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: Nothing happened
Summary: 1 Stars
I tried to read this, I really did. After 200 pages nothing had happened, nothing. No action, no characters, no writing, no nothing.Book Review: Overhyped
Summary: 2 Stars
Tree of Smoke got an enormous buildup, but turned out to be a difficult-to-follow Vietnam War story. It spent one week on the NYTimes best-seller list and I think its short stay there reflected the fact that most buyers did not recommend it to others.
Book Review: Overrated
Summary: 3 Stars
I just finished reading this book. What a slog. How did this win the National Book Award. Characters are either underdeveloped or cliches. Dialogue is stiffer than a corpse. I never got a sense that the author knew very much about the CIA.Book Review: Perhaps I'm just a philistine
Summary: 1 Stars
I just couldn't get into this book; I was real patient, trudging through more than 300 pages before I abandoned it. I felt characters were two dimensional; I felt no connection to them. Was there a plot in there? This is only about the 3rd book I've given up on in my life (I can be pretty obsessive!). I acknowledge that this was a literary work reviewed very favorably. Perhaps it was well crafted, it just was not for me. I'm glad others experienced great pleasure from reading it.Book Review: Perplexing reviews at Amazon
Summary: 5 Stars
Normally the average Amazon customer rating on a book matters to me lots and I am quicker to read the customer reviews than editorial reviews. But the relatively negative reaction to Tree of Smoke has left me perplexed. I've seen far far less powerful less well-written books get far better ratings.
I found Tree of Smoke extraordinary. To me it was a book that included unique, compelling characters; an exciting plot line (albeit certainly far from easy to understand); and outstanding writing used to describe generally terrible circumstances. I agree with reviewers suggesting the book reminds them of Heart of Darkness and Catch 22 - and believe it does so with remarkable originality and beauty
I think perhaps what made this book unappealing to many made it great literature and worthy of National Book award for me. There is no clear "hero" to the story and if there are any heroes (eg the Colonel??; the Houston brothers?? Skip Sands??) they are all really far from being your "prince charming types" (i.e all heavy boozers; all at rim of law etc). There is also no "happy ending". What there is is relentless tension from beginning to end, told from perspective of characters that remind me of what folks that were in Vietnam might actually have been thinking
I urge readers to try Tree of Smoke, but enjoying it requires tackling it with a "i am reading a complex allegory" mindset, not a "great summer read"