History Literature / TreeOfSmoke

* NotSoDifferent: The Americans and Vietnamese are ultimately not so different from each other. See [[BlackAndGrayMorality Black And Gray Morality]]. There's also the Filipinos and the French settlers. One theme of the book seems to be that humans have more in common with each other than they assume.

The closest thing to a "hero" the book has is Colonel Sands, a [[BadassGrandpa retired war hero]] who leads an operation in Vietnam with the help of the CIA. A bit [[CloudCuckoolander zany]] in his antics, although trust us when we say he's one of the most sane characters in the entire book.

* {{Surrealism}}: Much like ''Literatue/TheThingsTheyCarried'', this is a modern example of surrealist literature, although it does come back to Earth every now and again.

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* WorldOfSymbolism: Present throughout, but becomes more apparent in trippy passages.

Due to its slow pacing, penchant for [[SeinfeldianConversation low-key dialogue]], and [[SurrealHorror horrifically dreamlike]] atmosphere, the book has become known for being [[LoveItOrHateIt somewhat divisive]] among readers. There's no single protagonist (although there are several related plot threads), the protagonists are [[AntiHero deeply flawed]] at best and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality downright bizarre]] in their actions and motives at times.

* {{Existentialism}}: Discussions about God and the free will of Man come up quite a bit, not to mention the notion of nature absorbing mankind.

Think ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried''.

* CoolOldGuy: Colonel Sands served in [[WorldWarII World War II]], and despite now being a civilian is practically worshiped by his subordinates.

''Tree of Smoke'' is an [[MindScrew esoteric]] war novel written by Denis Johnson and first published in 2007, winning the National Book Award for Fiction. It is [[DoorStopper very long]], [[NightmareFuel very nightmarish]], and almost [[RuleOfSymbolism too metaphysical]] for its own good. Despite being advertised as an epic novel about [[TheVietnamWar The Vietnam War]], Johnson's work is about a lot more than just that.

''Tree Of Smoke'' is an [[MindScrew esoteric]] war novel written by Denis Johnson and first published in 2007, winning the National Book Award for Fiction. It is [[DoorStopper very long]], [[NightmareFuel very nightmarish]], and almost [[RuleOfSymbolism too metaphysical]] for its own good. Despite being advertised as an epic novel about [[TheVietnamWar The Vietnam War]], Johnson's work is about a lot more than just that.

!!''Tree Of Smoke'' contains examples of the following tropes:

Think ''{{Ulysses}}'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried''.

* FreudWasRight: "James dreamt of firefights: shooting useless bullets out of an impotent gun."

* WorldOfSymbolism: Present throughout, but becomes more apparent in trippy passages.

* Skewed Priorities: [[SarcasmMode Remember kids]], when you're in the middle of a war zone it's best to get drunk as possible and as often as possible.

* Existentialism: Discussions about God and the free will of Man come up quite a bit, not to mention the notion of nature absorbing mankind.

* CoolOldGuy: Colonel Sands served in [[WorldWarII World War II], and despite now being a civilian is practically worshiped by his subordinates.

** If you didn't know about the effects of [[Gorn white phosphorous]] before, you sure do now.

* NotSoDifferent: The Americans and Vietnamese are ultimately not so different from each other. See [[BlackAndGrayMorality Black And Gray Morality]]. There's also the Filipinos and the French settlers.

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Innocence which is then [BreakTheCutie utterly crushed]], particularly in Kathy Jones's plot thread.

* Surrealism: Much like ''Literatue/TheThingsTheyCarried'', this is a modern example of surrealist literature, although it does come back to Earth every now and again.

''Tree Of Smoke'' is an [[MindScrew esoteric]] war novel written by Denis Johnson and first published in 2007, winning the National Book Award for Fiction. It is [[Doorstopper very long]], [[NightmareFuel very nightmarish]], and almost [[RuleOfSymbolism too metaphysical]] for its own good. Despite being advertised as an epic novel about [[TheVietnamWar The Vietnam War]], Johnson's work is about a lot more than just that.

Think ''{{Ulysses}}'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried''.

''Tree Of Smoke'' is an [[MindScrew esoteric]] war novel written by Denis Johnson and first published in 2007, winning the National Book Award for Fiction. It is [[Doorstopper very long]], [[NightmareFuel very nightmarish]], and almost [[RuleOfSymbolism too metaphysical]] for its own good. One could argue that ''Tree Of Smoke'' is the ''Ulysses'' of war novels.