Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Trees

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

disguisedposer's review

Go to review page

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

mattyvreads's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

lizardbet's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

damn

Content Warnings

bobbygw's review

Go to review page

challenging dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved it. A blistering, unique satire of, and reckoning with, America's racism and brutal history of lynching, the characters - whether racist, radical or moderate, male or female, young or old - are vividly realised through crackling dialogue that captures each of their personalities.

Many of the conversations, banter and sound bites are also incredibly laugh-out-loud funny and a sheer delight to read, while elsewhere it is at times disturbing, moving and righteously apocalyptic. Though it won the 2022 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, it deserved many more. Highly recommended.

Content Warnings

gracesullentrup's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

rachelmaria's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny informative fast-paced

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

3.5

Although this book is satirical, the humour does not take away from the seriousness of the topics it explores. A really engaging, quick read that helped me get out a bit of a reading slump.

Content Warnings

jwold's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Propulsive, hilarious, horrifying. A satire about racial injustice in the U.S. and the use of retributive justice 65 years after the death if Emmett Till. Bonus: the short Trump parts near the end. Very reminiscent of the days when he was on Twitter and would tweet... well, anything.

I see what the author was doing with all the different characters but it still got me jumbled a few times because they weren't very fleshed out. I didn't feel much about any of them but loved the overall call to remember the names of those who were lynched in the states due to racial intolerance. A very sharp and witty read.

Content Warnings