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hscoop_ 's review for:

The Trees by Percival Everett
4.0
challenging dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

This is an odd book, and I can’t tell if it’s genius or shallow. 

The blurb is what sucked me in, and I’m glad I bought it. But it was one of those cases where the blurb shares an idea that only a fifth of the book actually considers, and then the rest kind of spirals out of control in the most unexpected and brilliant way. 

For a book about racial trauma, it has its funny moments, moments of such unseriousness followed immediately by genuine trauma & distress. It’s like getting whiplash 100 times. 

I enjoyed it. It’s a new take that embodies ‘violence is the only language they speak, so let’s speak their language’. I can think of a couple of friends I will cajole into reading this just so I can see what they think because I have a lot of thoughts.