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The Trees cover art

The Trees

By: Percival Everett
Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
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Summary

An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone

Percival Everett's The Trees is a must-listen that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.

The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that eerily similar murders are taking place all over the country. Something truly strange is afoot. As the bodies pile up, the MBI detectives seek answers from a local root doctor who has been documenting every lynching in the country for years, uncovering a history that refuses to be buried. In this bold, provocative book, Everett takes direct aim at racism and police violence. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America's pulse.

©2021 Percival Everett (P)2022 Tantor

What listeners say about The Trees

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A challenging book.

This is a difficult one to review because some areas I loved and others I found quite difficult.

The story is overall quite confusing and convoluted with multiple characters who are never really developed, I didnt feel attached to anybody in the book. The plot itself moves especially in the second half frantically around the U.S and is hard to follow at times with new locations and new characters put into the mix. The book is also written in a style that didn't really appeal to me, I is a distinctive style but a bit jarring in audio form Jim said Ed said etc etc.

The good however was very good the message and the overall tone were fantastic and at times moving. The horror of lynching is put forward in a modern and heartfelt way.

The humour was brilliant in some places especially at the end poking fun at Politicians and Generals. However at the start laughing at redneck poor people felt a bit disconcerting. Yes these people are stupid, racist and funny but they are products of a system that has made them stupid and racist.

Narration was good.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not so impressed

I really wanted to like this book, but actually I'm surprised by the positive reviews and general acclaim it has garnered. I tend to regard the word literary, in the context of the phrase 'literary thriller' as synonymous with 'bad', and this is no exception. The subject is terrible and needs constant and unremitting examination - we must never let ourselves forget what happened in the American South. But I don't see this book with its ludicrous premise, thin and stereotyped characterisation and clunky humour, as being a worthy example of the way to memorialise it.

While the narrator brings the flavour of the South to his reading, his characterisation is terrible. Throughout the book, one is never sure until there is a clue in the text whether a new character is black or white. Everyone speaks the same, except on the occasions when the plot takes us outside Mississippi, when the attempts to render a non-Southern accents are comic.

Nearly four hours in, finding no particular progress in the plot or startling insights, I'm afraid I gave up.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Series of murders rocks America

Money is the epicentre of a series of white murders linked to historical lynchings/ murders.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful American Black comedic tragedy

Witty political fantasy using the strange fruit that hangs from the trees as a focal point for a murder (or should I say murders) mystery that could only happen in the American south. How could you laugh? But I did. Clever and entertaining.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Even better than you’ve heard!

This Booker Prize finalist is funny, gruesome, intelligent, topical, satirical, pointed. Some characters border on stereotypes, but Everett’s sharp details render them realistic. Cannot recommend more highly.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Clever and cutting

A really compelling read - keeps pace so well. First time reading Percival Everett and massively impressed. Narration brilliantly done too.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The past remains present in determining the future.

Remarkable book. I have Bill Nighy to thank for mentioning that he was hoping for this book as his Xmas gift when he stood in for Iggy Pop on BBC Radio 6 Music.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

One real message, otherwise incoherent

As a story I regard this as jumbled and incomplete. It feels like a book that tries too much and doesn’t deliver on any front apart from highlighted historic racist atrocities.

There were a few funny lines and the playing with peoples names was clever if a little overused.

It’s not a bad book and certainly better than I could write however I cannot see what the fuss is other than messaging that will appeal to some demographics and one side of the ongoing culture apocalypse. To Kill a Mockingbird it ain’t

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • AB
  • 18-02-23

An interesting idea

If only the narrative matched the concept. Jumps around geographically but fails to develop the story. Ultimately raises some interesting ideas and narrative strands that fail to develop. Heard a great review on BBC radio 4 so was expecting more.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Return and revenge

Reader was a little lack lustre, and expressionless with no real intonation in his delivery. This reduced a lot of real drama.
I found it difficult to keep interest at many key points and therefore needed
To replay many times.
I did manage to GET the idea of the book (including humour, irony, ignorance and racism and a particular fool of a past president)
by the end.

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1 person found this helpful