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The Sapling: A Novel
An exquisite debut autobiographical novel about a powerful bond between a young boy and his teacher; an excavation of art, memory, grief, and transformative love.
At the beginning of sixth grade, newly admitted to a special school for the arts, Marc meets Klara Bloem. Klara is an art teacher, an immigrant to Toronto from South Africa, a devoted naturalist, a painter, and a passionate reader. Marc, an introspective boy experiencing upheavals at home and with friends, instantly connects with Klara’s sharp sense of humor, her keen attention, and her passion for books and art—and it’s clear she feels their connection, too.
She is forty-four; he is twelve.
Those first years glow with special intensity. As Marc and Klara spend hours on the phone, snapping photographs in woods and fields, immersed in the art and curios of her past life in South Africa, and exchanging letters over summer break, Marc feels the creative potential she sees in him beginning to take shape. But he also feels the scrutiny their unusual connection attracts. When he moves on to high school, their calls become less frequent, and their visits grow short. As the memories of those days become hazy and hard to access, he misses the brilliance of their early connection. Years later, when he is working as an actor in Los Angeles, Klara’s daughter Eva reaches out to deliver heartbreaking news, and it all comes rushing back in a flush of color.
With a rare and dazzling tenderness, Bendavid offers us a deep glimpse into an unusual bond, its loss, and the questions it raises. In the tradition of writers like André Aciman, Ben Lerner, and Sheila Heti, Jacarandas vibrates with the tension of the everyday, and with the world of beauty that lives just beyond.
At the beginning of sixth grade, newly admitted to a special school for the arts, Marc meets Klara Bloem. Klara is an art teacher, an immigrant to Toronto from South Africa, a devoted naturalist, a painter, and a passionate reader. Marc, an introspective boy experiencing upheavals at home and with friends, instantly connects with Klara’s sharp sense of humor, her keen attention, and her passion for books and art—and it’s clear she feels their connection, too.
She is forty-four; he is twelve.
Those first years glow with special intensity. As Marc and Klara spend hours on the phone, snapping photographs in woods and fields, immersed in the art and curios of her past life in South Africa, and exchanging letters over summer break, Marc feels the creative potential she sees in him beginning to take shape. But he also feels the scrutiny their unusual connection attracts. When he moves on to high school, their calls become less frequent, and their visits grow short. As the memories of those days become hazy and hard to access, he misses the brilliance of their early connection. Years later, when he is working as an actor in Los Angeles, Klara’s daughter Eva reaches out to deliver heartbreaking news, and it all comes rushing back in a flush of color.
With a rare and dazzling tenderness, Bendavid offers us a deep glimpse into an unusual bond, its loss, and the questions it raises. In the tradition of writers like André Aciman, Ben Lerner, and Sheila Heti, Jacarandas vibrates with the tension of the everyday, and with the world of beauty that lives just beyond.
- GenresCanada
288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 1, 2025
I’ve sat on this one for a couple of days before posting. There’s something about this book. I hadn’t realised that it was autobiographical - autofiction - as I was reading it. Not sure how I missed that but apparently I did.
I’m left wondering whether that changes my reaction to this title at all. I think not, but…
This is creepy - but at the same time it’s quite beautiful. Or should I have that reversed? That it is beautiful but really creepy?
On page 66 there’s a line about how there is ‘… something sinister’ about the suburbs. My reply to that was: Hah hah! There is something sinister about this book. We have a (presumably) unreliable narrator - only seeing his perspective, his interpretation of events… and I am left wondering WTF is going on here. This is totally unsettling (I think to anyone, not just because I was a teacher).
What if I’d known it was auto-fiction while reading? Would my responses have been any different? I hope not… but… the degree of intimacy between the two is, as mentioned above, so creepy. The scene from which the title derives is really really creepy.
