At Least Four Trees of Smoke Were Used to Publish This Book

By Barrister Lichtenauer

This was a long and hard literary battle. This was 700 + pages of thin paper and lots of words. This will always be remembered as the book that almost killed the Gentlemen Bookreader's Club of America. But we muddled through it and, for the most part, are glad we did.

Dennis Johnson’s epic Tree of Smoke follows what feels like 41,234 characters as they work to understand Vietnam while trying to stay alive (spoiler – a lot of them die, but its not what you’d expect).

• There’s the CIA operatives who drink bourbon and talk about stuff they want to do but never actually do
• The on-the-ground grunts trying to bone Vietnamese whores and get shot at once or twice
• There’s the Vietnamese people who sit around sweating and not trusting anyone
• There’s the aid worker who bones the CIA operatives and looks gross
• There’s the assassin who complains a lot

Don’t get me wrong. It was a good book, Johnson can write – he’s eloquent and brilliant when he wants to be. When he doesn’t want to be, you get clunky dialogue and really confusing descriptions. Make no mistake, this was a classic “stick-with-it” book. If you could get through the first 150-200 pages, it starts moving at a good pace and gets pretty interesting. But it’s tough. The first seventh of this book is a real chore.

I'd love to give you a well-written synopsis of everything that happened, but this book was full of storylines and sub plots and sub sub plots and characters who get killed or not... its a huge mess. But I think that's the point. When it comes down to it, reading a book about Vietnam probably shouldn't be easy. It probably shouldn't be a simple, straight-up story. Because isn't that the point? Things out there were a huge, bloody mess. No one knew what was going on. And it's reflected in Johnson's sprawling narrative.

So. What is a Tree of Smoke? It'll only take you 700+ pages to find out.

Overall rating: Whale Oil Lamp

Barrister Lichtenauer: +1.75
Barrister Russell: +.25
Barrister Shaw: +1.5
Barrister Wells: -3.5

Meeting Place: Jack Stack Barbeque - it wasn't really related to the book. It was more of convenience. Yes, we should have eaten Vietnamese food or something like that.

Next Up: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

Frey not Joyce. And that's just fine.

By Barrister Russell

The incomparable James Joyce once claimed that if Dublin were to disappear, it could be reconstructed to every last detail just by reading his Ulysses. Quite a statement. But then again, Ulysses is widely considered the greatest piece of English literature ever written. So I guess you could say, quite a novel. But to say that James Frey tried to do for LA what Joyce did for Dublin, as Washington Post critic Steven Moore claims, is just too much of a stretch for the GBCOA.

Our guess is that Moore has never read, and will never read Ulysses, (probably has other things to read to keep him busy) and simply made his offhanded comment on reputation alone. But for those of you that have read this masterpiece, you know how ridiculous Moore's remarks actually are. Frey's book was good. It was really good. He stayed true to his staccato, machine-gun thoughts and created characters that kept us emotionally invested and turning the pages. But at no time could we recreate LA for you based solely on Frey's prose. And at no time did we think he was reinventing the perception this fantasy city already has in the eyes of millions. In these ways, Frey didn't fail. He just came up short.

That is, if those were his intentions at all.

The book itself is really no more than a snapshot of various characters' lives. You've got the secretly gay movie star, the overweight immigrant, the wary travelers searching for better fortunes and the homeless wanderer still searching for meaning in his life. Pretty typical stuff. But similar to his previous works, Frey has the uncanny ability to make us care for the characters more than we should. We've all read about drug addicts before, but we'll challenge anyone who says they've met a character more engrossing and relatable than Frey himself in A Million Little Pieces.

Bright Shiny Morning was no different. These characters have been written before. The stories that follow each of them have been told. But we cared nonetheless, and did long after the book had finished. That is the mark of a great writer. And Frey has established himself as just that - especially now.

So does the GBCOA think Frey went out on a limb here? No. Did he redefine the LA story? No. Did he do the impossible and mimic Joyce's greatest work? Not even close. But what he did do was illustrate the American dream - the path to LA that millions seek each year and the varying levels of success they all find. BSM knows dreams are different for everyone, and that finding success in LA means something different depending on your perspective. But that's why it's great. Because depending on your perspective, BSM was successful for many different reasons. If only for the simple fact that it tells all of us to continue to dream for something better. Because in the end, that's what LA is all about.

Overall Rating: 2.875 Beaver Pelt Hats

Barrister Lichtenauer: +3.5
Barrister Russell: +3.75
Barrister Shaw: +1
Barrister Wells: +3.25

Meeting Place: Jack Stack Barbeque - Don't try and figure it out. Just know that it was delicious and we don't regret it for a second.

Next Up: Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

An Open Letter to Anyone Who Actually Reads this Blog

The Gentlemen Bookreader's would like to take a moment to apologize for our little break. We know there are hundreds of thousands of you out there who depend on this blog for book suggestions and incredible, ground-breaking insight.

We will be updating shortly with reviews for James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning and Dennis Johnson's Tree of Smoke and, so you can get a head start catching up to us in reading, we will be finishing Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union by the end of March then starting on Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants.

So hold on tight dear readers and get your monocles dusted.