THE TREES BY PERCIVAL EVERETT

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BOOK NAME: THE TREES

AUTHOR NAME: PERCIVAL EVERETT

GENRE: SATIRE

PUBLISHER: PICADOR BOOKS

BOOK BUY LINK: https://amzn.in/d/gflc12x

BOOK RATING: 5✨


BOOK IMAGE



BOOK REVIEW

I didn’t know there existed a genre that could seamlessly mix horror, humour, social commentary, fantasy, and satire and still be profound and relevant. I am surprised but elated that this did not find itself on the banned books list because it could have easily landed there for pushing all the right buttons!! 


In The Trees, the author has chosen to weave a tale around the real-life lynching incident of a 14-year-old African-American, Emmett Till, in 1955, who was wrongly accused of trying to get friendly with a white woman. What starts as a discovery of a gruesome murder of two people, one of them white and the other one black, who disappears after each crime only to commit another, becomes an uprising of the oppressed against the oppressors - a recurring theme that’s enjoyable nevertheless. 


I will not give away any part of this book, but I insist you check it out to experience a deeply horrendous and hilarious book—an experience that only Percival Everett’s books can offer. 


I can’t believe I did this. But what part about reading gory murders can make you laugh out loud at one instant and move you profoundly the very next? I was oblivious to the concept of time and place when I was into this book because it flew like a breeze that would enrapture you with its gentleness and stir you with the eeriness that comes along. 


I was guessing what kind of disclosure could be coming in the end, and when it did, it took me a second or two to come to terms with it. Was I startled? Was I moved? No, at first, I was confused. I flipped a few more pages to see if I was missing something. But no, that was the end, and it couldn’t have been any better. Because, upon rethinking, I couldn’t see any other ending that could have connected the dots so well and done justice. In fact, every time I reread it, the lines started ringing in my ears.


The best start to 2025.

This is a part of Blogchatter’s #TBRchallenge 2025

#penbooksandscalpel




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