I have been reading a lot of Percival Everett lately. Dr. No, Erasure, So Much Blue, his latest James. But today it is The Trees.
The trees are referencing hangings. Lynching of black men. Right away there is a heaviness and sadness and anger surrounding this tale. Ostensibly, it is a murder mystery set in Money, Mississippi but Everett is extremely skilled in both humor and sarcasm which you can see by the names chosen for various characters (Junior Junior / Red Jetty) and also by the slapstick plot point and buddy cop banter throughout.
When I hear that a book is funny, most of the time, that is an exaggeration to me. But this book is funny, sad and violent and has a history lesson too. I read one synopsis that had Tarantino films as a comp. I agree with that.
One passage (of many) that struck a chord is the following between the two detectives on the case:
Ed said. “Here we are. The Lorraine Motel. There on that corner of that balcony. I was ten. That’s why I’m a cop.”
“It’s a museum now,” Jim said.
“And it shouldn’t be,” Ed said.
“Why not?” Quip asked.
“It’s just a motel. That’s what it is. That’s all it is,” Ed said. “People should rent out that very room and sleep in that very bed and step through that very door and stand on that balcony and realize what happened there. People should know, understand that not all Thursdays are the same.”
excerpt from The Trees
This is a novel that will stick with you and keep you thinking.
For beer, keep your thinking cap on. Get to researching minority owned breweries and buy their most complicated beers. The ones with the most added ingredients. The aged beers. The beers that are decocted. The beers with history about them.
