Tree of Smoke: A Novel by Denis Johnson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Tree of Smoke: A Novel
Book Review: I give up...
Summary: 1 Stars
I am only 115 pages into this book. I was excited when it arrived, after finding it on the NY Times book review. But I simply can't get into it. I would usually keep trying, but after reading some of the other reviews on Amazon, it seems clear that you either love or hate this book. For me, I give up!Book Review: I like Mr. Johnson, but this book isn't good.
Summary: 1 Stars
ON the one hand, I'm glad that Mr. Johnson has earned his way into the hearts of critics and lauding academies. His other books are very good. They have fun, weird stuff going on. Decent stories make more interesting by strange people doing strange things under ugly, wild, vibrant circumstances.
But, here in 'Tree of Smoke', he fails miserably. The characters are phony, the writing is just plain insipid - never his strong suit - and what little narrative or plot there is, never gets going and doesn't end up anywhere.
It's so strange when books like this get picked up in the Critical Elite Zeitgeist. But, it happens every year.
This time it's kind of funny reading the reviews that shy away from the narrative, but still want to laud the book. Um, well, okay. But, shouldn't it have something else going for it?
Like those strange, wonderful characters? Like daring prose? (How about just some adequate prose?)
Anyway, it's a boring, boring read. I'm sure next time he'll do just as poorly though as he's been handed the keys to the castle for this middling effort.
Way to go, guys.
Book Review: I loved it ... but ...
Summary: 5 Stars
It's easy to understand why most of the reviews of "Tree of Smoke" are either 5-star or 1-star -- it's that kind of novel.
If your tastes are toward a crisp, linear plot with well-fleshed-out characters whose motives are fairly clear, this isn't your kind of novel. That's OK. If you're looking for a fiction treatment of actual events, this isn't your kind of novel either.
But if you have some patience for the tortuous inner struggles of good people who've been driven to madness by wretched circumstances, told in a graceful and poetic manner, give this one a ride. It's a long ride, yes, and a bumpy one, but I found it well worth the effort. I probably read 70 novels a year, and this one is certainly no piece of cake, but it's at the top of my fiction list this season.
A previous reviewer found problems with people who "weren't there" writing about the Vietnam experience. Fair enough. But even an observer who "wasn't there" can make a reasonable determination that the reality of the Vietnam experience was anything but linear and clearly defined.
Book Review: I watched the stories but I failed to see the dark
Summary: 5 Stars
The best thing to do with Tree of Smoke is read The Confession of St. Jim-Ralph: Our Patron of Falling Short, Who Became a Prayer first. Whole scenes in this beguiling verse settle in indelibly as background to Mister Johnson's searingly beautiful new novel. Some of the characters too in Tree of Smoke crop up in earlier books--check out Philip Connors in the Winter 2008 Virginia Quarterly Review for a solidly informed review spelling out the tangential yet strangely relevant continuity in Johnson's fictional walk-ons--but really the nine-page poem in The Incognito Lounge does more than enough to fill in the gaps. Nearly every poem I'm sorry to have to shift sideways here for a minute but nearly every line that Denis Johnson penned in The Incognito Lounge is better than even I in my invincible ignorance believed to be hardly bleeding possible. Tree of Smoke though, let's just face it now: this epic new novel functions for me at least as an appropiately lengthy--the supposedly outsize number of pages here means only really that there's at least a minimum of one sentence each for every last punter with a yen for the written word--and sustained prose lament for all that fall which works mysteriously enough to break your heart while simultaneously revitalising it in a most inexpressible way. Just like barbecued sausages will do exactly the same thing sometimes in admittedly different circumstances. Honestly now. High Noon on Vernon Street, a Sunday, Sully himself at the grill. I cannot and will not concede that even once in all the years I've been reading Mister Johnson has this astonishing writer ever failed a single time to grow in his chosen endeavour. I used to think too it was one book at a time but I'm actually prepared to go further and say that the dude is now down to one mesmerising sentence at a time.Book Review: If you gave this fewer than 4 stars, you missed the point.
Summary: 5 Stars
Another spare, haunting novel from masterful Denis Johnson. At times frightening, sad, funny, bitter, poignant, and always relevant, Tree of Smoke is a smart and eloquent piece that will be remembered, particularly when compared against its contemporaries in the current "fluffy" period in American literature. I did not enjoy every page, but the overall message of the book is striking and well-told. If you haven't read Johnson before, this may be a tough start, but if you have, you will relish the experience.