Tree of Smoke: A Novel
by Denis Johnson
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Book Reviews of Tree of Smoke: A Novel
Book Review: Vietnam Collage
Summary: 3 Stars
Tree of Smoke, Johnson's sprawling novel about Vietnam, is structured around the narratives of many characters, which include The Colonel, a hybrid of Colonel Kurtz and Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore from Apocalypse Now (a dash of Hannibal from the A Team); Skip Sands, the Colonel's nephew and fellow CIA operative; Kathy Jones, a humanitarian worker from Canada; brothers Bill and James Houston; Lt Storm, an insane violent psychedelic dervish who supports The Colonel; and Vietnamese men Trung, a Buddhist Vietcong double agent, and How, a Saigon businessman working with the Americans.
TOS has many great things about it. As those familiar with Johnson's work will attest, the prose is electric - engaging, energetic, fresh. The characters of the Houston brothers and Skip Sands stand out as especially strong, distinct, and moving. Brothers James and Bill are the typical down and out, edge of respectable society guys that Johnson is so good at bringing to life. Skip Sands also comes across well. He is an introspective man, educated, morally conscious. His struggle is the struggle of the nation, full of good intentions and patriotism, faith in God, etc, which all come under fire when confronted with ludicrous nature of the war.
TOS's main weakness is it tries to accomplish too much with too many different points of view. The result is too much expository writing, too much generalization. Overall Johnson grapples with many themes - religion, patriotism, horror, innocence, death. These are big issues, better dealt with obliquely, through the specificity of characters and their situations. As a result of generalization, many of the characters feel flat. Colonel Sands is a complete stock character taken right out of a mediocre movie. Lt Storm speaks like a bad television movie - "this is getting psychedelic, man!" The Vietnamese characters are never fully penetrated, and feel as though they are placed in the novel to provide some sort of balance to the American perspective. Kathy Jones only comes alive at the very end of the novel.
I found the book worth reading all the way through. The total perspective on the Vietnam War is nothing new, and in no way compares to classics like Herr's "Dispatches" or most of Tim O'Brien's oeuvre. There is a directionless to the book that I found frustrating, but flashes of greatness as well.
One word of note, the plot definitely picks up at the end, and I found the last third by far the best - so keep reading.
Book Review: The Imprint of War
Summary: 4 Stars
Near the end of TREE OF SMOKE, the character Kathy Jones ruminates about her experiences as a nurse and relief worker in the Viet Nam war. "Kathy reflected, certainly not for the first time, that the war hadn't been only and exclusively terrible. It had delivered a sense, at first dreadful, eventually intoxicating, that something wild, magical, stunning might come from the next moment, death itself might erupt..."
Basically, this idea--that Viet Nam, as well as the war on communism, was a thrilling but gruesome misadventure that never made much sense--is the subject of TREE OF SMOKE, as well as the principle that animates its major characters. This means that ToS is probably not for you if you're looking for a character-driven novel that explores personal and moral choice, such as THE QUIET AMERICAN. Instead, the characters in ToS find weird fulfillment in the rush of arbitrary and deadly war. Thereafter, they might try to justify that fulfillment. But it's a tree of smoke.
Readers of ToS will find sections of powerful prose, where Denis Johnson demonstrates that he can place a character perfectly into a scene. Illustrating this ability is the battle near Cao Phuc in 1968, where the character James Houston experiences his first combat. But such set pieces are infrequent, with Johnson, in this long novel, primarily using his prose to convey the strange and deadly elusiveness of Viet Nam and its aftermath. This is why, in my opinion, the poetic quality of Johnson's writing becomes apparent only with Jimmy Storm, a psychological operations soldier who speaks as if amped on drugs. In this crazed perspective, Johnson's prose tightens. Otherwise, this book feels deliberately rough and a little slow, forcing this reader to circle names, dates, locations, and any other fact--as if this were a history--to keep his mind in the narrative.
Johnson is very strong in his final few pages, illuminating his themes and even explaining the behavior of Skip Sands, a major character who was otherwise incomprehensible to me. This strong end helped to part the smoke and earned this novel a fourth star.