This is a very unsettling read… but it was a compulsive read. I sat and read it in one go. Yes it is relatively short - lots of pages with no text, or minimal text. I was drawn to it, and didn’t want to put it down, notwithstanding that I was questioning the sanity of the protagonist and the motivation of the teacher (which I never really did figure out to my satisfaction). Why she engages like this? Did she actually engage like this? (Apparently so…)
There is a line - on page 202 - where Marc asserts that “I begin to realise how much of our friendship has existed in the imaginary, and for how long.” Well that had me wondering all over again. Is this real or fantasy? Is he sane? Or delusional?
Again… had I realised that this was auto-fiction, would it have landed the same way?? I just don’t know… Does it matter? I just don’t know… seeing as the deed has been done and I read it through that lens. I can’t unring that bell.
There are other things going for this title as well - not big deals, mostly in passing, but they land: about Jewishness; about South Africa and apartheid; about quality of life and MAiD.
And for sure even though the author - though born and raised in Canada - is now living between Toronto and L.A… this is a love letter to Toronto and the surrounding burbs. Clearly identifiable locations and schools (even where not named - he must have gone to Claude Watson before Unionville High School? A school field trip to the AGO to see the Barnes Exhibit (I remember when that was the hottest ticket in town!!) References to streets and landscape features (i.e. Mill Pond) in the top end of the city and the area to the north (Vaughn, Aurora, Richmond Hill, etc.).
As I mentioned at the start… I’ve thought about this for a couple of days now. I wasn’t sure whether to score this high or low… and I think I’ll go middle to high.
There’s something about this book…
I’m left wondering whether that changes my reaction to this title at all. I think not, but…
This is creepy - but at the same time it’s quite beautiful. Or should I have that reversed? That it is beautiful but really creepy?
On page 66 there’s a line about how there is ‘… something sinister’ about the suburbs. My reply to that was: Hah hah! There is something sinister about this book. We have a (presumably) unreliable narrator - only seeing his perspective, his interpretation of events… and I am left wondering WTF is going on here. This is totally unsettling (I think to anyone, not just because I was a teacher).
What if I’d known it was auto-fiction while reading? Would my responses have been any different? I hope not… but… the degree of intimacy between the two is, as mentioned above, so creepy. The scene from which the title derives is really really creepy.
This is a very unsettling read… but it was a compulsive read. I sat and read it in one go. Yes it is relatively short - lots of pages with no text, or minimal text. I was drawn to it, and didn’t want to put it down, notwithstanding that I was questioning the sanity of the protagonist and the motivation of the teacher (which I never really did figure out to my satisfaction). Why she engages like this? Did she actually engage like this? (Apparently so…)
There is a line - on page 202 - where Marc asserts that “I begin to realise how much of our friendship has existed in the imaginary, and for how long.” Well that had me wondering all over again. Is this real or fantasy? Is he sane? Or delusional?
Again… had I realised that this was auto-fiction, would it have landed the same way?? I just don’t know… Does it matter? I just don’t know… seeing as the deed has been done and I read it through that lens. I can’t unring that bell.
There are other things going for this title as well - not big deals, mostly in passing, but they land: about Jewishness; about South Africa and apartheid; about quality of life and MAiD.
And for sure even though the author - though born and raised in Canada - is now living between Toronto and L.A… this is a love letter to Toronto and the surrounding burbs. Clearly identifiable locations and schools (even where not named - he must have gone to Claude Watson before Unionville High School? A school field trip to the AGO to see the Barnes Exhibit (I remember when that was the hottest ticket in town!!) References to streets and landscape features (i.e. Mill Pond) in the top end of the city and the area to the north (Vaughn, Aurora, Richmond Hill, etc.).
As I mentioned at the start… I’ve thought about this for a couple of days now. I wasn’t sure whether to score this high or low… and I think I’ll go middle to high.
There’s something about this book…
October 23, 2025
This autobiographical novel of an unsettling and intense relationship between a young boy and his much older teacher, Klara, riveted me. Marc is looking back and trying to make sense of his experiences in this relationship. While the relationship was intense and had a lot of shared intimacy, it was not sexual. But there was definitely a secretive aspect to it that made me, the reader, feel creeped out and waiting for it to cross the line into the sexual. While many, if not most, readers today would consider it crossed a line, the fact that it remained nonsexual is part of what I found really intriguing as it raised a lot of questions.
Having had my own experience of mentoring that later turned into friendship (when I was a young adult) with a middle school music teacher, this can be a very meaningful experience. Later, as a university professor I reflected constantly on the appropriate ways to mentor students, especially those from marginalized groups, for whom mentors are often an important factor. Now, I know this isn’t what was happening in this book, but it’s part of the reason I found the tensions and boundaries to be so rich in this book. Marc’s relationship with Klara was powerfully impactful in his future life direction, but I kept feeling it was too intense and took up too much space in his life, because of his age at the time. We don’t know how he will assess the relationship after having written about it. Did it give him the lifeline he needed to make future life choices or was it too much of an obsession for a child that marked him for the rest of his years in an undue way?
This brings me then to the question of what is love. Klara seemed to feed a need of young Marc’s soul that wasn’t being met elsewhere. But we keep banging up against the question of whether it was ok… This kind of love doesn’t really have a name in English. And while power had a huge role, doesn’t it often play a big role in love?
Finally, the theme of grief was beautifully and powerfully expressed.
Bendavid is a gorgeous writer and I just want to read more of anything he writes. I’m hoping that having gotten this book out, he has more in him. It was one of my favourite books of the last few years.
Having had my own experience of mentoring that later turned into friendship (when I was a young adult) with a middle school music teacher, this can be a very meaningful experience. Later, as a university professor I reflected constantly on the appropriate ways to mentor students, especially those from marginalized groups, for whom mentors are often an important factor. Now, I know this isn’t what was happening in this book, but it’s part of the reason I found the tensions and boundaries to be so rich in this book. Marc’s relationship with Klara was powerfully impactful in his future life direction, but I kept feeling it was too intense and took up too much space in his life, because of his age at the time. We don’t know how he will assess the relationship after having written about it. Did it give him the lifeline he needed to make future life choices or was it too much of an obsession for a child that marked him for the rest of his years in an undue way?
This brings me then to the question of what is love. Klara seemed to feed a need of young Marc’s soul that wasn’t being met elsewhere. But we keep banging up against the question of whether it was ok… This kind of love doesn’t really have a name in English. And while power had a huge role, doesn’t it often play a big role in love?
Finally, the theme of grief was beautifully and powerfully expressed.
Bendavid is a gorgeous writer and I just want to read more of anything he writes. I’m hoping that having gotten this book out, he has more in him. It was one of my favourite books of the last few years.
September 25, 2025
This book quickly became one of my favourite books of all time, and is the best book of 2025. The writing style was beautiful, the words flowed and melted together, all so unique but fit together well. His descriptions of nature and art were surreal, I felt I was in the forest and present with the art.
It was fast paced in the sense the days and years flew by quick, but I didn’t feel like anything was missing, I felt like I was with them for their lifetime, it was incredible to be with them through this unique relationship and explore their development. I truly felt I understood the love and care Marc had for Klara, and the grief was palpable.
I cried numerous times while reading this, and sobbed for quite a while upon finishing. It provided me with so much insight into my own feelings regarding safe adults in my life, and put me in touch with my own longing and grief. My heart was physically aching.
It was fast paced in the sense the days and years flew by quick, but I didn’t feel like anything was missing, I felt like I was with them for their lifetime, it was incredible to be with them through this unique relationship and explore their development. I truly felt I understood the love and care Marc had for Klara, and the grief was palpable.
I cried numerous times while reading this, and sobbed for quite a while upon finishing. It provided me with so much insight into my own feelings regarding safe adults in my life, and put me in touch with my own longing and grief. My heart was physically aching.
January 31, 2026
To say I was swept away by this book is an understatement. It put me in a mood. A very specific one, one which I only allow certain people to see. It is a mood beyond the real and I thrive there.
If you have never had an all-consuming friendship (is that even the right word?) you may not have a way into this book. But it spoke to me.
To be a part of such a relationship is a gift, though it comes with pain built in as it inevitably ends. Worth it.
The fragility is beautifully captured. I am moved and in sorrow and in gratitude simultaneously.
