Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - The People in the Trees

okay so this book took me an absolute hot minute to read but i feel like the more that this book sits with me the more i’ll end up liking it. i really like the way that the book was structured with the footnotes, and the postscript was actually wild. the writing was gorgeous (what else were we expecting from hanya yanagihara), and i fell like norton’s voice really added to the reading experience. overall the book was wild and i am a fan

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book saved itself with the ending. Most of it is tedious and frankly, not very good. What made it worth the four stars, though, were the themes, the narrator’s psyche, and the level of cringiness. It was highly evocative. So the words used didn’t matter to me in the end. The truth that’s finally revealed and the long and arduous, continued downward rollercoaster spiral that I had to ride the entire time is what makes this book worth my four stars.

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lolo_readsbooks's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

wowweee wow. she sure does love writing about unlikeable gay pedophiles. strong themes about colonialism, imperialism, western “objectivity”, and consumerism. just like, the end reallllly went there.

norton is deeply unlikeable and the post-script was hard to get through. the last fifty pages were ill paced.

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shiftyelliott's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

3.25

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nils_0's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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partybonus's review

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challenging sad medium-paced

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

I do notttt recommend! It is a trigger warning minefield and full of really wretched moments. The lush rainforest backdrop and descriptions of the scenery belong in a travel guide which is what I think this writer was before they became a writer. I wish I hadn’t read it. It haunted me and I am not interested in shockingly violent and horrendous situations in books anymore, especially when there is zero reason for it. Stay away!

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xshu1's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was a wild ride. Full of thought provoking moments and a representation of how colonialism occurs, the dark side of science and the deep dive into the white superiority complex.

nah but for real the plot was okay. it was a good medium to talk about the effects of colonialism and how it happens. Hanya really seems to be good at writing things from the perspective of men. The twisted mind of the main character was well fleshed out. The setting was amazingly thought out.
However the writing and pace at times were painstakingly long, and the amount of unnecessary information had me itching to try not to skip paragraphs/pages ahead
The only saving grace here is Ms Yanagihara's beautiful, spectacular and amazing writing. The writing is absolutely CARRYING my rating. The diction is simply *chefs kiss*. I could get lost in this world any day.

Its so interesting how the editor of Norton's biography (Dr Kubodera) was so infatuated with him that he was willing to look past such a heinous crime (child sexual assault) and Norton's clear affinity towards touching children. Even more, he was willing to omit it to the reader in order to highlight Norton's "wit, his intelligence, his passion and compassion" so that it "will be the things the reader remembers from this account, will be the things that define him in history".
*pikachu face*
Norton is borderline a narcissist yall. He single handedly destroyed a native population, a species of animal, his children's lives and Victor's life. And they gave him 2 years in Jail.
Also Yanagihara's portrayal of women rub me the wrong way. But it could be a realistic portrayal of what men often think of women, which is with disdain.

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