Like Trees, Walking: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Michael Donald, Sergeant Kincaid, Council Ferguson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alabama native Howard revisits a 1981 Mobile, Ala., lynching in his debut novel, an extended version of a short story he wrote that won the 2001 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award. Narrator Roy Deacon, a 17-year-old seventh-generation mortician, is pressed into service after his brother, Paul, discovers a friend's body hanging from a camphor tree. Roy prepares the body for burial while the community's most fiery leaders rally to press the police to find a better explanation for murder than "a drug deal gone wrong." Throughout the commotion, Roy maintains a remarkable calm as he approaches the end of his senior year in high school, prepares bodies and attends to a distressed Paul. Howard combines these elements to create a slow pace and a mournful mood, though heavy description and overemphasis on metaphor remind the reader that this is Howard's first novel. Justice is meted out in an epilogue, and Howard uses the facts of the case to hit home the novel's premise: that even with justice, there are some stains that will never be erased by time. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The town of Mobile, Alabama, in the summer of 1981, when headlines were dominated by the Atlanta child killings, awakens to find a black youth hanging from a neighborhood tree. Sixteen-year-old Roy Deacon, son of the local black funeral director, offers the first-person narrative of his brother Paul's discovery of the body of a friend and classmate, and the town's struggle to reconcile the lynching with any notions that its black residents have of racial progress. Paul has managed to escape the expectations that he will go into the family business, seven generations long. The burden falls all the heavier on Roy, whose distaste doesn't outweigh his strong sense of duty. Looking back 22 years after the event, Roy wrestles with the memory of the lynching at a turning point in the life of the town and his family. Based on the true story of one of the last recorded lynchings in the U.S., Howard's debut novel offers a subtle and stirring look at the complexities of racial hatred and family obligations. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060529601
• ISBN-13: 978-0060529604
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #923,324 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Debut, March 9, 2007

By	Cheryl Strayed "author of Torch" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Like Trees, Walking: A Novel (Hardcover)

I loved the writing in this book--strong, clear, patient. The story is both sad and important without being too depressing or grim. There is much to admire about Like Trees, Walking, but one of my favorite things was the fascinating and original perspective Ravi Howard gave us on the funeral industry. The narrator is a mortician and funeral home director and I've never read about that aspect of life in the way that I did in this novel. Like Trees, Walking is a strong debut and a well-told story. I read it for my book club and we had lots to discuss. Recommended!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Debut!!!, February 26, 2007

By	Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Like Trees, Walking: A Novel (Hardcover)

Like Trees, Walking by Ravi Howard is a solemn tale that opens with Roy Deacon on the cusp of his fortieth birthday reflecting back twenty-two years earlier where as a senior in high school, the lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama shocked the nation and affected Roy's life and community forever. From the onset of the novel, we learn that seventeen-year-old Roy is feeling pressured to continue the family mortuary practice and envies older brother, Paul, for having the courage to defy his father's desires to see both sons embrace the business as the seventh generation to do so. His laments seem paltry when Paul finds his friend's broken body hanging from a tree on a seemingly ordinary Spring morning.

The African American community is dazed; the elders from earlier eras suffer from painful memories and haunting images resurrected from a past they never wanted to revisit. The young react in disbelief that a heinous hate crime once commonplace from yesteryear could happen to one of their peers in such modern times. The titans of the black community experience déjà vu when the police offer an ill-fated drug deal, an interracial love triangle gone awry, and other unfounded theories instead of labeling the murder a lynching and admitting to Klan activity in their fair city. The young lose their patience, optimism and trust in the legal system and their futures when the wheels of justice grind ever so slowly toward an arrest and conviction of Michael's murderers.

As the title infers from the Biblical parable, Roy, Paul, their friends, and the community struggle to make sense from it all. Their youthful innocence is prematurely stripped away at a pivotal, crucial moment in their lives. They struggle with their emotions as they prepare for their upcoming high school rites of passage (prom, commencement, senior plays, etc.) amid Michael's murder, funeral (which his family handles), and community outcries for action. Thrown into adulthood, they each compromise and forsake their childhood dreams to face family obligations, reconcile their heartfelt loss, and plot their futures.

The author solidly places the reader in 1981 Mobile complete with a sprinkling of local history and traditions, coastal community life, music, and the social and political climate of the day. Sticking to a chronological timeline, he leans heavily on the title's allegory to move the characters toward an understanding and inner peace. Enhanced by the use of metaphor and iconic figures to deliver timely words of wisdom, he creates some wonderfully detailed scenes with distinct imagery. This is a worthy debut to be enjoyed by fans of historical and/or literary fiction.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (RAW Rating: 4.5) - Redemption, August 3, 2007

By	The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like Trees, Walking: A Novel (Hardcover)

Seventeen year old Roy Deacon is looking forward to his upcoming high school graduation and attending college in the fall of 1981. The son of a funeral director, who is currently running the business that has been in his family for seven generations, he is anxiously awaiting leaving this grim profession behind. His brother, Paul, has already taken steps to break away from the family business, which leaves a lot of the burden to assist their father on Roy.

All of this changes the day Paul discovers the body of his good friend hanging from a camphor tree - a tree meant for healing. Paul is distraught and Roy is there to support his brother through this crisis while also being responsible for preparing the body for burial. Paul becomes obsessed with trying to get justice for his friend whose heinous murder is being dismissed as a bad drug deal. But the African-American citizens of Mobile, Alabama knows there is more to it than that.

Loosely based on a true event, LIKE TREES WALKING is Howard's debut novel that originally started as a short story. This poignant tale embraces the bonds of friendship, family and a community. The author thoroughly researched for this tale which is shown with clarity and conciseness throughout the book. Howard writes with a lyrical prose that portrays the graveness and darkness of the situation without a depressing tone. He uses amazing imagery to paint a picture. This winner of Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright award is one to watch.

Reviewed by Paula Henderson
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers