The Devil Tree

Rating:
Summary: a fragmented look at a rich, spoiled, and wasted young man..
Review: 'The Devil Tree' is a disappointing, messy read about a young man in the early 1970s trying to piece together his life after the deaths of his mega-wealthy industrialist parents. He wanders through the drug stage, the meaningless sex stage, and forever has bouts of "soul searching". But unfortunately this reader found him to be so unappealing that I gradually became disinterested in him altogether. The rather choppy literary style of Kosinski, an unfortunate departure from his terrific 'Being There', only made matters worse.


Bottom line: a rather burdensome and unenjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing is Perfect
Review: I have read most of Kosinski's works of fiction, and I must say that this is one of my favorites. It is more along the lines of Steps or The Cockpit, but it is a little more experimental in its story telling. There are different narrators, both first and third person, who tell the story of a very wealthy young man's journey through life. Like the characters in Steps and The Cockpit, Waylen is very self absorbed and often performs horrifying acts of revenge on those who get in his way. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book - one of Kosinski's Best
Review: I have read most of Kosinski's works of fiction, and I must say that this is one of my favorites. It is more along the lines of Steps or The Cockpit, but it is a little more experimental in its story telling. There are different narrators, both first and third person, who tell the story of a very wealthy young man's journey through life. Like the characters in Steps and The Cockpit, Waylen is very self absorbed and often performs horrifying acts of revenge on those who get in his way. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: PATHWAY TO ANARCHY
Review: In Kosinski's DEVIL TREE the reader follows the life of Jonathan Whalen, looking for a clue to where this tale is headed. But this character study leads nowhere. It is the study of an anarchistic mind.

The tale has no chapters, no parts, no order, which is fine except that it also lacks any direction. The tale consisted of snippets possessing no rhyme nor reason. Bits of dreams were interlaced with grim anecdotes that the reader could only hope to be fictional. Jonathan was a terribly over-cerebral man, not unlike Kosinski himself. Jonathan was on a search to understand the substance of his past. He sought total control of his emotions but remained forever detached from these emotions. He even tried to control his periods of depression and sickness. Attending an encounter group was useless to him for all he could see , by himself & others, was role playing and dishonesty.

Jonathan could suck no nourishment from life. His slant on life was, 'most people are simply searching for an activity to label their existence.' Reared under the shadow of his fabulously rich father, who he only sought to appease, this same motive colored any relationship he tried with a woman. Never able to settle for being one person, he became an "in-between-man." He could stay neither hostile nor sympathetic toward anyone. Jonathan declared, "...living is an arbitrary matter and I have every right to renounce it." Happily, there was only one Kosinski!

Rating:
Summary: Nothing is Perfect
Review: It seemed to me at the time I read it, that is was a journey into something, maybe depravity? And then I loaned it to someone else and while they had it I realized what that journey was in reference to me. ( all things obviously being subject to personal view based on experience and genetics ) It was about growing backwards, upside down, the definition of the tree itself. In the beginning, Whalen had the answers, he started as a complete person, and degenerated, grew backwards, almost as if he had been born a man and moved backwards into childhood confusion. He was continually losing himself, trying to lose himself. So perhaps it says that man is meant to be lost? to stay forever in childhood? he is meant to know only those things he is born with? Simplicity.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't really get it.
Review: The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski is one of my all time favorite books, so, after reading it, I was anxious to check out another of his titles. I was disappointed with the Devil Tree. I had a hard time getting through it. I kept getting the distinct impression that it's meaning and signifigance were going over my head. I would love to hear another reader's opinion. If you came away from The Devil Tree with a different impression than I did, or you would just like to converse about it, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't really get it.
Review: The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski is one of my all time favorite books, so, after reading it, I was anxious to check out another of his titles. I was disappointed with the Devil Tree. I had a hard time getting through it. I kept getting the distinct impression that it's meaning and signifigance were going over my head. I would love to hear another reader's opinion. If you came away from The Devil Tree with a different impression than I did, or you would just like to converse about it, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Rating:
Summary: YOU PROBABLY HAVE TO BE A FAN
Review: This is pretty classic Kosinski, not his best, but still all Kosinski. I first read this one in 1978. I thought at the time that this was a bit of literary experimentation, and still feel as such. I enjoyed it, but then I am a fan of this particular author. I am not sure if younger folks, i.e. those who did not live the 60s and 70s could get the proper feel of this work, but perhaps I a wrong here. Anyway, if for no other reason, it should be read. It is a good bit of literature and we could all probably learn something from it.