The Trees Audiobook By Percival Everett cover art

The Trees

A Novel

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The Trees

By: Percival Everett
Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
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About this listen

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 must-listen 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. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America's pulse.

©2021 Percival Everett (P)2022 Tantor
Literary Fiction Mystery Fiction Suspense Scary Witty Mississippi
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What listeners say about The Trees

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Worthwhile

The narrator is simply fabulous. The first 75% of the novel is fantastic, but I found later sections labored and weaker in conception. Everett is a master of blending genres; not many fiction writers can move so smoothly between police procedural, humor, history, and horror. The white characters are simplistic and one-dimensional, which weakens the narrative, at least for me.

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karma

This was such a good book. the Narator did a great job. I love the idea of karma visitingthe KKK. Percival Everett thank you.

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Extraordinary

Reading top notch
Story funny poignant and deeply moving
A totally refreshing approach to racism in the usa

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Bizarre and Delightful

Percival Everett is amazing. This book is…many things, to say the least! But an enjoyable read. The audio actor is great.

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It is a good story with a few twists.

I thought the overall story was enjoyable to follow. The narration was okay for most of the book, but nearing the end I didn’t feel that the intensity of the story was matched very well. I think this particular novel might be better to read so you can develop your own character voices.

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This story calls for character gymnastics

The story was a mix of historical truths and fiction. The narrator had many characters to navigate and did so seamlessly.

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Fast and furious

Dialogue, events…all of it was unexpected and yet spot on! Highly recommend this book and look forward to more from author

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Your View of Trees Will Change After Listening

This review is for the Audible edition of Trees, written by Percival Everett and read by Bill Andrew Quinn. I decided to read this book after reading James earlier this year, my first experience reading author Percival.

This book is challenging to review, because it takes the reader through so many different emotions and feelings. At times you will be laughing, other parts angry. Trees is a work of fiction wrapped around historical truths with a story that begins in the rural fictional town of Money, Mississippi, where a series of vicious murders has taken place. The victims, all males, were stabbed to death and each had their testicles cut off in an act of hate. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (yes it does exist) is called in to help local law enforcement and from there things just get stranger and stranger.

We meet a number of interesting characters. While more development might have helped, there is more than enough to drive the story forward. The killings in Money and the rest of the South are not new; lynching was the norm for decades. Hence the title Trees.

Racism is an ugly thing. Trees makes the reader face racism straight on, and we don't like what we see (or hear in this case). Speaking of hearing, the narration by Bill Andrew Quinn is excellent, and makes you feel like you are in the rural South.

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Wild. Redemptive. Hilarious. Gory. LOL funny. Shocking.

Wowza. What a story. What a storyteller. Loved the characters. Names. And the sheer gravity of this book in raising awareness of mass murders — genocide — that is largely not considered on a day to day basis by most people in this country. And would be being considered now were it not for courageous Civil Rights leaders of the last century and current groups demanding that truths be told. Bryan Stevenson being being Chief among them in his writings and museums and work for Justice, and many more including Black Lives Matter, Nicole Hannah Jones, Ibram
X Kendi, Resmaa Menakem, Tarana Burke, Mary Trump, Heather Cox Richardson, Isabel Wilkerson, and many others truth tellers I’ll think of as I post this.
Glad we are in a time when truths can be told. Yearn for reparations and end of systemic racism and oppression that makes real change slower than the repair of a backed up sewage pipe or broken water system in Black, rural MS, AL, LA, GA, FL, etc.

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A Surprising Departure: Reflections on The Trees by the Author of So Much Blue

“So Much Blue” by the same author made me feel like I’d found my new Milan Kundera—a favorite living writer whose new works I eagerly anticipate. However, The Trees was something entirely different, from its style and themes to its literary layers and tone.

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