I read it as a memoir, because it is impossible to conjure this type of connection if you haven’t experienced it.
Cried my eyes out at the end and at the epilogue. I’ve missed you horribly.
“Our intimacy was one of the most precious things I had ever possessed. I was a child, I understood the impulse to destroy things that are strange.”
“You asked for the letters back.
The only moment of confusion, of real pain, in the entirety of our friendship.”
“It was an astonishing sight, one of those moments when, in the total seizure of my senses, I felt my conception of the world, of its expansive strangeness and beauty, lurch forward, and from that unsteady new place a more intense reality—more terrifying, but undeniably more beautiful—was revealed to me.”
“Then I ask if you remember the books on Lascaux, the search I understood to find it for you. The soaring parade of animals that was first revealed by the light of a torch.
I tell you that for me, the torch was you.”
If you have never had an all-consuming friendship (is that even the right word?) you may not have a way into this book. But it spoke to me.
To be a part of such a relationship is a gift, though it comes with pain built in as it inevitably ends. Worth it.
The fragility is beautifully captured. I am moved and in sorrow and in gratitude simultaneously.
I read it as a memoir, because it is impossible to conjure this type of connection if you haven’t experienced it.
Cried my eyes out at the end and at the epilogue. I’ve missed you horribly.
“Our intimacy was one of the most precious things I had ever possessed. I was a child, I understood the impulse to destroy things that are strange.”
“You asked for the letters back.
The only moment of confusion, of real pain, in the entirety of our friendship.”
“It was an astonishing sight, one of those moments when, in the total seizure of my senses, I felt my conception of the world, of its expansive strangeness and beauty, lurch forward, and from that unsteady new place a more intense reality—more terrifying, but undeniably more beautiful—was revealed to me.”
“Then I ask if you remember the books on Lascaux, the search I understood to find it for you. The soaring parade of animals that was first revealed by the light of a torch.
I tell you that for me, the torch was you.”
September 26, 2025
An autobiographical coming-of-age novel about an unconventional friendship between a student and his teacher.
At the beginning of grade 6, Marc is admitted to a school of the arts in Toronto where he meets art teacher, Klara Bloem, an immigrant from South Africa who is a mother to three children around Marc's age. The two are kindred spirits bonding over a love of art, books and nature - he is 12 years old and she is 44.
The relationship is intense during Marc's middle school years with hours spent on the phone, get-togethers outside of school and long letters during summer breaks. Their contact becomes less frequent as he moves to high school and then into adulthood and Marc misses the connection they once had.
The Sapling is beautifully-written - a fascinating, although admittedly a bit disconcerting, debut novel. I was completely absorbed in this thoughtful character focused story. Such a tender, touching exploration of an important relationship in one young man's life and how it changed over 25 years.
At the beginning of grade 6, Marc is admitted to a school of the arts in Toronto where he meets art teacher, Klara Bloem, an immigrant from South Africa who is a mother to three children around Marc's age. The two are kindred spirits bonding over a love of art, books and nature - he is 12 years old and she is 44.
The relationship is intense during Marc's middle school years with hours spent on the phone, get-togethers outside of school and long letters during summer breaks. Their contact becomes less frequent as he moves to high school and then into adulthood and Marc misses the connection they once had.
The Sapling is beautifully-written - a fascinating, although admittedly a bit disconcerting, debut novel. I was completely absorbed in this thoughtful character focused story. Such a tender, touching exploration of an important relationship in one young man's life and how it changed over 25 years.
April 17, 2026
I am not sure it is really that deep. Is this really anything more than a young lad having a crush on the teacher and the relationship to some extent lasts for the rest of her life? I have some notes I will add in here, but at the end of the day, I am not sure that I see this as more than that. It seems to be one long love letter from him to his elementary teacher.
My notes:
I appreciated this early on because it seems to be a teacher who needs a caring adult in his life.
But, this is a student who is obsessed. He skirts the appropriate, using the word love a lot.
