Tree of Smoke: A Novel

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Tree of Smoke: A Novel
by Denis Johnson
from Picador

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

• Too much, too long, too little
  Having written a novel about the Vietnam War and read every fictional account of the tragedy, I picked up Tree of Smoke with great anticipation. It had garnered praise from the reviewers and been nominated for awards. I was greatly disappointed, but somewhat entertained. There is no comparison with Tree of Smoke to The Things They Carried or a dozen other Vietnam War works. Tree of Smnoke is much too much in its length, bloated prose, and too little in the soul of those who fought this misguided war. more info

• Don't waste your precious time reading this and hoping it gets better
  I've read hundreds of novels and I have never been moved to write a review one way or the other, but purchasing and attempting to read "Tree of Smoke" changed that. Of all of the books I've read I can't think of any one of them that I put down and couldn't finish - but that's exactly what I did with this book. I can appreciate that Mr. Johnson's writing is unique and sometimes very good - but a novel is supposed to be more than stringing together well crafted sentences and seemingly unrelated thoughts and... more info

• A Three Star Novel
  The writer Chaim Potok said once in an lecture I heard him give that a librarian had told him, when he, as a youngster, was checking out a book by Evelyn Waugh-- whom he thought was a woman-- that one should always give a book he didn't like 100 pages before quitting reading if the writer was a respected author. I thought of Mr. Potok's advice many times while reading TREE OF SMOKE-- all 614 pages-- although I soldiered on, hoping against hope that it would get better. Winner of the National Book Award for... more info

• Is there an editor in the house?
  Really? National Book Award? Really? Although Johnson has captivating scene followed by captivating scene, the book as a whole is bloated and over-written. I kept waiting for the corner to be turned and for there to be a tremendous payoff, but I finally ran out of steam and did something I rarely do. I gave up after 500 pages. With slightly more than 100 pages to go, I simply lost my will to care. Johnson is attempting to put together a mosaic. He goes about it in the right way -- he selects beautiful... more info

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