Book Review: Amazing work
Summary: 5 Stars
I can understand it's not for everyone, because there is no more a cohesive story line than the Vietnam War itself had. That's the point, imo. It's a dark book about a dark time, and Johnson goes right to the dark hearts of his characters without any preamble -- they're not "cardboard" or "wooden" -- they're in a *war* and their best and most complex selves are not in evidence. Does war permit character development in actual soldiers and other operatives? It pares them down and destroys them more commonly, not only because one's best self is a burden in such weird and dangerous circumstances. People live and die, and kill, by sheer guesswork which is often wrong. They are saved, or killed, because of the mistakes of others, both intentional and careless. I think Johnson captures not only the folly of government actions, but the screwed up, alcoholic hearts of his characters, who are soldiers and soldier wannabes, failed soldiers and has-beens with real glory in their pasts. Instead of the typical "what happens" of a story, Johnson gives us insight into what these people are thinking. What is the thinking that propels the activities of war? There are a lot of big ideas in this book. Ideas about war, about different cultures, about government hubris and individual pride, stupidity, and need, about love and loss and religious faith and alcoholism. One thing about most of Johnson's work: if you have any curiosity about alcohol abuse or drug abuse, if you've ever wondered how addicts think, it's all there. The denial, the good intentions, the utter failure of the will, the cockeyed "planning" for the future, the misconceptions and bad judgment. He's a national treasure, and it's a big book. But, not for everyone. It benefits from at least a passing familiarity with the facts of the Vietnam War, which, sadly, not everyone has. Also, lots of people and things die in this book. If you don't like the dark, read something else. If you want another novel that takes a look at the CIA and its screwups, try The Company.Book Review: CIA Intrigue in Vietnam
Summary: 4 Stars
This novel is part of my ongoing effort to upgrade my reading list, having won a National Book Award in 2008. I found it to be generally very well written and captivating, but suffering from periods of dense prose and underediting.
I must say that the review profile is one of the most unusual I've ever seen, an almost reverse bell curve. Readers either love it or hate it, which is somewhat surprising, because I really found it relatively easy to read and can't imagine what would compel anyone to give it a one or two star rating.
In any event, the novel centers on the Vietnam War, however very little actual fighting is mentioned. Instead, intrigue by the CIA and various other intelligence agencies provide the basis for the story, which follows several disparate plot lines, some of which never seem to intersect.
I've seen references to Apocalypse Now and the novel is deeply influenced by the character of Colonel Francis X. Sands, an old line CIA operative who has gone renegade and surrounded himself with accolytes to do his bidding. To these accolytes, Sands is a demi-god, much in the mold of Colonel Kurtz. Sands's nephew, Skip, is the primary character in the story. His interaction with the various other characters and the establishment's efforts to reign in "the Colonel" are what tie the novel together.
At 614 pages of small typed, full pages, this is a relatively long book, at times in need of editing, in my opinion. There are a couple of story lines that don't seem to go anywhere, primarily those of Kathy Jones (I guess every book needs a love interest) and the brothers from Arizona, that while very entertaining don't seem to have any relevance to the story other than to interject the ugly, seedy world of the front line grunt.
I've got to think that there is an outstanding 500 page novel somewhere in this book, but the periods of pretentious, dense prose (thankfully few and far between) and the filler material drags it down below the highest standard. A very worthwhile read nonetheless.
Book Review: Boring - stereotypic characters - unengaging plot
Summary: 1 Stars
I wish I'd read BR Myers' review in the Atlantic (Dec 2007) before I bought this book. His review was titled "A Bright Shining Lie," and he nails how I feel about "Tree of Smoke." [...].
I read a LOT and widely. I rarely hate a book, but I truly hated this one. I never cared about or was engaged with the one-dimensional, unauthentic characters. I could not relate to a single one of them. One can't get to know the characters because there is nothing to know.
The plot seemed, well, not there. I never felt dramatic tension or cared what happened next.
There is no sense of place that matters - the setting is a jungle or a village close to a jungle. It doesn't matter whether it's the Philippines or Vietnam. The author may describe water dripping off leaves, but there is no feeling connected to the location.
The author surely wasn't in Vietnam. Factual errors add to the biased view of who served in the Vietnam: poor, stupid high school dropouts; idealistic midwestern patriot (Skip), psycho, over-the-hill, Dr. Strangelove CIA operative, inscrutable Vietnamese, mysterious German assassin, crazy missionary. Honestly, there isn't one nuanced character in this book.
Why would this book add anything to a discussion of the Vietnam War? Why would anyone think this is the BEST book about the Vietnam War? "Tree of Smoke" is pathetic in comparison to Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" or O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" or Herr's "Dispatches." The book gave no insights into a war that, unfortunately, still defines my generation.
I disagree with another reviewer that this book reflects American disillusionment after World War II. "Tree of Smoke" never reaches the level of generalization because it is so flat and has so little to say.
That this won the National Book Award is just amazing. What were they thinking? Save your money and rent "Apocalypse Now." Marlon Brandon plays a much more interesting psycho, and the movie, at least, has great music.