I am going to hedge a little about the appropriateness of the relationship. There is no doubt that there are a number of instances in which the relationship is on the line a bit. However, I have had lots of students in the past who have a bigger connection with me than others. However, none of them are at my house, none of them are having private meetings with me and many are happy to see me in the community later in life, but nothing beyond fond memories.
But, at least according to his recount, nothing seems over the top as far as how she treated him or what their relationship entailed.
I do think the vast amount of confusion is with his own brain. We see many examples of his lack of true recognition that this is an adult and he is not an adult. For example, when they were going to her car: He indicates that he never thought of her as capable of driving. He understood that other teachers drove.......
The painting of his bedroom. Could have been a completely wholesome activity. At this point my brain is still wondering where this is going, what is actually happening?
To further the infatuation part of this book. He always talks about wanting more. He does not really discuss why he needed more from this adult and why he does not have significant relationships with people his own age.
Shira has concerns: She is your art teacher. And your friend, she sees you outside of school. This is not normal. What is she seeing beyond what is written?
Why is this not an 8. One reason is, for a short book, there were tedious sections that really just fills space. Eg. The silkworm eggs. I know he is highlighting the things that he and his teacher care about at the same time, but these items became tedious for me.
And, why did she ask for the letters back. Whats in them? Did she realize that he loved her more than he should. Did she have something in them that should not be there. Did she have feelings that should not be there.
Did she really take baths in the sink at school, or that his memory messed up? Either way, she talks about being naked to a 14 year old. Then he says that he saw his parents naked for as long as he can remember......WTH
She had similar oddness about her, When Anton asked him to look at his sculpture that was clearly created of her family nude. I understand art but my family would never get nude together in the name of art.
That is where I stopped with the notes.
So, where does this land:
I was prepared to say, I am not sure there is anything inappropriate about the relationship.....but there were flags. Since this is a created by him, with only his memory being used, what are we not being told.
Even without that little flag, I really did not think that this had that much substance.
When he became an adult and they could have a genuine relationship, they barely had one. Maybe two times a year they would talk. It seems to me, that the theme should have been that he holds this relationship higher in his level importance than she did. I know that she seemed quite happy to see him when she did, but again, based on his recollection only.
Despite those concerns, I did enjoy it, because the writing is quite poetic overall.
My notes:
I appreciated this early on because it seems to be a teacher who needs a caring adult in his life.
But, this is a student who is obsessed. He skirts the appropriate, using the word love a lot.
I am going to hedge a little about the appropriateness of the relationship. There is no doubt that there are a number of instances in which the relationship is on the line a bit. However, I have had lots of students in the past who have a bigger connection with me than others. However, none of them are at my house, none of them are having private meetings with me and many are happy to see me in the community later in life, but nothing beyond fond memories.
But, at least according to his recount, nothing seems over the top as far as how she treated him or what their relationship entailed.
I do think the vast amount of confusion is with his own brain. We see many examples of his lack of true recognition that this is an adult and he is not an adult. For example, when they were going to her car: He indicates that he never thought of her as capable of driving. He understood that other teachers drove.......
The painting of his bedroom. Could have been a completely wholesome activity. At this point my brain is still wondering where this is going, what is actually happening?
To further the infatuation part of this book. He always talks about wanting more. He does not really discuss why he needed more from this adult and why he does not have significant relationships with people his own age.
Shira has concerns: She is your art teacher. And your friend, she sees you outside of school. This is not normal. What is she seeing beyond what is written?
Why is this not an 8. One reason is, for a short book, there were tedious sections that really just fills space. Eg. The silkworm eggs. I know he is highlighting the things that he and his teacher care about at the same time, but these items became tedious for me.
And, why did she ask for the letters back. Whats in them? Did she realize that he loved her more than he should. Did she have something in them that should not be there. Did she have feelings that should not be there.
Did she really take baths in the sink at school, or that his memory messed up? Either way, she talks about being naked to a 14 year old. Then he says that he saw his parents naked for as long as he can remember......WTH
She had similar oddness about her, When Anton asked him to look at his sculpture that was clearly created of her family nude. I understand art but my family would never get nude together in the name of art.
That is where I stopped with the notes.
