Michelle's review

Michelle's review

Tree of Smoke: A Novel Tree of Smoke: A Novel
by Denis Johnson

512643 Michelle's review
rating: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction
recommended for: Vietnam War Buffs

From this book I learned to carefully check materials before checking them out of my local library. When I saw Tree of Smoke on the shelf, I happily checked it out and couldn't wait to get it home and start reading it. I am a fan of Denis Johnson's work, and this was his first novel in about nine years.

When I flipped to the title page, there was what looked like a flattened booger on the page. I really wanted to read the book so I quickly flipped the page and started reading anyway. A few minutes later I looked down and saw the flattened booger thing ON ME! I flung it away, but it made me gag.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, but the whole time reading it I was wary of finding any additional surprises. Thankfully, there were none.

This is a story about the Vietnam War told in chapters titled with the years 1963 through 1970. The last chapter takes place in 1983. One of my favorite passages was as follows, and I think it rings true for many places in our world t...more

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comments (showing 1-7 of 7)

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message 1: by David
05/12/2008 02:20AM

698433 Booby, oh no! I think you have a flattened booger in your hair! Whatever you do, don't eat it (without ketchup)! Thank you for being the poster-girl for my new campaign against library books... If I want to rub other people's bacteria, feces, and scabs on my body, I'll pay a hooker to do it right. (Just a tip, kiddos.)

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message 2: by Kim
05/12/2008 02:31AM

520753 Thank you both for such lovely imagery so early....

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message 3: by David (last edited 05/12/2008 02:46AM)
05/12/2008 02:45AM

698433 Kim, just remember this: Reading a standard library book is like drinking the water from an open-air toilet in Calcutta. That's all I'm sayin'. (The American Library Association likes to soft-pedal this kind of info, but I'm your local designated truth-seeker, peeps. Fight the power... and, um, flattened boogers, too.)

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message 4: by Kim
05/12/2008 02:49AM

520753 But, I love our library... maybe I'll just snag some latex gloves from work, and a gown.. maybe a mask.

Thank you for enlightening me, Daves...

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message 5: by David
05/12/2008 02:54AM

698433 Hey, if you like drinking sewer water through a beer bong, who am I to rain on your parade?

New slogan: Your Local Public Library: Enjoy the Cholera.

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message 6: by Michelle
05/12/2008 01:25PM

512643 I like to think I will still use my library, but I have to admit I bought a couple of books at Barnes & Noble this weekend. They were DNA-free!

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message 7: by Sarah Bell
05/28/2008 04:49PM

372363 Ummm. Who puts boogers in books? Why!?!? WHY!?

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