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Twisted Tree
Hayley Jo Zimmerman is gone. Taken. And the people of small-town Twisted Tree must come to terms with this terrible event—their loss, their place in it, and the secrets they all carry.
In this brilliantly written novel, one girl’s story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. A supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. Sophie, Twisted Tree’s resident but secretly not-so-altruistic saint, is shaken by a single, passing moment during Hayley Jo’s adolescence. Dark memories paralyze Richard Mattingly as he as he struggles to help his son, Clay, cope with their new loss. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura berates herself for all the running they did, how it fed her friend’s withdrawal, and how there were so many secrets she didn’t see. And so, Hayley Jo’s absence recasts the lives of others and connects them, her death rooting itself into the community in astonishingly violent and tender ways.
Twisted Tree is a tribute to the powerful effect one person's life can have on everyone she knew. Solidly in the company of Aryn Kyle, Kent Haruf, and Peter Matthiessen, Kent Meyers is one of the best contemporary writers on the American West. Here he also takes us into the complexity of community regardless of landscape. Readers will be entranced by Twisted Tree.
In this brilliantly written novel, one girl’s story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. A supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. Sophie, Twisted Tree’s resident but secretly not-so-altruistic saint, is shaken by a single, passing moment during Hayley Jo’s adolescence. Dark memories paralyze Richard Mattingly as he as he struggles to help his son, Clay, cope with their new loss. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura berates herself for all the running they did, how it fed her friend’s withdrawal, and how there were so many secrets she didn’t see. And so, Hayley Jo’s absence recasts the lives of others and connects them, her death rooting itself into the community in astonishingly violent and tender ways.
Twisted Tree is a tribute to the powerful effect one person's life can have on everyone she knew. Solidly in the company of Aryn Kyle, Kent Haruf, and Peter Matthiessen, Kent Meyers is one of the best contemporary writers on the American West. Here he also takes us into the complexity of community regardless of landscape. Readers will be entranced by Twisted Tree.
289 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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429 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
November 14, 2009
The following is a quiz for readers: How patient are you? How much do you love poetry? Do you admire wordsmiths? If a book lacks a plot, do you find yourself saying, “What the hell, they’re overrated anyhow”? If there’s no main character to hitch your wagon to, will you careen off the road?
If the answer to the above preguntas is “Very,” “A lot,” “Yes,” “Yes,” and “No, sir!” then you might enjoy Kent Meyers’ western hodgepodge, TWISTED TREE. It’s similar (but different) to OLIVE KITTERIDGE and WINESBURG, OHIO, in that it explores place by adopting multiple points of view and variable story lines from different people in a small town, USA. A young anorexic girl is murdered and the book begins with a creepy sequence where she is abducted and we see it all through the eyes of the serial murderer. After that, we go from person to person – some of them with intimate knowledge of the murdered girl (her parents and boyfriend, for instance) and some of them remote (the grocery check-out lady comes to mind). You’d better be patient because it’s all over the place and the quality of the chapters is uneven.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that Kent Meyers knows his way around a sentence. I recommend particularly a chapter in the middle called “Draw.” A young married woman is driving toward her mother’s funeral with her husband sleeping in the back seat. She’s a bit frigid and their marriage seems to be on ice when – paging Doctor Freud – the young woman discovers an unexpected hitchhiker in the car. Meyers describes the revelation in a chillingly-beautiful sequence that begins with this:
“Ten miles down the road she felt a touch of low breeze on her foot. She shifted her leg away from it, but in a few moments the touch came again, harder, sensuous. She unlocked her eyes from the light before her and leaned over and peered trough the steering wheel at her feet. For a moment she could see nothing, could only feel, not even a touch – a pressure – on her ankle. Then the sunlight still blinding her faded out of her eyes like a surface breaking up, and the dim floor of the car took shape underneath it. Her breath was jerked from her chest. A rattlesnake thick as her forearm lay under the clutch and brake pedal, its blunt, triangular head touching her ankle softly as air.”
