The Trees: A Novel
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Description

Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker PrizeWinner of the 2022 Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardFinalist for the 2022 PEN/Jean Stein Book AwardFinalist for the 2023 Dublin Literary AwardLonglisted for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionAn uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of TelephonePercival 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.

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Format
eBook
Street Date
09/21/2021
Language
English
ISBN
9781644451564

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Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors gruesome, violent, and gritty, and they have the genres "mysteries" and "thrillers and suspense."
These darkly humorous satire novels confront white supremacy in the United States through the investigation of a mysterious dancing plague (Mumbo Jumbo) or revenge killings (The Trees). -- CJ Connor
Although The Trees is satirical while Sinners is not, both thrillers are violent, compellingly written, and set in the South. Wary of racist police departments, Black men take it upon themselves to investigate a series of murders in these books. -- Basia Wilson
Taking radically different approaches, these novels confront Mississippi's Civil Rights era history of violence against Blacks. Wade is a moving, realistic portrait of race relations and facing the past; Trees is an offbeat, satirical view of lynchings. -- Michael Shumate
These books have the appeal factors violent and gritty, and they have the theme "facing racism"; and the subjects "murder victims," "racism," and "lynching."
These compelling novels combine elements of mystery and literary fiction, telling the stories of a Black artist (Those We Thought) and detectives (The Trees) who contend with racist crimes and their fallout in southern towns. -- Basia Wilson
These gruesome works, while different genres, use arresting images, morbid humor, and historical events -- the success of Birth of a Nation (Ring Shout); the lynching of Emmett Till (Trees) -- to explore the roots of Southern White supremacist thinking. -- Teresa Chung
These offbeat and thought-provoking novels present satirical scenarios that revolve around racism in the US. Trees is a darkly humorous and gruesome story involving lynching. Sellout is an exaggerated tale of a modern Californian who advocates for slavery and segregation. -- Alicia Cavitt
We recommend The Yiddish Policeman's Union for readers who like The Trees. Both are own voices works of literary fiction that feature mystery plots and wry humor. -- Ashley Lyons
These books have the appeal factors violent, stylistically complex, and own voices, and they have the genres "literary fiction" and "african american fiction"; the subjects "african americans," "american people," and "north american people"; include the identity "black"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors violent, gritty, and own voices, and they have the theme "facing racism"; the genre "african american fiction"; the subjects "racism," "african americans," and "race relations"; and include the identity "black."
With violent, heartwrenching explorations of mass incarceration (Chain-Gang) and lynching (The Trees), delivered in a satirical tone, these novels will resonate with readers who do not shy away from challenging topics and sardonic social commentary. -- Basia Wilson

