caseyjayner 's review for:

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

2.5

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Superbly written and very interesting as a story. Honestly it would’ve been interstate and garnered more stars if he had simply slapped victor and there weren’t allegations or they were of physics abuse.  
That said, I think illuminating his thought process is oddly revelatory of rape within the context of someone known.  It seems unlikely that a pedophile would’ve had that many children and not been sexually abusive to more of them- it was perverse power, rage, love and hate.  It felt unnecessary to the overall story though and made me feel incredibly ill- why can’t he be perfectly unlikable without being obviously retched?! I actually find that more interesting.  


Also- I read other reviews so I skipped the last section and only read his thoughts just before and the last sentence. I strongly suggest to skip this book or skip that section too.