Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Trees

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Trees by Percival Everett

10 reviews

elliedom_08's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Percival mixes genre in a fascinating way. I originally picked up this book because I thought it was a crime story with a fascinating twist. It's so much more than that. It's a mixture of satire and true crome and paranormal. The feeling of Twins Peak but so much more.

It was heartbreaking read honestly especially when you really think about what Percival is saying. Only 1% of people that committed lynchings were ever tried and processe. Emmett Till's killers weren't part of the 1%. This book might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think people should read it.

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mattyvreads's review

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Truly one of the most exciting and promising premises I have ever encountered. What a cool idea for a book, to say the least. Brilliant.

I am not sure, overall, that the book delivered on its promising premise, or that the novel was wholly effective for me. Parts, I loved. Other parts really detracted and/or distracted from the story.

What worked for me: the book kept me guessing, with lots of twists and turns. Eventually those turns became somewhat predictable or formulaic, but the plot was like a giant boulder thundering downhill, impossible to stop.

For that reason, it was effective that the book didn’t have a definite conclusion; it ended, in fact, with a question.

Very clever, in my humble opinion. Mostly, the pacing really worked for me. It was cool to see the different character point of views.

What did not work for me: The book was mostly dialogue, and the dialogue was completely forced. There were attempted jokes that ended a majority of the chapters, that did not land for me. Stuff like “you order the chicken fried steak, and I’ll stick to my salad.” Like… okay….

There were mild anti-Asian sentiments, a brief (seemingly) anti-sex work scene, misogynistic references, a borderline transphobic dialogue exchange, and many many many fatphobic exchanges. Basically the punchline to a majority of the opening chapters. Even though many readers say it is a satire of American racism, many of those quips and insults come from the protagonists of the story (and the people we are rooting for.) It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Also, the Trump stuff didn’t work for me. He’s already a buffoon, so it didn’t feel like satire. It just felt like fan fiction.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the book.

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nialiversuch's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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buffee's review

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challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

This book was hard to read. There's a lot of description of racially motivated hate crimes and racial slurs. The only issue I felt was dealt with in an unthoughtful way was the repeated use of fatness to show weakness, small mindedness, and prejudice. From synopsis' of his other books I would say fatness is a recurring theme. Maybe it's not as offensively used in his other books. I found the plot interesting and well written.

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karinreadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I read this for a book club, and it certainly gave us a lot to discuss. It's a remarkably funny book for a novel that deals with

racial violence

, and there were some very compelling characters in there, but I certainly could do without the fatphobia that creeps in regularly.

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deedireads's review

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dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Trees is a super-smart, darkly satirical novel about racial lynching in the US. Very few writers could have pulled this off — I liked it a lot and respected it even more.

For you if: You liked Hell of a Book.

FULL REVIEW:

Before The Trees was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize (will it win? we will know by the end of the day today!), it wasn’t even on my radar. I’m glad the prize put it there, because wow, what a book.

This is a super-smart, darkly satire novel about racial lynching in the US, both historical and present-day. At the beginning, we meet the (now old) woman who accused Emmett Till and her family living in Money, Mississippi. One, then two, then three people turn up brutally murdered alongside a corpse that looks a lot like Emmett Till — and then it quickly spreads across the country. Two Black men police officers from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and one Black woman from the FBI are sent in to help solve the case.

When I say it like that, you’d think “of course this is a heavy book.” But this is satire, and Everett’s dark humor, levity, and wit make the heaviness feel a bit sneaky, like it comes at you sideways. For example, the lack of tone shift when he depicts white nationalists discussing a race war means it doesn’t really hit you right away (until it DOES). I don’t think just anyone could have pulled this off — because yes, it WORKS. Everett’s talent is next level.

One thing I just want to mention quickly is the US cover. At first glance, it seems pretty boring. One might not even notice the wall of text in the background behind the giant yellow letters of the title. But now having read it, I can’t imagine a different cover — this is absolutely the right one.

Last thing I’ll say: This book is extremely readable, with ~100 or so short (sometimes super-short) chapters and an excellent audiobook narrator. I think you should read it. (Especially, perhaps, if you liked Hell of a Book by Jason Mott — they’re admittedly quite different but feel sort of linked in my mind in tone and impact.)

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