The cancer of war.
Spreading like a plague from its epicentre, gorging on flesh, derailing minds, torturing emotions - only the strongest survive and then just barely.
An all pervading turmoil unbound by time or distance.
Entirely artificial, entirely human.

Tree of Smoke follows several characters in the Vietnam war, expertly leading the reader through its horrors from both sides of the engagement. Family, love, hopelessness, revenge, survival, purpose are all major themes, as they struggle with what truths they find in the choices they make. Anyone who has read 2666 by Robert Bolaño, should recall the chapter about the deaths. The saturated, desensitising prose so relentless to become paradoxically impressive. Tree of Smoke achieves something similar. What Denis Johnson has done here is capture war in all its atrocity.

I have now read five novels by Johnson and this is (so far) the jewel in the crown, despite its low 3.5 rating on goodreads, unsurprising, for two reasons:

1. War is a heavy subject matter which I doubt is every reader's idea of a 'good read' (I empathise of course and need time between books of this nature but war is so entwined in the human condition (sadly) that the subject leads to some of the very best writing - Birdsong, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Slaughterhouse 5, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, War and Peace and of course, Catch-22)

2. I read parts of Tree of Smoke and listened to parts on audiobook, which was read amazingly by the actor Will Patton (of which I include a link to an excerpt below). Patton's handling of voice differentiation for the dialogues between characters was sublime and really improved the clarity and dynamics of their interactions, which my own reading in my head couldn't replicate (instead leading to confusion and rereadings). Johnson is such a skilful writer of dialogue - he knows exactly what other people would say that the characters sound like real people. Complimented by Patton's reading, the effect is very powerful. I wonder if people who solely read the book appreciated this element in the same way?

This book is a work of art, cementing Johnson in modern literature as one of its greatest writers (in my humble opinion). Although he is now lost to us, I'm thankful there are so many more of his offerings I have left to read. Jesus' son is apparently his arguable best - it will have to be one hell of a book to surmount what Tree of Smoke achieves. It is another symbol, in addition to the other important books previously mentioned, of why people should read, not war.

Will Patton reading Tree of Smoke:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdDOGebqZr8 ( )

After 130 pages I still can't find the epic. Enough. ( )

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Wow. Was Vietnam this bad, this hopeless, this full of men one is tempted to label "losers"? Reviews suggest this could be the defining novel on the Vietnam War; no wonder we as a nation are still getting over it." ( )

Joel's 10/06/07 review states in part: "Michiko Kakutani hated it. Frank Rich loved it. But only Salon got it right. This is a massive book, with a big topic (the Vietnam War) cross-referenced with another big topic (military intelligence), further complicated by big technique (multiple characters, heady mystery and homages to cultural classics -- Heart of Darkness, the novels of Graham Greene, and war cinema like Apocalypse Now and Platoon). Opinion on this book seems to divide between people willing to chew through a 600-page novel and those who don't have the patience. If you're game to meditate on something as unpleasant as a botched war and its covert operations, Tree of Smoke is highly rewarding."
That said, and in spite of much critical acclaim regarding this book, I place myself in the impatient group having trouble plowing through a longish novel and meditating on unpleasant individuals in unpleasant circumstances.

( )

Tree of Smoke is long, sprawling, and not exactly an example of a story with a tidy conclusion. It's focus is on a mostly doomed set of characters, who are all involved with the Vietnam War, mainly in the periods before and after the Tet Offensive. It includes the iconoclastic CIA veteran, Colonel Francis Sands, his nephew and fellow CIA operative, Skip Sands, the two Houston brothers from Phoenix, a Canadian 7th Day Adventist nurse who has lost her husband, the Colonel's Vietnamese driver and his nephew, the Colonel's helicopter pilot, a potential Viet Cong double agent, and a whole host of other characters trying to navigate their way through the war (and perhaps through Johnson's labyrinthine story.) But--it is Dennis Johnson--so, even if sometimes things as a whole don't work out, such as a few plot threads that I would say aren't quite wrapped up to my satisfaction, the writing is extraordinary, and there are scenes here that will stick with you for a long while, such as James Houston's first encounter with real warfare after thinking he was in a safe position guarding the Colonel's landing zone, or an assassin's preparation to kill the Viet Cong double agent, or a bar scene with an Australian dwarf.... It goes on and on. So many of the great scenes are not necessary to the story--but they are necessary to the book!

The atmosphere, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam, is damp, hot, and oppressive. The hotels, streets, taxis, pedicabs, restaurants, and other locations are portrayed in vivid colors. There is no paint-by-numbers in Johnson's book. Nothing is generic. Everything, down to the beer and cigarettes is as real as fiction can make it. I listened to most of this as an audiobook, read incredibly well by Will Patton, but my loan ran out and couldn't be renewed, so I read the last 60 pages or so. I haven't quite read all of Johnson's work yet, but it is all extremely worthwhile, and this is no exception. Just be prepared to take your time. There's a lot here to mull over as you listen or read. This is not any sort of realistic fictional depiction of THE Vietnam War, but it is a few people's Vietnam War, and perhaps that is easier to understand, in the end. The book only has one real hero--and she is about as unheroic as they come. But she perseveres. ( )