For the next five pages, you’re in for the ride of your life as a reader and that alone bumps it up a star. The trouble is, between all of the jumping about from person to person and the AWOL plot, it’s hard to take root and plant yourself as a reader unless wordsmithing alone can sustain you for 388 pages. In that sense, it may be worth a look, but I know that this book is the type that readers either love, hate, or love and hate in equal measure because it begs for the “parts not equal to the sum” or “sum not equal to the parts” argument. Twisted, no?
If the answer to the above preguntas is “Very,” “A lot,” “Yes,” “Yes,” and “No, sir!” then you might enjoy Kent Meyers’ western hodgepodge, TWISTED TREE. It’s similar (but different) to OLIVE KITTERIDGE and WINESBURG, OHIO, in that it explores place by adopting multiple points of view and variable story lines from different people in a small town, USA. A young anorexic girl is murdered and the book begins with a creepy sequence where she is abducted and we see it all through the eyes of the serial murderer. After that, we go from person to person – some of them with intimate knowledge of the murdered girl (her parents and boyfriend, for instance) and some of them remote (the grocery check-out lady comes to mind). You’d better be patient because it’s all over the place and the quality of the chapters is uneven.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that Kent Meyers knows his way around a sentence. I recommend particularly a chapter in the middle called “Draw.” A young married woman is driving toward her mother’s funeral with her husband sleeping in the back seat. She’s a bit frigid and their marriage seems to be on ice when – paging Doctor Freud – the young woman discovers an unexpected hitchhiker in the car. Meyers describes the revelation in a chillingly-beautiful sequence that begins with this:
“Ten miles down the road she felt a touch of low breeze on her foot. She shifted her leg away from it, but in a few moments the touch came again, harder, sensuous. She unlocked her eyes from the light before her and leaned over and peered trough the steering wheel at her feet. For a moment she could see nothing, could only feel, not even a touch – a pressure – on her ankle. Then the sunlight still blinding her faded out of her eyes like a surface breaking up, and the dim floor of the car took shape underneath it. Her breath was jerked from her chest. A rattlesnake thick as her forearm lay under the clutch and brake pedal, its blunt, triangular head touching her ankle softly as air.”
For the next five pages, you’re in for the ride of your life as a reader and that alone bumps it up a star. The trouble is, between all of the jumping about from person to person and the AWOL plot, it’s hard to take root and plant yourself as a reader unless wordsmithing alone can sustain you for 388 pages. In that sense, it may be worth a look, but I know that this book is the type that readers either love, hate, or love and hate in equal measure because it begs for the “parts not equal to the sum” or “sum not equal to the parts” argument. Twisted, no?
October 5, 2009
The chapters of "Twisted Tree" connect – sometimes deeply, other times at a glance – to draw by absence the life of Hayley Jo Zimmerman, and reveal, beyond a horrific tale of abduction and murder, the reverberations, however intangible or slight, that one person's life can have on a community. With passages of understated depth and a painstakingly crafted delicacy of language, Meyers' South Dakota town becomes an almost mystic place, rich with history, failure, innuendo, and joy, with every resident delving inward to understand the irrationality of existence and to compose meaning from murder. Though many novels stitch together separate stories, "Twisted Tree" is so thoughtfully composed that the connection can be almost forgotten; when it comes, HayJay appears like a unsettled ghost over the narrative, bringing each piece and player into relief. The murdered girl is shaped here in shadows of understanding, yet remains startlingly present, vital, and, for the fleeting moment, alive.
January 8, 2010
There is a fascinating first chapter in which a demented serial killer traps his prey, a young anorexic girl he has first on the internet by pretending to be a female 16-year old. To add insult to injury, before he kidnaps and kills her, he spends months convincing her to become anorexic.
The rest of the book consists of short stories revolving around the lives of the townspeople after the murder. This book brings to mind, "Olive Kitteridge", the Pulitzer prize winning novel set in Maine, which was a series of connected stories of the lives of people in this small town, each connected in either a distant or intimate relationship with the main character.