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Although Percival Everett's work places more emphasis on metafictional complexity than Paul Beatty's, both authors use darkly humorous satire to shed light on the realities of race relations in contemporary America. -- Autumn Winters
Although Percival Everett's fiction is generally darker in tone than Bernardine Evaristo's, both authors write complex, often experimental fiction that uses a variety of techniques -- including poetry, metafiction, and alternative history -- to portray the lives of people of color in America (Everett) and England (Evaristo). -- Michael Shumate
Both authors write offbeat, darkly humorous satirical fiction -- including novels and short stories -- about morally complex characters whose motives are difficult to pin down. -- CJ Connor
Both of these Black authors craft compelling and stylistically complex narratives. While their work is often grim, the violence depicted is more thought-provoking than gratuitous and serves to excoriate America's societal ills by way of issue-oriented satire. -- Basia Wilson
African American novelist Percival L. Everett and Congolese novelist Alain Mabanckou are known for their irreverent, darkly humorous literary and satirical fiction. They create quirky, culturally diverse characters who find themselves in unconventional storylines, including metafictional twists (Everitt) and anthropomorphic animals (Mabanckou). -- Michael Shumate
Both literary satirists write thought-provoking, darkly humorous novels about characters who try (and often fail) to come to grips with life's absurdities. -- CJ Connor
Husband and wife Percival Everett and Danzy Senna explore similar themes of racism, identity, and academia, although Senna's books are told in a more straightforward fashion than the formally inventive and metafictional works of her partner. -- Autumn Winters
These writers' darkly humorous novels have made them two of the most prominent American literary satirists of their generation. Readers are treated to compelling, stylistically complex prose and metafictional playfulness, where fictional characters interact with historical ones. Included among the latter are some who sound suspiciously like the novelists themselves. -- Michael Shumate
Both authors write thought-provoking and stylistically complex literary fiction, often with a satirical or metafictional bent, and use humor to grapple with how absurd life can be. -- CJ Connor
Inventive and prolific satirists Percival Everett and Mark Twain cast a gimlet eye at American society during their respective time periods. Everett even found inspiration in Twain's most famous work, Huckleberry Finn, recasting the lead as the dry, witty, and linguistically gifted enslaved man, James. Social satire fans will appreciate both. -- Autumn Winters
Novelists Ishmael Reed and Percival L. Everett write blistering own voices satires focused on Black life and experience in America. Their darkly humorous, stylistically complex novels frequently seize upon stereotypical racial tropes and accepted wisdom and turn them inside out to critique Black, white, or other perspectives. -- Michael Shumate
These authors' works have the appeal factors offbeat, and they have the genre "african american fiction"; the subjects "north american people," "american people," and "african americans"; and include the identity "black."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Everett, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has written 20-plus darkly ingenious novels, including Telephone (2020). Here he explores the legacy of lynching in a phantasmagoric police procedural. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicagoan lynched in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, haunts the book, which is set in contemporary Money and its hardscrabble outskirts. In a series of grotesque crime scenes, the corpse of a young Black man with a startling resemblance to Till is found over and over again, opposite the body of a recently, gruesomely murdered white man. The local cops are lazy (they hate crime scenes because of the paperwork), incompetent, and racist to the bone. Enter a team of two Black special detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation assigned to help the fumbling Money authorities. The Black detectives are unflappably witty in the face of hostility, sort of like the "Men in Black" dealing with repulsive aliens, but with two cool Black guys encountering the strangeness. As more bodies of white men turn up next to Till clones around the country, the investigation expands, taking the reader deep into the history of lynching. Though at times Everett's edgy surrealism goes a bit off the rails, this fierce satire is both deeply troubling and rewarding.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Everett's sharp latest (after Telephone) spins a puckish revenge fantasy into dark social satire underpinned by a whodunit. In the archetypal Southern town of Money, Miss., someone is knocking off white men, most with a history of racist views. The first victim is Junior Junior Milam, his skull bashed in and his pants pulled down. Near Junior Junior's corpse is another, the body of an unidentified Black man. The mystery intensifies with the appearance of more racist white victims, each with a Black corpse laid beside them. Deepening and complicating the story: the Black corpses all disappear, and are replaced by photographs of Emmett Till. The novel unfolds over a hundred super-short chapters, allowing Everett to maintain a breakneck pace as the crime spree spreads north, the FBI becomes involved, and the president weighs in with a painfully tone-deaf address. Everett delves into a miasma of racist stereotypes held toward and among multiple groups, sometimes with the same sophomoric humor applied to characters' loopy names. (A pair of Asian detectives are named Chin and Ho, a reference to a character from Hawaii Five-O ; Kyle-Lindsay Beet is the High Grand Serpent of the Revived Brotherhood of White Protectors.) Still, this timely absurdist novel produces plenty of chills. (Sept.)

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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Everett, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has written 20-plus darkly ingenious novels, including Telephone (2020). Here he explores the legacy of lynching in a phantasmagoric police procedural. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicagoan lynched in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, haunts the book, which is set in contemporary Money and its hardscrabble outskirts. In a series of grotesque crime scenes, the corpse of a young Black man with a startling resemblance to Till is found over and over again, opposite the body of a recently, gruesomely murdered white man. The local cops are lazy (they hate crime scenes because of the paperwork), incompetent, and racist to the bone. Enter a team of two Black special detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation assigned to help the fumbling Money authorities. The Black detectives are unflappably witty in the face of hostility, sort of like the "Men in Black" dealing with repulsive aliens, but with two cool Black guys encountering the strangeness. As more bodies of white men turn up next to Till clones around the country, the investigation expands, taking the reader deep into the history of lynching. Though at times Everett's edgy surrealism goes a bit off the rails, this fierce satire is both deeply troubling and rewarding. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Everett's sharp latest (after Telephone) spins a puckish revenge fantasy into dark social satire underpinned by a whodunit. In the archetypal Southern town of Money, Miss., someone is knocking off white men, most with a history of racist views. The first victim is Junior Junior Milam, his skull bashed in and his pants pulled down. Near Junior Junior's corpse is another, the body of an unidentified Black man. The mystery intensifies with the appearance of more racist white victims, each with a Black corpse laid beside them. Deepening and complicating the story: the Black corpses all disappear, and are replaced by photographs of Emmett Till. The novel unfolds over a hundred super-short chapters, allowing Everett to maintain a breakneck pace as the crime spree spreads north, the FBI becomes involved, and the president weighs in with a painfully tone-deaf address. Everett delves into a miasma of racist stereotypes held toward and among multiple groups, sometimes with the same sophomoric humor applied to characters' loopy names. (A pair of Asian detectives are named Chin and Ho, a reference to a character from Hawaii Five-O ; Kyle-Lindsay Beet is the High Grand Serpent of the Revived Brotherhood of White Protectors.) Still, this timely absurdist novel produces plenty of chills. (Sept.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Everett, P. (2021). The Trees: A Novel . Graywolf Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Everett, Percival. 2021. The Trees: A Novel. Graywolf Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Everett, Percival. The Trees: A Novel Graywolf Press, 2021.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Everett, P. (2021). The trees: a novel. Graywolf Press.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Everett, Percival. The Trees: A Novel Graywolf Press, 2021.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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