So, where does this land:
I was prepared to say, I am not sure there is anything inappropriate about the relationship.....but there were flags. Since this is a created by him, with only his memory being used, what are we not being told.
Even without that little flag, I really did not think that this had that much substance.
When he became an adult and they could have a genuine relationship, they barely had one. Maybe two times a year they would talk. It seems to me, that the theme should have been that he holds this relationship higher in his level importance than she did. I know that she seemed quite happy to see him when she did, but again, based on his recollection only.
Despite those concerns, I did enjoy it, because the writing is quite poetic overall.
April 18, 2026
This book was gorgeous, first of all. The writing is evocative, empathetic and lovely. As someone who didn’t have very healthy relationships with adults as a child (an understatement) I really needed to make an effort to keep an open mind about Marc’s relationship with Klara. But I’m glad that I did.
Sometimes in one’s life you just meet people at the right time and they change you for better or worse and I think that, all in all, Klara and Marc were good for one another.
Knowing a bit more about Marc’s own family might have helped me understand his intense attraction to and connection with his teacher, but I don’t think the reader is meant to fully understand. Just witness.
The book was easy to become invested in and I felt Marc’s confusion and embarrassment as he tried to navigate the adult world as a child, all the while keeping a big secret (like during the incident with the letters).
It’s not good for kids to have secrets with adults, I know that much. But did Klara really demand that? Or did Marc just want to protect what they had so much that he hid it away?
My favorite part was actually the end. Marc’s thoughts on time, memory, dreams and grieving will stick with me for a long time. Especially this line when I think about one of my own complicated relationships:
“Yet the presence I sense exists outside all these things, beyond them, almost as though my regrets are abstractions of some kind; true, but not exclusively so. A space exists between them and their opposite”
I like the idea that our important connections exist in a sort of liminal, out-of-time state and that the relationships that were most important and formative to us remain relevant and important throughout our lives no matter how much time has passed. That maybe they can transcend seemingly insurmountable barriers, and even death.
I loved the flower imagery throughout the book and how the author’s clearly charming and sensitive personality came through to the reader.
I really hope Marc Bendavid is just getting started as a writer. I would love to get back inside his mind.
Sometimes in one’s life you just meet people at the right time and they change you for better or worse and I think that, all in all, Klara and Marc were good for one another.
Knowing a bit more about Marc’s own family might have helped me understand his intense attraction to and connection with his teacher, but I don’t think the reader is meant to fully understand. Just witness.
The book was easy to become invested in and I felt Marc’s confusion and embarrassment as he tried to navigate the adult world as a child, all the while keeping a big secret (like during the incident with the letters).
It’s not good for kids to have secrets with adults, I know that much. But did Klara really demand that? Or did Marc just want to protect what they had so much that he hid it away?
My favorite part was actually the end. Marc’s thoughts on time, memory, dreams and grieving will stick with me for a long time. Especially this line when I think about one of my own complicated relationships:
“Yet the presence I sense exists outside all these things, beyond them, almost as though my regrets are abstractions of some kind; true, but not exclusively so. A space exists between them and their opposite”
I like the idea that our important connections exist in a sort of liminal, out-of-time state and that the relationships that were most important and formative to us remain relevant and important throughout our lives no matter how much time has passed. That maybe they can transcend seemingly insurmountable barriers, and even death.
I loved the flower imagery throughout the book and how the author’s clearly charming and sensitive personality came through to the reader.
I really hope Marc Bendavid is just getting started as a writer. I would love to get back inside his mind.
October 19, 2025
I read a full 1/4 of this work of “autofiction” and for a whole slew of reasons I couldn’t complete it. I was quite taken aback by The Sapling and surprised it was even published. A love letter to a dead teacher (“Marc” was 11 and Klara Bloem was 43 when they met at a Toronto school for the arts), the “novel” felt creepily hagiographic and oppressively, narrowly first person. Essentially no conventions of the novel form are present. This is all, and I mean all, telling and no showing; no characterization to speak of; no conflict or tension etc. as far as I got. Okay—yes, there’s a setting of sorts: lots about the natural world this Wordsworthian child mystically communes with, all described in lambent, lyrical, holy-toned prose.
Oh, and the book begins with an “advertisement” for a lovely MAiD (medical assistance in dying) procedure to boot. I wondered when the voluntary euthanasia that Canada has become world famous for would begin to show up in “fiction”. Well, here it is: we have the carefully curated scrapbooks for the children, completed in Klara’s dying days; the lethal injection scheduled for 1 pm; an ordered list of the pharmaceutical injectables to be sent through the terminally ill teacher’s veins.
Unfortunately, Bendavid wasn’t successful in making this reader appreciate his beloved teacher. The obsessive, worshipful prose is just deadly.
I saw a lot of inappropriate student-teacher interactions growing up. Good thing there is now a teachers’ regulatory body in Ontario. “Klara” was decidedly out of line.
Oh, and the book begins with an “advertisement” for a lovely MAiD (medical assistance in dying) procedure to boot. I wondered when the voluntary euthanasia that Canada has become world famous for would begin to show up in “fiction”. Well, here it is: we have the carefully curated scrapbooks for the children, completed in Klara’s dying days; the lethal injection scheduled for 1 pm; an ordered list of the pharmaceutical injectables to be sent through the terminally ill teacher’s veins.
Unfortunately, Bendavid wasn’t successful in making this reader appreciate his beloved teacher. The obsessive, worshipful prose is just deadly.
I saw a lot of inappropriate student-teacher interactions growing up. Good thing there is now a teachers’ regulatory body in Ontario. “Klara” was decidedly out of line.
August 29, 2025
This book was a difficult one. The Sapling is an autobiographical telling of a relationship Marc Bendavid had with his 43 year old teacher when he was 11, and the grief and loss he experiences over the subsequent 25 years related to the ending/changing of the relationship. Right away from reading the back synopsis I knew that this book was going to require a courageous reader to pick up, and a nuanced reading to get through it. The topic of an intimate relationship with a teacher is a difficult and heavy one, which the book invites the reader to examine in this situation with an open mind. The first hand account of the author’s grief, sense of loss, and confusion were well written and the style of writing was beautiful. My teacher heart struggled with reading about this relationship if I’m being honest.
February 1, 2026
This is a story about a boy - eventually young man - and his teacher, and the ways in which they influenced each other. The teacher definitely flirts with some uncomfortable boundaries, and the friendship must have filled a void for her, although the point of view is so tight that you can only see Marc's perspective, so it only hints at what the teacher is thinking. What I found most interesting is the examination of how memory works. Details are dreamy, hazy, filled in or missing altogether. The absence of detail becomes more lamentable when it's paired with loss. You get the sense that the protagonist is grabbing at them, trying to shove the scraps into his pocket, trying to prevent the inevitable paving over of them.
December 23, 2025
I DNF at about the half-way point. The writing style was beautiful, but I was beginning to find the book tedious. I got that his teacher was important to him, as she fed his natural curiosity, but wondered why a teacher would become that involved in an 11 year old boy’s life to the point of visiting each other’s home and spending a lot of time together outside of school hours. It didn’t appear to be sexually motivated, but it still seemed unethical. I did enjoy the book, early on, but got to the point I no longer cared about the main characters and realized I was not anxious to get back to the book.
January 25, 2026
“Our friendship is chimerical.”
Upon the death of his art teacher whom he met at the age of eleven, Bendavid reminisces on the unconventional and intimate bond they shared through the decades in his autobiographical debut.
Bendavid’s narrative voice is so intellectual and well-written. His heartfelt and deeply personal vignettes serve as a tangible and cathartic way to immortalize a friendship that not only shaped him as an individual, but was clearly valued.
I believe there is something quite special to be found in platonic intergenerational bonds, which everyone should get a chance to experience at least once.
Upon the death of his art teacher whom he met at the age of eleven, Bendavid reminisces on the unconventional and intimate bond they shared through the decades in his autobiographical debut.
