Tree of Smoke

by Denis Johnson (Author)

• Used

  Unabridged
  2007

  $9.21

  '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, a CIA spy engaged in psychological operations against the Viet Cong, and the disasters that befall him. It is also the story of two brothers heading towards self-destruction, and a story about double agents, missionaries, killers for hire and lost souls desperate for sex, death or God and thus an end to their loneliness.His first full-length novel in nine years, and one that describes a war where disinformation has become self-delusion, Tree of Smoke is Johnson's most gripping, visionary and ambitious work to date. The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humour like Denis Johnson's - Jonathan Franzen. Prose of amazing power and stylishness - Philip Roth. There isn't an American voice I love more than Denis Johnson's - Michael Herr. A true legislator of the tortured American soul in ceaseless prose of redeeming brilliance - Alan Warner.

• New

  paperback
  

  $11.80

  Tree of Smoke - the name given to a `psy op' that might or might not be hypothetical and might or might not be officially sanctioned - is Denis Johnson's most gripping, visionary and ambitious work to date. Set in south-east Asia and the US, and spanning two decades, it ostensibly tells the story of Skip Sands, a CIA spy who may or may not be engaged in psychological operations against the Viet Cong -- but also takes the reader on a surreal yet vivid journey, dipping in and out of characters' lives to reveal fundamental truths at the heart of the human condition.

  `A Catch-22 for our times' Alan Warner, Books of the Year, Observer

  'The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humour like Denis Johnson's' Jonathan Franzen

  `An epic of drenched sensuality and absurdly chewable dialogue, as though Don DeLillo and Joseph Heller had collaborated on a Vietnam war novel' Steven Poole, Books of the Year, New Statesman