THE PEOPLE IN THE TREES

by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara’s breakout novel published in 2015, was a masterpiece – one of the best novels I’ve read in the last few years. For that reason, I suggested that my husband and I read The People in The Trees, Yanagihara’s earlier book, as our read-aloud selection. At 467 pages, it was an undertaking, one which turned out to take grit and determination to finish. Giving Yanagihara her due, she creates a vast new world in The People, complete with a made-up language, flora and fauna. She spins the tale of Norton Perina, a scientist who discovers an unknown people on a South Pacific Island and they live to be 150-200 years old.

The book begins with Perina in jail and the reader spends the rest of the book trying to decipher the crime of which he has been accused and whether he is guilty. As the story unfolds, we find that he has made multiple trips to the island, identified a native turtle as the food that accounts for the residents’ long lifespans and adopted more than 40 children from the island and brought them back to his DC home. My husband and I were often struck by how successfully this non-white woman author convincingly writes of Perina’s misogynistic and racist beliefs. Perina is not a likeable person. And so the book goes on and on and finally, finally in the end, you find out from Perina himself -- in excruciating detail -- that he is guilty of every bad thing of which he has been accused. Long and painful – The People in The Trees was definitely not my cup of tea. (Liz)