"Twisted Tree", however is just one sorrowful tale after another with no cheer or humor to break up the grief of these characters awful, pathetic, and sad lives. I wish there had been more focus on the murderer and his victim as they seemed the most interesting characters, and yet we get the smallest glimpse of them.
The rest of the book consists of short stories revolving around the lives of the townspeople after the murder. This book brings to mind, "Olive Kitteridge", the Pulitzer prize winning novel set in Maine, which was a series of connected stories of the lives of people in this small town, each connected in either a distant or intimate relationship with the main character.
"Twisted Tree", however is just one sorrowful tale after another with no cheer or humor to break up the grief of these characters awful, pathetic, and sad lives. I wish there had been more focus on the murderer and his victim as they seemed the most interesting characters, and yet we get the smallest glimpse of them.
November 19, 2009
What a delightful challenge in writing (and reading) Twisted Tree is! This is no ordinary murder mystery, no clean inclusion of the crime thriller genre - and as a novel, it flows more as poetry or even lyric non-fiction, although the people and story are all of Kent Meyers's creation (I'd call it a 'novel novel' but then have to slap myself for being too cheeky).
A loose orbit of Twisted Tree, South Dakota, townspeople share their remembrances of both an anorexic sex-crime victim (Haley Joe Zimmerman) and the town that shaped (and sometimes destroyed) their lives. The narrative moves back and forth in time, through more than a dozen voices. This deviation from the typical plot-driven novel narrative can be frustrating if you aren't prepared - these chapters cannot be blown through, devoured and digested like a fast-food lunch... you have to savor the language, follow along until you are certain who is talking and what their connection is to the other characters.
Certainly, some chapters were more frustrating to me than others; some chapters I loved tremendously - but overall, the images Meyers creates are haunting, indelible: the smoky recollection of 9/11 that floats through one chapter and the terrifying rattlesnakes that appear in others, the lumbering buffalo, the headlights of cars (I haven't encountered another writer who creates such a myriad of possibilities for headlights), a squinty-eyed playfulness of religion (Native American and Christian), a focus upon objects - those small, defining parts of a person you hold onto after the person is long gone (a silver rodeo belt buckle, glass marbles).
Great quote from the novel that could, perhaps, summarize things:
"The universe itself is a void so vast the stars are tiny things, and the planets only guessed at by the deviations they create, the anomalies of orbit. And maybe we're all anomalies in each other's lives, circling stars that may not be of our own choosing, sending codes into the bigness that we hope someone will decipher, to redeem us from coincidence."
A loose orbit of Twisted Tree, South Dakota, townspeople share their remembrances of both an anorexic sex-crime victim (Haley Joe Zimmerman) and the town that shaped (and sometimes destroyed) their lives. The narrative moves back and forth in time, through more than a dozen voices. This deviation from the typical plot-driven novel narrative can be frustrating if you aren't prepared - these chapters cannot be blown through, devoured and digested like a fast-food lunch... you have to savor the language, follow along until you are certain who is talking and what their connection is to the other characters.
Certainly, some chapters were more frustrating to me than others; some chapters I loved tremendously - but overall, the images Meyers creates are haunting, indelible: the smoky recollection of 9/11 that floats through one chapter and the terrifying rattlesnakes that appear in others, the lumbering buffalo, the headlights of cars (I haven't encountered another writer who creates such a myriad of possibilities for headlights), a squinty-eyed playfulness of religion (Native American and Christian), a focus upon objects - those small, defining parts of a person you hold onto after the person is long gone (a silver rodeo belt buckle, glass marbles).
Great quote from the novel that could, perhaps, summarize things:
"The universe itself is a void so vast the stars are tiny things, and the planets only guessed at by the deviations they create, the anomalies of orbit. And maybe we're all anomalies in each other's lives, circling stars that may not be of our own choosing, sending codes into the bigness that we hope someone will decipher, to redeem us from coincidence."
