Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson audiobook

Tree of Smoke: A Novel

By Denis Johnson
Read by Will Patton

Macmillan Audio 9780374279127
23.09 Hours • Unabridged
Format : Digital Download (In Stock)
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    ISBN: 9781427202154

Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That's me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson's first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date.

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Summary

Summary

Winner of the 2007 National Book Award for Fiction

A 2008 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Fiction

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award

A 2007 New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year

A 2007 Time Magazine Top 10 Book for Fiction

One of the 2007 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction

Among longlisted titles for Audible.com Best of the Year, 2007

Winner of Audie Award Winner, 2008

Among shortlisted titles for Pulitzer Prize - Finalist, 2008

Winner of National Book Awards - Winner, 2007

Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That's me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson's first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“Denis Johnson is a true American artist, and Tree of Smoke is a tremendous book.” —New York Times Book Review
“It will…get inside your head like the war it is describing—mystifying, horrifying, mesmerizing. [Johnson] has written a book that by the end wraps around you as tightly as a snake.” —Washington Post Book World
“Johnson is a fine stylist of the world of soulful disaster.” —NPR
“Johnson has written his War and Peace.” —Harper’s
“I can’t be sure that there’s been a better American novel published in the past ten years. It is a masterpiece.” —Miami Herald
“A brutal beauty of a book…The visceral, poetic writing is unmistakable, and unforgettable.” —Elle
“Damn impressive, a layered, rich, sweaty accomplishment of massive proportions…A mammoth portrait of humanity in conflict.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Johnson is a gifted writer with a knack for erudite and colorful dialogue, and his sense of time and place is visceral and evocative. With this worthy addition to Vietnam literature, he confidently joins the ranks of Tim O’Brien, Larry Heinemann, and Michael Herr.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Ugly and fascinating with many shattering scenes…Gripping.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humor like Denis Johnson’s.” —Jonathan Franzen, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Corrections
“There is so much going on in Tree of Smoke, and so many levels of symbolism, that it is hard to do the story justice here…Johnson brings his talents as a poet to bear, especially when describing the jungles and cities of Asia.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Opens a window onto a world of mystery, war, and intrigue whose importance in the (usually) unwritten history of our republic can’t be denied.” —Chicago Tribune
“[An] epic, wrenching new novel…[Johnson is] immensely talented [and] delivers a beautifully layered, insightful, and visceral montage of stories.” —Seattle Times
“Tree of Smoke is vintage Johnson, combining the grim, gritty realism of Angels, the everyday hallucinatory absurdity of Jesus’ Son, and the post-apocalypse invention of Fiskadoro…Johnson can mold language to theme like a sculptor sculpting clay.” —Oregonian
“This vivid conjuring of an ill-advised foreign war informs the present as much as the past.” —GQ
“Tree of Smoke is a Vietnam war novel almost without peer, in which ‘the abyss is alive…’ [Johnson] has written the best work of his career, an existential tour de force.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Denis Johnson’s apocalyptic, doom-and-grace ridden Vietnam novel has a lot of fire in its belly…If Johnson has a signature theme throughout his work, it’s a kind of quasi-mystical redemption on the other side of the abyss; his gorgeous prose and willingness to go deep have led the way through the scarily lightless corridors of his fiction.” —Boston Globe
“It’s beautiful writing: with Johnson, the writing is always beautiful.” —Los Angeles Times
“This is the very talented Will Paton's greatest performance as a reader so far. His range of voices and evocation of character--the hopeful, the innocent, the cynical, the despairing and the mad--bring the tale to even more terrible and blistered life than the book itself, making it a 23-hour excursion into mesmerizing darkness. —The Washington Post
Patton is outstanding...[his] performance is quiet, powerful, and gut-wrenching....This is MUST listening. —AudioFile Magazine
Denis Johnson's novel, Tree of Smoke, is masterful and irredeemably dark…Will Patton's seamless narration transforms this novel into a superb audio. —BookPage
Will Patton's reading of "Tree of Smoke" is superb...The experience overall is one of hallucinatory horror, laugh-out-loud outrage, of sadness at the tremendous waste of lives, money and the national pride that went into Vietnam and did not return. —Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Easily the best audiobook I listened to in 2007, "Tree of Smoke" has been called a Vietnam War book, but its reach is much deeper...Johnson has written a powerful document, and Patton matches the depth and breadth of the novel with a performance that captures the nuance of the language... —Times Union
American actor Will Patton provides an excellent fully-voiced reading…it fits the story like a glove. He will keep listeners involved. —SoundLibrary.com

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Author

Author Bio: Denis Johnson

Author Bio: Denis Johnson

Denis Johnson (1949–2017) wrote eight novels, one novella, one book of short stories, three collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and one book of reportage. His novel Tree of Smoke won the 2007 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, and Train Dreams was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download
Category: Fiction/Thrillers/Suspense
Runtime: 23.09
Audience: Adult
Language: English

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