Book Review: Savi and the Memory Keeper

This was my first read of 2022, and I couldn’t have asked for a better book with which to start the year. The book deftly weaves coping with grief, the urgent need for climate action, teenage friendships and the desire to fit in, and the wood wide web to create a book that is absolutely unforgettable.
After the death of her father, Savi, with her family, moves to a city with a perfect climate, and starts attending a school shaped like a samosa. As she struggles to keep her father’s plants alive, she finds that the plants are communicating with her, and she is being shown scenes from the past and the future. Will she be able to use that knowledge to prevent a catastrophe? Or will one more battle be lost in the conflict between development and the environment?

There have been a few books written on the Wood Wide Web- the interconnectedness of trees which they use to communicate with each other, so they can co-ordinate defences and share resources. This is, however, the first YA book that I’ve read that touches upon the theme.

It is in describing how a family copes with grief that the book really shines. Savi, her sister and her mother are each dealing with loss in their own way. Each of them blocks the other out, and tries to drown themselves in their own pursuits hoping that by avoiding grief, they can overcome it. It is only gradually that they realise that each of them is seeking to fill their own void in different ways.

The book deals with weighty subjects, but when you least expect it Bijal sneaks in a light hearted pun, elevating the experience like sea salt in caramel.

Read the book. And after you are done, go out and hug a tree. Put you ears against it’s heart and allow it to whisper its secrets to you.

And yes, Savi is not her real name. Her name is Savitri, and yes, she is named after someone quite amazing.