April 23, 2010
This is a little bit As I Lay Dying and a little bit Spoon River Anthology. The shifting points of view are reminiscent of As I Lay Dying, but the whole is not as connected, has less plot, more like Spoon River. (And I don't think Meyers quite nails character/voice or makes you read between the lines the way Faulkner does. I don't really feel like I'm in an entirely different head with each new point of view with this book as I do with Faulkner.) If you are looking for some truly excellent prose as poetry, this is something you should check out. Meyers knows how to use words. Really, some of his descriptions/observations knocked the wind out of me with truth or beauty or horror or a combination. But did I love this book? I don't think I can go that far, mainly because there's no character to carry me through who I'll think back on as someone I've loved (Hayley Jo seems set up to be, but she really isn't). That being said, Meyers does do quite a job of fleshing some of these characters out quickly, but as this book reads like a series of short stories, no one gets a whole lot of air time. Some of the stories/characters are much stronger than others. Some have a lot of voice (Pawnshop Guy, Sheriff, and Indian Guy at the end) and some not so much. But even in the stories that are less powerful, you will find amazing prose. The other thing that prevents me from loving this book is the severe lack of levity. I won't say there is none. Actually, I found the last chapter to be quite refreshing and full of humor, and I thought it a fitting way to put the whole thing to rest. There are other tiny moments of lightness throughout (I'm thinking of the pawn shop), but it's a lot of heavy without as much balance as I'd like. So in a nut shell: awe inspiring prose, well thought out, didn't quite get me invested. I guess some of the stories, if rated as short stories, would pull a five star rating from me, but as a complete novel, not quite.
January 6, 2013
For a "good time" do not read this book. This doesn't mean i didn't like it - i did - but it's serious and revolves around the murder of a young girl and the effect that a life (not a big life or a long life) has on the people around them. The small thoughts, the guilt we put on ourselves when we don't do what we think we should have, the sweet memories.
Kent Myers (who lives in South Dakota)is a very good writer. I read this because of 'The Work of Wolves' which is also not very funny and is very good and his people are deep. Chapter 1 of 'Twisted Tree' will stick with me a long time because it gets inside a serial killers brain and you get that machine-driven feeling that they are not people. They are killing robots. It is very creepy although the book is not a thriller or book about killers. It's about relationships.
Kent Myers (who lives in South Dakota)is a very good writer. I read this because of 'The Work of Wolves' which is also not very funny and is very good and his people are deep. Chapter 1 of 'Twisted Tree' will stick with me a long time because it gets inside a serial killers brain and you get that machine-driven feeling that they are not people. They are killing robots. It is very creepy although the book is not a thriller or book about killers. It's about relationships.
July 8, 2011
Loved how Hayley Jo's story was created by exploring the lives of small-town people who had contact with her before her murder. Very impressed by the subtle and surprising ways the different characters' chapters were linked together to create a cohesive whole. Many of the chapters were strong enough individually to read as short stories. Beautiful, original, and stunning prose throughout. There was very little from Hayjay herself, or her killer (an interstate serial killer who targets anorexics), and in fact her storyline felt secondary to the others, serving mainly as a device to connect all the characters. If you're hoping for a gruesome serial killer tale, there's little of that, but plenty of dark and delicious small-town secrets and tragedies.
October 23, 2009
What an amazing book--so much contradiction...exquisitely beautiful writing of the most harrowing stories. That passage where the rattlesnake moves up Angela's leg and into her lap was so powerful I can still feel its weight. Ultimately I was left with the sense of cosmic distances between each little cluster of people, yet they are still connected with the finest of threads so that nothing happens in isolation. Nothing at all.
If the large cast of characters is a little hard to keep sorted (think Russian novel without the patronymics), think of the novel as a tightly woven collection of stories. Then, there's the title...
If the large cast of characters is a little hard to keep sorted (think Russian novel without the patronymics), think of the novel as a tightly woven collection of stories. Then, there's the title...
