Devil Tree [Paperback]

Jerzy Kosinski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 1975

A searing novel from a writer of international stature, The Devil Tree is a tale that combines the existential emptiness of Camus's The Stranger with the universe of international playboys, violence, and murder of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Jonathan Whalen's life has been determined from the start by the immense fortune of his father, a steel tycoon. Whalen's childlike delight in power and status mask a greater need, a desire to feel life intensely, through drugs, violence, sex, and attempts at meaningful connection with other people -- whether lovers or the memory of his dead parents. But the physical is all that feels real to him, and as he embarks on a journey to Africa with his godparents, Whalen's embrace of amoral thrill accelerates toward ultimate fulfillment. Now in a Grove Press paperback, Kosinski's classic, acclaimed as "an impressive novel ... it should confirm Jerzy Kosinki's position as one of our most significant writers" -- Newsweek "Savage ... [Whalen is] a foolproof, timeless American character." -- Mary Ellin Barrett, Cosmopolitan

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Distribution Services; New edition edition (February 20, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 058604017X
• ISBN-13: 978-0586040171
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a fragmented look at a rich, spoiled, and wasted young man.., November 9, 2004

By 

lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Tree (Paperback)

'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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the anti-Horatio Alger story, May 9, 2010

By 

meeah (somewhere between my ears (i presume)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Tree (Paperback)

Well I see that this book now has a better cover than it did on the older edition I had from a different publisher (Bantam). The cover on my edition was so awful I had to cover it with masking tape and scribble over it the picture of a satanic tree. The publishers had stuck some inane photo of a woman in boots at the prow of a boat--good grief! I guess this was from the days when a dearth of originality and a pandering to the lowest common denominator invariably led a publisher flummoxed about how to sell anything actually resembling a real book to say, "I know, lets put a provocatively clad woman on the cover!"

What am I talking about..."from the days?" We're still in those days. Anyway, its nice to see someone at Grove at least stretching their creative muscle enough to use Photoshop to solarize the picture of a tree for the cover of this edition. Its not terribly original, but its not terribly embarrassing either.

But enough about the cover. Let's talk about the back cover copy. The back cover copy on my edition was only less embarrassing than the cover photo because it required you to take the trouble to read it--and reading, as anyone can judge from the quality of the types of books published nowadays, is something very few people take the time to do, if, that is, they can actually do it. The copy on my edition of "The Devil Tree" was all, like, far out, man, all trippy, and tuned-in and dropped out and stuff.

Look, this is a serious novel by an incisive social critic of the late 20th century American scene. It deals specifically with the corruption and decadence of a culture--American culture in this case--when the irrepressible creativity and drive that inspired a society's great innovators peters out and leaves little trace in their descendants except for the tremendous amount of accumulated wealth and power that has been inherited by those far less directed toward any goal.

Whalen, Kosinski's protagonist in "The Devil Tree," is one such privileged fellow. A man who has been given all that anyone can ever want, he has no idea what to do with it. He has everything, in fact, but an identity of his own. There is a woman, Karen, a beautiful model, who is as vacuous at her core as he is. These two vacuums orbit about each other, mutually afraid to get sucked into the void of each other.

Kosinski really is a brilliant writer--his prose sharp and gemlike, bits of glittering collage, a postmodern mosaic of literary style. This book--and Kosinski himself--deserves much better regard than it seems to me they've enjoyed since his rather ignominious last years and passing. I consider "Steps" to be his masterwork, but "The Devil Tree" is close behind it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars YOU PROBABLY HAVE TO BE A FAN, September 16, 2004

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Devil Tree (Paperback)

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.