his college school colors. This is an excellent read that inspires creative thoughts. Well done."

  Howard V.