January 30, 2012
So done!!!! Started off sort of creepy, then turned weird, then not too interesting. Each chapter was separate from any real story line, and if I did not like the chapter I could just skip it and not miss anything about any story line. I liked the last chapter the best. I would not recommend reading this as it did nothing for me. I do however recognize what the author was trying to accomplish, and so I give him credit for that.
October 5, 2010
I hedged about buying this book but this past week I realized I'd been drawn to the book since it came back in hardcover and unless I intended to read the first chapter every time I walked into a bookstore for the rest of my life, I may as well buy it and pick it up over and over again in the comfort of my own home.
I love the West. I love horses. (The bookseller asked me, when I bought it, is it about horses?-- based on the cover illustration. It's really really not.) I love this genre I'd never noticed before: interlocking short stories that form a novel. It's maybe a semi-mystery?
The thing that really gets me here-- the really haunting thing-- is that no one has all the information. So it's like there's this mystery that will always remain because it resides in all these different people, none of whom will ever have all the clues. It's really haunting and it's perfect for this story.
A young woman is kidnapped-- that's not a spoiler, by the way-- and that sets the book in motion, but the book isn't exactly about her or about her kidnapping or even about the aftermath or the beforemath. And it isn't some heavy-handed metaphor, either, or a device. It's just the beginning of a series of stories.
More than any other writer I've read, Kent Meyers actually creates completely autonomous interlocking stories. The narrators are clearly their own characters. The characters are kind of the point. And I felt satisfied by the experience, even though I didn't get all the answers I longed for. (That's also kind of the point.)
I need to read it again because I know there's more that I'll get upon repeated readings. I had to turn back to remember what had happened before and I found new resonances just in the course of skimming what I'd read. I can't wait to reread this one.
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year.
I love the West. I love horses. (The bookseller asked me, when I bought it, is it about horses?-- based on the cover illustration. It's really really not.) I love this genre I'd never noticed before: interlocking short stories that form a novel. It's maybe a semi-mystery?
The thing that really gets me here-- the really haunting thing-- is that no one has all the information. So it's like there's this mystery that will always remain because it resides in all these different people, none of whom will ever have all the clues. It's really haunting and it's perfect for this story.
A young woman is kidnapped-- that's not a spoiler, by the way-- and that sets the book in motion, but the book isn't exactly about her or about her kidnapping or even about the aftermath or the beforemath. And it isn't some heavy-handed metaphor, either, or a device. It's just the beginning of a series of stories.
More than any other writer I've read, Kent Meyers actually creates completely autonomous interlocking stories. The narrators are clearly their own characters. The characters are kind of the point. And I felt satisfied by the experience, even though I didn't get all the answers I longed for. (That's also kind of the point.)
I need to read it again because I know there's more that I'll get upon repeated readings. I had to turn back to remember what had happened before and I found new resonances just in the course of skimming what I'd read. I can't wait to reread this one.
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year.
October 11, 2009
Contemporary small town life in South Dakota is illuminated through a series of loosely connected vignettes that arc around the shared impact of one family’s personal tragedy. The name of the town, Twisted Tree, serves as an apt metaphor not only for the structure of interconnected relationships between the residents, but also for the rampant dysfunction that underscores many of their individual lives. The reader is cast as a voyeur, peeking through windows at moments captured in time, bearing witness to revealed secrets both sacred and profane. As such (and even so), we come to know the inhabitants better than they can ever actually know each other. In this world, even the perpetrator of the most heinous action is afforded a moment of transcendent recognition: “Everyone has something to tell. Everyone is waiting. Sleeping and dreaming and waiting to wake to someone, who understands.” Later, another character shares a small epiphany, noting that “…that was the thing with stories, you never quite knew what to make of them, but you had to make something of them anyway.” Treat yourself to the profound and irresistible stories of Twisted Tree.
