The Trees

A Novel

by Percival Everett

Paperback, 288 pages

Published Sept. 21, 2021 by Graywolf Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-64445-064-2
OCLC Number:: 1268220252

(3 reviews)

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.

Winner of the 2022 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award
Longlisted for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

3 editions

Brian Plunkett reviewed The Trees by Percival Everett

The Trees - 4.5 Stars

4 stars

It's a satire about racists, brutal killings, and justice ... so although it's humorous, it's also thorny and unsettling -- but Everett makes it work. About 2/3 of the way through, it kicks into a higher gear and delivers a powerful punch. I have to admit, it did my heart good to read those scenes where racists were made the butt of so many jokes. It also succeeds as a mystery/thriller; I was anxious to find out how it was going to end. It's a fast read, with short chapters and a lot of dialogue. One odd thing: in Chapter 50, there's a character whose name changes inexplicably. I thought maybe I had missed something, but then I saw some other people discussing it on Goodreads. I guess it was an editing error.

Tattooed_Mummy reviewed The Trees by Percival Everett

Amazing

5 stars

is it a spoiler to say the ending was a disappointment? Luckily the writing is so awesome I'm going to give it a reread soon so maybe the ending will grow on me. A book about death, lynching and racism that makes you laugh out loud, that's a tall order but The Trees manages this. Read it. I'm going to work my way through the rest of the vast body of work of this author hoping for equally compelling reads

Michael Hartford

rated it

Dec. 11, 2022