Stunning 21st-century novel, set in Vietnam, recently hailed as the greatest book of the century (prepared to embark on a captivating journey!)
Denis Johnson, an American author of German birth, penned the cult war thriller Tree of Smoke. Born in Munich on July 1st, 1949, Johnson spent his formative years in various countries, including Japan, Germany, Manila, and the United States.
Johnson's literary career began at the tender age of 19, and he went on to graduate from the University of Iowa. His works, known for their deep thematic concerns and stylistic elegance, have been acclaimed worldwide. Some of his notable works include Angels, his first novel featuring desperate characters embroiled in crime and brushes with the supernatural, and The Names, another influential novel in his oeuvre.
Tree of Smoke is a testament to Johnson's mastery of the genre. The novel follows the adventures of a young CIA agent named Skip Sands, who is sent to Vietnam to lead operations against the Viet Cong. The story takes the reader on a gripping journey from Vietnam to the Philippines, then to the United States, before an epilogue in Malaysia in 1983.
The prose in Tree of Smoke is captivating, oppressive, and moving, as it describes the slow descent of the protagonists. The plot begins on the day of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination in 1963 and ends in the early 1980s. Johnson portrays war as a dramatic and hallucinatory experience, with the story divided into parts corresponding to key years and following the fates of a half-dozen characters caught in the war's net.
Tree of Smoke was published in 2007 and was awarded the National Book Award that same year, marking Johnson's true consecration as a writer. The novel has since been adapted to cinema in 2022, winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival of the same year.
Denis Johnson's works continue to fascinate and influence writers and readers around the world. Tragically, Johnson passed away in California on May 24th, 2017, at the age of 67. His legacy lives on through his timeless works, including Tree of Smoke, which is currently available for $3.49 on Amazon.
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