A review by savvylit
The Trees by Percival Everett

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Trees is an utterly brilliant social satire that blew me away from the first page! Everett portrays each White person in this novel as a cartoonish caricature. In doing so, he takes the tradition of American literature that did the same to Black people and winkily turns it on its head. Every page is full of tongue-in-cheek jokes including, most obviously, the character names: Wheat Bryant, Pinch Wheyface, Reverend Doctor Cad Fondle... Hilarious.

The Trees isn't all humor, though. Not at all. Woven within Everett's laugh-out-loud snarky commentary is a revenge tale that requires the reader to remember thousands of people of color who have been lynched in the United States. And how the preparators of those murders nearly always went unpunished. Ultimately, The Trees is a compelling novel about reckoning with the continuing legacy of racial hatred in this country.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings