Tree of Smoke Audiobook By Denis Johnson cover art

Tree of Smoke

A Novel

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Tree of Smoke

By: Denis Johnson
Narrated by: Will Patton
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Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That's me.

This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature.

Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson's first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date.

©2007 Denis Johnson (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Winner, Literary Fiction, 2008

“Patton is outstanding...[his] performance is quiet, powerful, and gut-wrenching....This is MUST listening.” —AudioFile Magazine

“This is the very talented Will Paton's greatest performance as a reader so far. His range of voices and evocation of character--the hopeful, the innocent, the cynical, the despairing and the mad--bring the tale to even more terrible and blistered life than the book itself, making it a 23-hour excursion into mesmerizing darkness.” —The Washington Post

“Will Patton's reading of \"Tree of Smoke\" is superb...The experience overall is one of hallucinatory horror, laugh-out-loud outrage, of sadness at the tremendous waste of lives, money and the national pride that went into Vietnam and did not return.” —Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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My rating reflects the audiobook, not the book itself. I think that Tree of Smoke might be a very good book to read, but it is a difficult book to listen to. It's not the narrator's fault: he does a superb job of capturing the mood and aiding in characterization.

I'm a big reader, and I like marking in important books. I like underlining important, repeated phrases and flipping back to earlier passages when I sense the author making allusions. I kept wanting to do this with Tree of Smoke, but I couldn't! Specifically, I remember a significant folk tale that is related early in the book that may be a key to understanding the whole, but it occurred so early in this rather long book that I couldn't remember the details of the tale by the end of the book. I needed to be able to flip back and read the folk tale again!

Here's the upshot of my too long review: I would recommend that someone read this book, but I do not recommend the audiobook.

Better read than heard

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Big and challenging and expertly narrated. One of the better books I've downloaded.

Well crafted; perfectly realized

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This is not an easy book to listen. And perhaps, read. It is long and fragmented and Johnson is not trying (at all) to make it easy. Then what is he trying to do here? Vietnam - really? - after Kubrick, Coppola and Greene - is there another new word left to say? Apparently yes. In his prose Johnson manages not only to show us Vietnam but he manages to put you inside Vietnam, in a war that was never completely war but managed to suck everyone associated with it inside out. This book should not be classified prose, cause really is poetry - page after page, line after line of words you'd want to hang around - even if they make you cringe. That takes talent. I suggest you listen to this book in increments of 0.5 hours at one go and by the end of it you'd want to turn back to line 1. Like I did.

Disneyland on Acid

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I have a personal interest in the history of WW1 & WW11 and devour literature that paints a picture of the events that shaped these episodes of human history. I downloaded Tree of Smoke mostly because I liked the title, but also because of the reviews I'd read.

I was not prepared. This book left me ashamed that I have neglected to acquire an adequate picture of the events in Vietnam, the evolution of the capacity of humans to remain standing in a world that rarely makes a distinction between what is right and wrong, regardless of politics.

I will be listening to this book again, I feel I must.

Harrowing yet a story that needs to be heard

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This isn’t a Vietnam war story. It’s kind of a love story. There’s very little excitement. All in all it’s ok. If you want a love story or sad story but not a war story or spy thriller.

Writing is ok. Story goes nowhere.

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Phenomenal storytelling. What seemed at first like a wide array of characters quickly becomes a tightly knit story of the Vietnam war and those affected by it. I’m at a loss for words. An incredible story, masterfully handled by Denis Johnson.

Incredible

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I've listened to the story several times. Will (Patton) is an excellent actor/reader and has gotten into the story on a visceral level. Yes! I'm a veteran of that war. Veterans will understand easier than general readers, but the story and production are such that all listeners with heart will truly understand. The angst is real, the characters true, the production is first-class.

Why that high - my rating!

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This is a novel that keeps you thinking--so far, for weeks after finishing it. It feels cliche and non-imaginative at times, but then pulls you in with amazing verisimilitude and originality. Its themes are existential--literally about existence--and how humans should and can make meaning out of life. It is also about the small moments in life that might actually be gigantic moments in retrospect. Or maybe not.

It is not short but seems to go quickly.

The narration is wonderful; Patton has a great tone for this type of book; he generally makes just the right amount of (minimal) effort to make different voices for different characters.

Perhaps the best summation of this novel is that the title is perfect.

Amazing and Quotidian, Inventive and Banal

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This is my first Denis Johnson read. A new genre door is opened. This is a razor sharp story of duplicity, espionage, confusion, and conflict set against the backdrop of the larger Viet Nam conflict, and works on so many levels. It is politically unbiased. The first paragraph became an addicting vortex un-releasing and un-relenting until the end. Who's spooking who? Each character is richly developed through a literal walk in their shoes. As always, I was transfixed by Will Patton's reading which always and again rends a final veneer to this or any work.

Works on every level...

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While a bit too long, this novel was worth the extra energy to focus till the end. Exceptional psychological perspectives throughout.

Profoundly and exquisite.

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