´History is a motherfucker´.
Shortlisted for this year edition of Booker Prize, The Trees by Percival Everett is an ironic story based on a terrible episode in the history of racial relations: the 1955 murder of Emmett Till. Likewise, the action of the book is set in Money, Mississippi, only that the victims of the series of lynchings are white. They also bear hilarious name, of the kind usually attributed to black protagonists: Granny C., Junior Junior, Wheat Bryant.
The search for the culprits is done by black officers employed by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, but they are faced with an additional challenge: on the site of the crimes, which are multiplying from a day to another, a mysterious black man corpse appears and disappears. It´s the same over and over again.
The irony is intelligent and the references are obvious, however the literary layer involving the story development and the narrative, as well as character development. The Trees demonstrates that one can write about race and racial dissent in so many literary ways. Also, it´s a good reminder that irony can be such a powerful literary weapon.
Rating: 4 stars
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