Customer Reviews

Why the Tree Loves the Ax

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the darkest, most concise, most excrutiatingly beautiful tales I've ever read. It has all the marks of a cult classic masterpiece waiting to be read by many. One finds him or herself so detached and confused by what drives Caroline, the book's protagonist, that they literally begin to understand, in a weird kind of twilight-zone empathy, her nature, and thus our common human nature. The extremes of this novella are shocking at first, yet Lewis's imagery blends what can only be said to be THE most innovative techniques of metaphor and simile in modern fiction with a suspenseful plot that keeps you guessing and wanting to read on.

I love how Lewis remains fundementally seperate from his character yet imbues her with such amorality that the reader can't help but reaccess their own lives and values. It's not moral, or IMMoral- the things Caroline does are mistakes, and we all make them, and the books deals with how life goes on either way.

Those who see this book as mediocre may not see the poignant commentary found even in the title- than even when we're being killed, or killing, we have a love for each other, for our humanity, for our innocence, lost. An absolutely unforgettable, affecting read.

I loved this book, though I felt irritated by how distant the reader was placed from the protagonist (of course, it accurately captured her own state of mind: she was outside of herself, observing). But I kept with it, because the prose was breathtaking, ideosyncratic. Reminded me of A. Roy's "The God of Small Things" in terms of language. Smith was very effective in capturing a woman's voice. The book ended abruptly, but it has haunted me since.

Jim Lewis is a highly underrated writer, and "Why the Tree Loves the Ax" leaves me wondering why. Lewis takes a 40-something misfit and places her in a host of predicaments, including an "accidental" murder, her befriending a satan-like old man while working under an assumed name in a nursing home, and stumbling on the suspicious, seemingly pedophilic behavior of a group of men secreted in the woods. His ability to capture a woman's voice is impeccable, and his sentences read like well-wrought prose poetry: "At first the storm was a childish ambush, and then it seemed like a party joke; the sky was a box, the lid came off and the pebbles poured down, and as they fell they made a slapstick racket, rattling against the roof and pinging on the hood of Bonnie's car and the tin mailbox and the end of her walk." The plot left me in a state of suspended disbelief, much like the book's opening chapter, where the main character witnesses her own car accident and its aftermath: "There were thousands of glimmering stars, like bits of safety glass scattered in the grass, which were like stars. I said to myself, Caroline, Caroline. Oh, you really messed up this time." If nothing else, read this book for Lewis' incredible attention to detail and his ability to write the BEST sentences of anyone I've read in the past 10 years or so.

I've said in another review that when women write as men, they tend to keep their male characters at home, and when men write as women, they tend to take their female characters out on the road. This is a woman on the road, and she takes a beating in this book. It's not a perfect imagining of what it's like inside a woman's life; there are moments of discomfort when Lewis just plain gets it wrong, what it's like to live inside a feminine body. But there are longer stretches when he gets it so right. And this is a great story.

Beautiful, battered, a compulsive liar and completely unmoored, Caroline tries and fails to put down roots in Sugartown, unsure of who she is and open enough to the madness of one of her charges at the old folks home that it forever changes her future. Questions of identity, history, even sanity rise up, as she tries to figure out what she is while denying who she is.

Each mistake she makes is so disastrous, each little bit of her story that we get as readers is so confusing. What emerges is a portrait of a woman eternally walking over burning bridges.

There is poetic, gorgeous prose in this book, passages of verse disguised as sentences. Just beautiful. There was, though, a point at which a misapprehension on her part almost had me setting down the book. If you near the end and feel the same, please go on and finish it.

I kept thinking of Denis Johnson's The Stars at Noon; another lost, lying woman at risk and on the move. But this book is more successful than that book, because at heart, this heroine craves and finds something quite purposefully and beautifully female by which to right her life. I won't say more, but I will say that this part, Lewis gets very, very right.

Jim Lewis is a genius. For a man to write from the point of view of a woman is a formidable task; to have that woman also be insane is risky. Lewis' novel is a triumph. I found Caroline completely believable as the disturbed protagonist. Her insanity creates an eerie tone that more than once left me with goosebumps. The novel may take unusual twists and turns and may not always provide a clear explanation, but keep in mind--it's a story told by an insane woman. The suspense is palpable by the last third of the book, and the ending was a complete surprise that was so poignant I had tears in my eyes. Go for it--you'll be glad you did.

This was torturous to read. The writing was fragmented and difficult to follow. The characters were underdeveloped, but portrayed in a manner suggesting they may have more depth. I lost interest during the riot where somehow the character kills a police officer during a riot - and no one sees? Absurd! Why not have her have actually killed the friend? This book is horrible! I agree with the reviews.

I just finished the last line on the last page of this engrossing story; a painful history told so tenderly...

The author understands the subtle ironies and delights of the human experience, and I am enriched from the experience of reading this book.

Go ahead, take a chance on this unknown author. You'll be glad you did.

Jim Lewis is a master at adopting the female persona, and his ability to hold my interest was uncanny and, frankly, quite surprising. I found myself eagerly holding on through Caroline's journey, waiting for an end that would justify my enthusiasm; unfortunately, I was left dissatisfied. Such an enormous novel deserves a grander finale.

I enjoyed the book. The only problem I have with it is that the aauthor, a man, tries too hard at times to get into the head of his female lead. It's as if he really wants to get the feminine perspective across so much, he loses a sense of the character. Other than that, great plot, and great story. He's quite a poetic talent.

I wanted to see Caroline get her due in the end, but was denied the opportunity, which was a shame since we saw every other secret detail of the tightly knit sphere of neuroticism and borderline insanity she lived in. Beautiful writing but sometimes the layers hindered the plot instead of advancing it. But then when did Caroline ever make anything easy?