For the second time in my BookTube Prize reading so far this year, I get to say: I have never read a book quite like this one. I think I’ll be challenged to even accurately describe it! It’s one of the books I read for the Quarterfinals round of the 2022 BookTube Prize, and I saved it for last because, frankly it was one of the shorter books, but also one of the books I found to be most intriguing.
On the surface, it’s a murder mystery. But what starts as a distinctly odd murder scene suddenly becomes a string and then a whole raft of similar cases. White men who are found beaten and with their genitalia removed, and nearby a beaten body that resembles, to a startling degree, that of Emmett Till (I don’t think I can do his story justice, so go here for an account of who he was and how he was horrifically murdered, or Google his name to find many different sources).
The book has several layers that make it difficult to categorize. It has elements of a murder thriller in that the murders are difficult to solve. It also has some supernatural elements. It has a borderline satirical take on issues of race and on the whole genre of the detective story (even has some banter between the MBI – Mississippi Bureau of Investigation – detectives). It has some tongue-in-cheek and derisive elements when it comes to aspects of the Southern USA’s history and culture. So there’s a lot to unpack, and plenty to engage the reader.
I liked that it was hard to pin down. I enjoyed the turn it took towards the end (I can’t share what happens because spoilers). I also found a lot of it challenging. The ignorance of some of the characters, the blatant and passive racism, the grotesque nature of the crimes, the historical events it draws in – all extremely difficult to stomach, but all equally important to the points the author set out to make. I left it feeling like for all the bits I understood and was able to connect, there were at least as many that I missed.
I don’t think this book will appeal to every reader. Not by a long shot. It’s not a fun read. If you go into it looking for a page-turning thriller, it’s not going to deliver on that. It’s a bit repetitive, it’s not about solving clues, and it doesn’t have a tidy conclusion. If you go into it looking for a supernatural or fantastical tale, that’s there, but there’s a lot of other stuff as well that you wouldn’t find typical. If you’re interested in the historical context and social criticism, that’s definitely there (I particularly enjoyed the part where a certain recent president hides under his desk and gets stuck). This is what makes the book a completely unique reading experience, and I think it can also create a feeling of confusion and disorientation for the reader. Arguably this was the intention. It certainly did prove to be disorienting for me. My brain kept trying to place it somewhere on the spectrum of books I’ve read, and failing. In the end, I decided to stop trying to figure it out and just roll with it. That was a much better approach, and I think it allowed me to get more out of it. And that sense of not ever finding solid footing in the type of book you’re reading actually does a number of useful things. It makes the reader unsettled throughout, which is necessary for the points the book is trying to make. It also adds to the surreal feeling of the later parts of the book where things get…. weird. And it forces the reader to exist outside of their comfort zone, no matter what that comfort zone is. In that way, though it’s jarring, I thought it worked very well. It definitely made for a completely new reading experience.
I have a huge appreciation for books that do something new (and do it deftly), and also for books that find a new way to bring important social issues to the attention of readers. This book tackles not only the horrific history of lynchings and unjust executions and murders of Black Americans throughout history, but draws in the atrocities visited on other (non-white) people as well. And it shines a very bright light on the discomfort white people feel when considering what would happen if payment for those old debts ever came due. What would that look like? What would happen if history turned on its head and white people were suddenly the ones whose skin colour became a liability? This is very intentional, in my opinion, and beautifully conveyed in this format. It is an uncomfortable thought, as well it should be.
I can’t say who should read this book specifically – ideally I think most readers should at least give it a try. If for no other reason than to see what they make of it, because this is one of those books that will mean different things to different readers. It was hugely challenging, but once I was able to sit with my discomfort, I came to appreciate it and also learned from that as well as from the text. It is one of the more confronting books I’ve read that deals with the history of racial violence and racism in the US, and I actually found it to be refreshing in its directness. This book fairly hums with all the anger and pain and grief that has been carried down through generations, and is still being loaded on today. For that reason alone, I think it’s well worth reading. This book got the number 2 spot (after Hell of a Book) on my rankings for the BookTube round.
Percival Everett’s The Trees is a page-turner 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, and does so in fast-paced style that ensures the reader can’t look away. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America’s pulse. – Goodreads
Book Title: The Trees
Author: Percival Everett
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audiobook
Published By: Graywolf Press
Released: September 21, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Race, Intrigue
Pages: 309
Date Read: May 17-25, 2022
Rating: 8/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.19/5 (2,039 ratings)
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