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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Astonishing piece. Not to invite too much comparison but I feel like I started with Stephen King viscera and by the end it was like an Alderman dystopia. Incredibly dark but witty throughout, really nails its point home when you figure out what's happening. Everyone should read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slight spoilers: it started out disturbing and dealt with challenging topics of race and politics. I would like to say historical racism but it was fully modern. When the twist happens and you realize what’s going on, it’s almost a relief. I was cheering and laughing at parts in the second half. It reminded me of a Jordan Peele movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Racism
Hilarious and horrific, propulsive and repulsive, a page turner and a stomach churner, Percival Everett’s THE TREES is a generational elegy buried deep in the loam beneath rock-solid police procedural crime narrative peppered with a parade of funny names and jokey one-liners.
I loved the way the micro-chapters made you feel like you were thumbing through a criminal case file, zipping from scene to scene like your fingers might snap through so many pages of affidavits and police reports and crime scene photographs. The bite sized sections also gave the already-pretty-slight book an absolutely relentless pace that found me ruminating on those final, haunting words just 48 hours after I started on Chapter One.
After this and JAMES, Everett just does it for me, man. Sarcastic humor, creative plots, expansive tonal palate, and razor sharp pen game — just some absolute grand slam lines; thrifty little weighty little things that make you put the fucking book down and think — all make his writing some of the most impressive I’ve ever read.
And so modern, so vital, so indispensable, so undeniable. You read it and you go “yeah man, that’s what it’s all about, that’s why they invented this thing, this book stuff, for that.”
I loved the way the micro-chapters made you feel like you were thumbing through a criminal case file, zipping from scene to scene like your fingers might snap through so many pages of affidavits and police reports and crime scene photographs. The bite sized sections also gave the already-pretty-slight book an absolutely relentless pace that found me ruminating on those final, haunting words just 48 hours after I started on Chapter One.
After this and JAMES, Everett just does it for me, man. Sarcastic humor, creative plots, expansive tonal palate, and razor sharp pen game — just some absolute grand slam lines; thrifty little weighty little things that make you put the fucking book down and think — all make his writing some of the most impressive I’ve ever read.
And so modern, so vital, so indispensable, so undeniable. You read it and you go “yeah man, that’s what it’s all about, that’s why they invented this thing, this book stuff, for that.”
I can appreciate the idea of this satire without having actually “enjoyed” it. I wish it wasn’t so graphic, but I get why it is.
dark
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Smart, sharp, funny and dark!
The novel uses the backdrop of racism and the history of lynching in America.
If you don’t know much about this history, this book is not going to be obvious at first glance. But if you look up some things along the way, you’ll learn a lot and see just how brilliant this book really is.
Let’s be real here - Everett NEVER writes on one level! There are always layers and layers to his work. I’m sure this book is one that stands reading over and over again, that will be better each time you read it. He’s undoubtedly one of the most exciting writers of our age!
The most powerful thing in this book is the pages of names of real victims of racial terror in America. Integrated in the fictional story is a graveyard full of real people. Read all of their names out loud and let them come alive for another few seconds.