The Trees by Percival Everett
The thrilling novel The Trees by Percival Everett begins with a string of gruesome killings in the small town of Money, Mississippi. The local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a number of bigoted White town members greet two detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation with the opposition that is to be anticipated. The killings provide a mystery since each crime scene has a second dead body, one that resembles Emmett Till. The detectives believe that these are retaliation killings, but they soon learn that eerily similar murders are occurring across the nation. There’s a very bizarre thing going on.
As the bodies mount, the MBI detectives turn to a local root doctor for information. This man has spent years recording every lynching in the nation and has revealed a past that won’t go away. Everett directly addresses racism and police brutality in this fearless, thought-provoking work, and he does so in a way that keeps the reader’s attention riveted. The Trees is an incredibly potent book with enduring significance from a writer who has a pulse on America.
The Trees by Percival Everett
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There are murders, horrifying, intricately depicted murders. There is a comparison made to the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till. It is instantly apparent that the trees in the title belong to the particular Southern genus described as bearing “weird fruit”. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation’s two black agents then visits a roadside pub where a blues artist is playing “Strange Fruit,” with the lyrics being right there on the page in case you hadn’t already drawn that conclusion. Not subtle at all. There is nothing subtle or oblique about this book. The language is unrestricted and the violence is excessive to the point of absurdity, just like the best pulp fiction books and films.
When the volume is always turned up to 11, it requires considerable expertise to provide something intelligent and of lasting value. The strange side story about a professor who keeps a list of all the people who have been lynched turns out to be the main plot. The fact that “The Trees” is not a thriller, satire, or comedy is brought home when you close the book and realize that the names were mentioned on the cover throughout. It is a memorial.