Bendavid’s narrative voice is so intellectual and well-written. His heartfelt and deeply personal vignettes serve as a tangible and cathartic way to immortalize a friendship that not only shaped him as an individual, but was clearly valued.
I believe there is something quite special to be found in platonic intergenerational bonds, which everyone should get a chance to experience at least once.
February 25, 2026
Bold, poetic entrails of love lost in a hail of elusive elucidations. I should probably give myself a few days to digest - but alas here we are.
I don’t typically read classic fiction, let alone ones of this nature. Yet I find myself intrigued by the relationship and, as the author firmly reiterates “intimacy” between a student & teacher. Occasionally awkward, or even unsettling deliberate mentions of “love” had me rethinking why I even felt this way. It challenged my brains natural cadence - sprinting away with it at times, and then hiding.
I’m glad I read this book.
I don’t typically read classic fiction, let alone ones of this nature. Yet I find myself intrigued by the relationship and, as the author firmly reiterates “intimacy” between a student & teacher. Occasionally awkward, or even unsettling deliberate mentions of “love” had me rethinking why I even felt this way. It challenged my brains natural cadence - sprinting away with it at times, and then hiding.
I’m glad I read this book.
Did Not Finish
April 5, 2026DNF, in fact I did not even start reading this book.
I recently learned that this book is classified as "Auto-Fiction" a genre I was not familiar with. I gather it is one step removed from "Memoir" meaning you can't trust anything in the book as being real. I could read this book as strictly fiction but I don't want to. I gave up reading memoirs because of exaggeration and added situations that could not be verified in any way and in some cases actually proved to be inaccurate and/or made up. I did not want to go further down that rabbit hole with auto-fiction.
I recently learned that this book is classified as "Auto-Fiction" a genre I was not familiar with. I gather it is one step removed from "Memoir" meaning you can't trust anything in the book as being real. I could read this book as strictly fiction but I don't want to. I gave up reading memoirs because of exaggeration and added situations that could not be verified in any way and in some cases actually proved to be inaccurate and/or made up. I did not want to go further down that rabbit hole with auto-fiction.
November 14, 2025
An autofiction that will certainly cause polarizing views of what is right and wrong. We can say that what was acceptable 30-40 years ago would NOT be so today. With that in mind, I forged on to read about this academic relationship between a teacher and a student through the years. I did have a few questionable moments, but nothing so as to deter me from reading on. I’m still processing this as it has really stayed with me…. 3/5 (for mow)
August 20, 2025
The sales rep who sent me my ARC of this described it as 'the nicest book coming out this year', and I think she might be right. 'Nice', in this case, doesn't mean 'always happy', nor even without moments of great sadness (it made me cry on a few occasions), but rather it's a book completely free of any touch of malice. It tells the story, through short, letter-like chapters, of a friendship that was as important as it was unconventional. The beauty of it is conveyed through Marc Bendavid's delicate prose, steeped in heartfelt emotion. This is a book that is filled with yearning - to remember, to explore, to immortalize, to understand.
If you aren't a fan of character studies, you might find The Sapling a bit slow, as it has no great overarching plot beyond the exploration of the central relationship, but if you're willing to take a chance on a book that is quite unlike any other, I think you'll find it very worth it.
If you aren't a fan of character studies, you might find The Sapling a bit slow, as it has no great overarching plot beyond the exploration of the central relationship, but if you're willing to take a chance on a book that is quite unlike any other, I think you'll find it very worth it.
January 15, 2026
The fictional autobiographical style had me confused; the story makes sense as a personal memoir but lacks depth if it to be read as a work of fiction.
January 29, 2026
A special relationship between the writer and his mentor is diligently and delicately recorded. Beautifully written examination of how memory works across space and time.
April 3, 2026
Unsettling read, I was creeped out as a reader by the relationship but at the same time intrigued like the author to understand their relationship.
April 6, 2026
I'm going to need a minute to collect my thoughts about this one, but I was moved so profoundly.
April 22, 2026
Even though their unconventional relationship sometimes left me perplexed or puzzled, it remains strikingly beautiful and fragile. The writing is magnificent, and I loved how the author plays with the concept of memory.
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