Under the Family Tree

By: Gary Feinstein
Publisher: RiverQuest Publishing
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9910687-0-3
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle
Review Date: September 16, 2024

Under the Family Tree by Gary Feinstein is a story in which sixteen-year-old Dakota Lodi isn’t your average teenager. Along with the common things such as boys, school, and friends, Dakota has a few significant issues she’s dealing with on a daily basis. Not only is her mom drinking heavily and doing some serious drugs, but also Dakota has come to a point in her life in which she thinks it’s time she gets to meet her father, who was never in her life growing up. No matter how many times she has asked her mother for details of her father, her mother gets uncomfortable and skirts the topic. Dakota is determined that one way or another she is going to find out information about her father and see if he’s alive or not.

After one too many drug and alcohol binges, Dakota’s mom is at the wrong place at the wrong time, and gets arrested. Since Dakota is still a minor, there’s no other family who can take her in except her grandmother. Although that sounds like a great plan, her grandmother hasn’t been in Dakota or her own daughter’s lives, by choice, for quite a few years. Dakota’s mom has caused her own mom too much stress and aggravation to want to be an active part of their lives. So when her grandmother hears she is the only person who can take Dakota in, she’s not thrilled with the decision, but takes her granddaughter in nonetheless. It’s while Dakota is staying with her grandmother that she decides to start her own research in finding out any and all information she can about her father. After convincing her grandmother to help her do a DNA test, Dakota is determined that she will find her father one way or another. But when she receives a DNA hit from someone, she’s not sure how she should proceed. Who does Dakota match with in the DNA testing? Does the testing help her find her father? What other information does she find out?

The first thing that came to this reviewer’s mind was just how complicated Dakota’s life truly was. Instead of her worrying about who she might have a crush on or what her and her best friend, Rosie, were going to do together over the weekend, Dakota was worrying about her mother drinking and doing drugs too much, which one day may lead to her mother doing such a mixture that could cause her to not wake up. Her mother was truly being selfish in taking care of only her needs and none of her daughter’s needs. I felt that Dakota was better off staying with her grandmother even though that wasn’t the most ideal situation for the either of them.

What was admirable was just how determined Dakota was in finding any information out about her father. Since her mother was useless in supplying Dakota any information, it was refreshing to see her unwavering in trying to find who her father was and whether or not he was still alive. It was extremely important for Dakota to finally find out some kind of information about him and she resorted to any means to achieve her goal. At times, she chose some undesirable actions just to achieve a small tidbit of information, which didn’t always pan out to be the truth. Seeing a sixteen-year-old so determined in achieving her goal was refreshing and made reading her story a pleasurable experience for this adult reader.

One thing worth mentioning was that even though this story was written with teens in mind, there were plenty of references written throughout this story, on varying topics, that adults can easily relate to from their past or present life. So although this book is under the teen category, adults can easily find themselves enjoying this coming of age story.

Quill says: Under the Family Tree by Gary Feinstein is one story where readers will find themselves investing in both their time and emotions and because of this, they’ll hope that Dakota finds the peace she’s looking for with whatever information she does find. Well done!

For more information on Under the Family Tree, please visit the author's website at: www.garyfeinstein.com/