January 5, 2010
As previous reviewers have said, this book was more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Also, I didn't really think Haley Jo's story "unfolded" through all of the other characters as the synopsis promised. I'd go so far as to say Haley Jo was plopped into each of the short stories as an afterthought to tie them all together into a theoretically cohesive novel after the whole thing was basically written. Haley Jo was someone I would've like to know and understand more, but instead I got little specks of information that couldv'e been summed up in one paragraph... Haley Jo's character was developed less than any other in the book! With all that in mind though, this wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't what it was made out to be. Some of the characters were richly developed and interesting, and many of the stories had unexpected twists and turns. I liked how each little story connected to another in some way. For me that would've been enough. I don't understand the author's or editor's choice to try and make Haley the center of everything. She simply wasn't.
January 13, 2013
This book is written in chapters, like most books, however each chapter is told from the point of view of one person in the town. Each chapter-sub-story lets us look into the lives of these people and as we read along we begin to see how the stories intertwine into the history of a place. You often hear about how in small towns everyone knows everyone else, well this is why that is.
Twisted Tree is a beautifully written book about the bonds between people and the places they come from. It starts out with a murder and in some ways there is some mystery behind who would have done the murder itself, but the story goes well beyond that. It is just as possible that by the end of the book you have forgotten to wonder who killed the people on the highway, because you have become so caught up in the lives of the others who knew them that you simply became a part of the town.
Twisted Tree is a beautifully written book about the bonds between people and the places they come from. It starts out with a murder and in some ways there is some mystery behind who would have done the murder itself, but the story goes well beyond that. It is just as possible that by the end of the book you have forgotten to wonder who killed the people on the highway, because you have become so caught up in the lives of the others who knew them that you simply became a part of the town.
December 1, 2009
A really different book than its premise. Its not so much about the murder but about the lives of people that surround it. There is some very effective prose here. There were sentences that resonated with me so much that I wish I had marked them down so I could feel their strength again. I also liked the clever way in which the author introduced the reader to some of its characters and their flaws. The market checkout clerk idea was a great conduit for the reader. All is not gloom here. There is imagery used in the story that can't help but humor you. A very nicely balanced story!
January 2, 2010
The lives of many of the people living in Twisted Tree, South Dakota are affected by a serial killer who murders one of their young women. The opening chapter features the killer and his prey in a chilling story. Then the reader learns about the rural town and its citizens. The final chapter is actually amusing. I almost failed to keep reading after the opening since grisly murders don't appeal to me, but I'm glad I read on and met these interesting characters so wonderfully depicted.
January 24, 2010
The writing in this book is so intricate and fabulous. It reminded me in many ways of Strout's Olive Kitteridge, because this is basically a book of short stories with links and common characters. But a warning -- the stories all touch upon a girl's death at the hands of a serial killer, so many of the stories are creepy and grim (and I happen to like creepy and grim!). (Just wait until you read about the rattlesnakes! EEEEK!).
April 6, 2011
This is one of those books that I enjoyed even more after discussing it with others. Don't let the first chapter turn you off (like it almost did to me). Also, if you read it I would recommend taking notes on the characters. Almost every chapter is told from a different perspective so it would've made it easier to remember who is who and how everyone fits together if I had jotted down some notes. Luckily I had great book club members who could help me make those connections.
March 23, 2011
This was the type of book that you really need a wall sized white board to keep track of how all the lives it portrays intertwine, but I loved that. It's like a puzzle, I read it once to put the edges together and then had to flip back through to fill in all the details in the center. I'll definitely plan to check another of Meyer's books out.
April 9, 2011
Many personal stories, brilliantly woven together, all connected - sometimes closely, sometimes loosely - to one (horrible) central event. Unlike some reviewers, I found all the characters´ stories gripping, if often disturbing. It kept me reading in suspense all the way to the end to see if it would end with some kind of closure. Which it did, thankfully.
November 19, 2010
Dark, disturbing well written words flow out of this book. The author never gave us a break to breathe. Reading this book is like being trapped in a car that has been submerged in an icy lake.
November 17, 2011
Talk about here , and there, and everywhere.......I hate to NOT finish a book and that is the ONLY reason I finished it.
May 25, 2018
Admission: I am very generous with stars.
