Percival Everett

An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone 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 a 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.

A Novel

The Trees

Alawander Bouston 

“Goddamnit, I hate murder more than just about anything,” said Sheriff Red Jetty. “It can just ruin a day.”

While I expected the commentary on racial injustice in America, I did not expect the satirical and humorous aspect of this novel. It’s hard for me to balance the quippy tone with the difficult subject matter. There are some truly powerful moments in this story that highlight just how devastating the history of Black people in this country. However, there are also moments of community and strength. While this narrative contains Black trauma, it is not there for trauma’s sake and serves a greater purpose.

The worst part of this for me was the pacing. There were a few chapters in the middle I felt like I had to force myself through, but overall I enjoyed what this gave me.

Nik ✨

While I expected the commentary on racial injustice in America, I did not expect the satirical and humorous aspect of this novel. It’s hard for me to balance the quippy tone with the difficult subject matter. There are some truly powerful moments in this story that highlight just how devastating the history of Black people in this country. However, there are also moments of community and strength. While this narrative contains Black trauma, it is not there for trauma’s sake and serves a greater purpose.

The worst part of this for me was the pacing. There were a few chapters in the middle I felt like I had to force myself through, but overall I enjoyed what this gave me.

Cody Degen

I just cant believe for all its hype and accolades that it was this... bad? Like coming in I understood it to be a darkly comic police procedural reckoning with America's history of racial violence. Which sounds incredible. But then all the humor is stuff like having an overweight character say something like "boy that Hannity sure is handsome. He'd make me touch my vajayjay. If I could reach it, that is!" which is bad enough on its own but then the police procedural side of the story is disappointing in ways that I can't really elaborate on without spoiling.

Author is making powerful and critical commentary on race, and historical horror that continues to haunt in the present. Unfortunately all at the expense of character building. Ended up not caring about anyone in this novel.

Sarah Erle

Matt Stein

My review: https://mattstein.com/books/the-trees

Shona Tiger

A version of this review first appeared in The Sunday Long Read.

Ed Morgan and Jim Davis, agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, are called in to Money, Mississippi, to investigate an apparent murder case where one of the bodies has gone missing. The local police are less than pleased to see them, at first. But, as the investigation gets out of hand, even the FBI steps in.

The pacing of this story is excellent, and the serious subject—lynching—is handled with unexpected humor
and sensitivity. (Think Lovecraft Country, the Netflix series, but perhaps a little lighter.) The town of Money is a wonderful character, and you can also expect to meet the Bryant/Milams, the murderers of Emmett Till; the ridiculous coroner, Doctor Reverend Fondle; Mama Z, a one-hundred-and-five-year-old witch; her great granddaughter, Dixie, who is passing; the KKK; and, a cast of zombies. Also, Trump.

Percival Everett is the author of over thirty books. This is the first of his books that I’ve read, and I found it delightful. If you’re looking for a diverting read that will give you light chills and also make you laugh, I highly recommend this one.

Rated: 9/10

i think the subject matter of the book is very applicable, especially during the #blacklivesmatter movement. however, i wasn't a big fan of the writing style, and i felt that it was a bit choppy at times.

Fraser Simons

Two members of the MBI—the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation—are called to a very unusual crime scene down in Money, MS. A man has been strangled with barbed wire, with greater force than a single person could muster, and counterpart to him, lays a dead black man. Both looks like they’ve gone through a heavy altercation and the black man is holding the testicles of the white man. Then, as the examiner goes to do an autopsy, the black man appears to have vanished. Things only get stranger from here. 

This is one sneaky book. It moves from a fairly straight forward contemporary crime novel leaning into realism, but shifts gears as it goes. What you ought to know going in: This is not typical genre fiction. It’s no police procedural nor is it buddy cop, though the dialogue does sway that way from time to time. Best way I can explain so the reader doesn’t feel robbed of expectations is probably surrealistic crime with both dark humour and a heavy political overtones. It’s frenetically paced and the dialogue in particular is outstanding. 

Racism is The subject of this book and it tackles it on many fronts and, in my opinion, to great effect. The surrealism is dialled up slowly. But what this book is About starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. The detectives are more than acclimated to dealing with the outright racist citizenry down in these parts and they get a big dose of it from everyone, all the time. The N-word is liberally applied. 

Quickly, it becomes apparent that Everett is critiquing white supremacy directly in the portrayal of white folk here. They have no qualms and wouldn’t know what was morale if it struck them in the head. They’re incompetent, unrepentant, and hate is hereditary. In short, they exemplify what we’ve come to know about Nazis. Counter to the popular belief that they were exceptional and ran on Swiss time and were exceptional tacticians, and this is the case with all white supremacist organizations, yes, even the organized ones—there is generally an tremendous amount of incompetence in the rank and file, with few exceptions. When ideas and beliefs held by these organizations are interrogated, they fall apart. Hell, they invent pseudo science and misinformation to make themselves feel creditable, but it’s unsubstantiated hogwash. And Everett is having none of it from these people.

As more and more deaths occur, the surrealism goes up, and we begin to get the larger picture of these events. 

A 105 year old black woman has been documenting every lynching that’s been happening. Bodies are disappearing. The victims seem to have ties to past hate crimes—not against black people, but seemingly every marginalized identity. It examines, by literalizing, the ingrained fear white people have about minorities, but also satirizes the supposed response of such a threat the alt-right presupposes will happen all of the time as a fear mongering tactic. If “race wars” did break out, what would that actually look like? What would spark such a thing? 

By exposing and putting such fears under a stark light, they become both ugly and laughable at the same time. A tight rope dance the novel pulls off brilliantly, while also having an even more overt political statement waiting in the wings, and the surrealism reaches a fever pitch. Absolutely fantastic bit of writing. Only downside I had was expecting a straight forward gritty crime novel. What I got instead was well worth the zig-zag, though. As you can tell.

The Trees A Novel

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