The Trees, Percival Everett, author; Bill Andrew Quinn, narrator
Beginning with bizarre murders occurring in a town called Money, Mississippi, and extending to its suburb called Spare Change, the author seemed to be highlighting the evils of racism and economic inequality, and seemed to be exposing the need to find a peaceful resolution for the problems caused by our past sins. His approach was tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic. The citizens highlighted in the novel seemed backward and uneducated, poor, and very unworthy of respect, which they are, unsurprisingly, not given in the narrative. The only honorable community seemed to be the one “of color”, the one that had quietly suffered, that was now quietly planning the murders that ironically “take on a life of their own”, and grow into a “revolution” of sorts, promoting a ”pandemic of death” throughout the country.
As the story became more and more violent, with very graphic details and descriptions of cold-blooded murders and mutilations, it also became less credible, less palatable, and more narrow in its scope for me. Instead of exposing injustice in an effort to seek justice, it seemed rather to justify racial violence against the white population, in order to extract vengeance. The community was not looking for a solution but for retribution. I felt the author’s message was becoming dangerous as dead white bodies were piling up without explanation. In addition, there was always a person of color holding the detached genitals of the dead white victims. This person was also dead, and was always present at the crime scene. It soon became frightfully obvious that the murders were being committed by “zombies”, the resurrected bodies of those who had been unfairly lynched. As the number of deaths began to reach epic proportions, and the atmosphere became more and more gleeful and accepting of the increasing violence, with these growing numbers of zombies claiming the lives of the relatives of those who were raised by racists and those who still harbored racist feelings and behaviors, it grew into a maelstrom of violence.
Ultimately, the white racists continued to be murdered, maimed and disfigured horribly, murdered by black men, Asian men, and others who had been unjustly lynched, with no end in sight. The numbers of the guilty were grossly exaggerated as they reached far into the future to punish those never directly involved, but who seemed guilty due to their pale skin color. As the scholar, Assistant Professor Damon Thruff, worked diligently typing out the names of the victims, spurred on by Mama Z, they continued to rise up and their numbers increased. Murder after murder was committed until the violence spread all over the country and copycats created panic. The death toll multiplied. There was no clarification forthcoming from those in charge as they could not stop the killing.
The author seemed intent on encouraging retribution and revenge, negating any positive feelings of hopefulness as a result of reading this book.
Incongruously, this murderous plan originated and was led by a woman who claimed to be 105 years-old. Perhaps that is what most identifies the absurdity of this novel. The need to hate and seek payback lived on and on. Those who want to continue to hate will love this book, those who want to resolve issues and move on, will not. Liberals who are angry with the former President who is not named, but who is roundly mocked and identified with a gross exaggeration of his behavior through the horrifying use of misleading and false statements supposedly made by him, will love this book, too. They have already promoted many lies, lies that they still continue to support, like those about Russian collusion which is alluded to in this book.
As the word “rise” is repeated over and over to emphasize the need for the dead to rise up and exact vengeance, one has to wonder about the author’s true purpose in writing this book, since in the narrative, he trashes a former President, murders a Governor of Florida, and a former Speaker of the House, without identifying anyone by name, except for the use of the name Melania, very disrespectfully. Perhaps his motives are not as pure as the driven snow. At first, I was actually impressed with the author’s ability to marry a story about racism with humor, as well as with the appropriate gravity it deserved. As I continued, however, I began to doubt my original assessment and was sorry I had recommended it to a friend. The author’s politics are revealed, with a fury, as the barrage of falsehoods are sarcastically presented, and as unnamed Republicans, who are definitely identifiable, are slandered. Everett even ridiculed G-d, along with all those that oppose the views he presented. He seemed to be instigating the rightful use of violence, as he promoted his message which turned into propaganda.
I found the overuse of sarcasm, curse words and the “N” word, uncomfortable. Anyone judged to have had any connection to a racist history, whether or not they were actually involved, seemed to be fair game. Anyone white had a target on their back because presumably they had put the target on the backs of the victims they lynched. This is a book that is perhaps, unintentionally or intentionally, only the author knows that for sure, promoting conflict, and possibly, even a Civil War.

Very powerful. Once I realised the story of Emmitt Till was real it changed the whole meaning of the book and how I read it