In a lot of ways this book has no main character. Although I would argue that Hayley Jo, the girl whose disappearance is at the center of this novel, is something of a main character. She is only present and alive in the first chapter, although even that is not told from her perspective but from another character’s. But she is wound throughout the entire novel - the thread that connects all the other characters together - and we the readers are tasked with following that thread through and learning about her, her hometown and all the people in it in small bits and bobs. If you’re looking for a super exciting book you should look elsewhere. But I think this was well worth the read.
In a lot of ways this book has no main character. Although I would argue that Hayley Jo, the girl whose disappearance is at the center of this novel, is something of a main character. She is only present and alive in the first chapter, although even that is not told from her perspective but from another character’s. But she is wound throughout the entire novel - the thread that connects all the other characters together - and we the readers are tasked with following that thread through and learning about her, her hometown and all the people in it in small bits and bobs. If you’re looking for a super exciting book you should look elsewhere. But I think this was well worth the read.
March 18, 2020
I took a class from Kent Meyers back in college and was instantly drawn to the way he harnessed descriptive language. I added Twisted Tree to my wish list of books after that class in 2016. I wanted to find the book organically: in a small bookstore, tucked away, alphabetized and rare. I finally found it, four years later, on the bottom shelf in a Livingston, MT bookstore - just as one should stumble upon a book like this.
The book has a familiarity to it... I-90, rattlesnakes, buffalo, barrel racing, small town characters. Twisted Tree is descriptive, raw, and captivating. It's a walk through town, an experience of taking in the landscape and neighbors through multiple, distinct, and familiar voices. I'm deeply saddened to have finished it.
The book has a familiarity to it... I-90, rattlesnakes, buffalo, barrel racing, small town characters. Twisted Tree is descriptive, raw, and captivating. It's a walk through town, an experience of taking in the landscape and neighbors through multiple, distinct, and familiar voices. I'm deeply saddened to have finished it.
November 17, 2023
I was intrigued in the first chapter thinking “ohhh cool I haven’t read a murder mystery in a while”. Then it all got confusing from there. Half way through, I kept thinking, maybe the story was building and we would get back to the murder mystery? But no. It just kept jumping to different characters. Some chapters I had to flip back through to figure out who the narrator was for that chapter. I finished the book curious about some of the characters. Maybe Mr Meyers is just starting with the town of Twisted Tree? Maybe there’s more to come on the characters introduced here?
September 15, 2019
Tout simplement excellent !
Au départ d’un crime, on se retrouve être les « voyeurs » des secrets des habitants d’un village en pleine campagne, secrets qui sont tous plus tordus les uns que les autres...
Très psychologique ! Une construction magnifique en puzzle. Un style qui reste lyrique malgré la tension de l’histoire. Un très très bon moment de lecture.
Au départ d’un crime, on se retrouve être les « voyeurs » des secrets des habitants d’un village en pleine campagne, secrets qui sont tous plus tordus les uns que les autres...
Très psychologique ! Une construction magnifique en puzzle. Un style qui reste lyrique malgré la tension de l’histoire. Un très très bon moment de lecture.
July 18, 2017
Characters were so tangentially related to the opening (main?) character, and none of their (many) stories were very interesting in themselves. The epilogue was the best part, but the book was beyond redemption. Listened to this one, not sure I would've finished had I'd read it.
August 14, 2017
Très belle écriture. Même en traduction, ça reste un plaisir que de lire cet auteur. La première nouvelle est fascinante. Comme certaines des suivantes, elle reste gravée dans notre esprit. Cependant, ce n'est pas le cas de toutes les nouvelles et le tout peut paraître un peu ennuyeux.
January 7, 2019
I tried and tried to finish this book, I really hate to DNF books, maybe someday I will pick it up again, but it just did not hold my attention. Started off really strong and just kind of fell flat for me.
January 17, 2023
One of the few books I would read and/ or listen to again. Beautifully thoughtful prose with a story that is tangled up with life, love and loss.
May 9, 2023
This book is beautifully written but I just found it so hard to read. So unappealing. I had to force myself to finish it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews