Review: Heavy on symbols...good, but sometimes confusing.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 22, 2012
When I was 12, a friend of the family took me to see "The Deer Hunter". It was a fairly heavy film, but all I really remember is the scene during the main characters time in the river POW camp. Years later I watched the movie to see what I might have missed. It was still the Russian Roulette that stands out. As I read Devil Tree by Steve Vernon, I was struck by much of the same feelings.I am fairly intelligent (I would like to think)but there were moments when the story seemed to slip away from me. I found myself flipping back (not as easy on a Kindle as with a physical copy of a book). I could tell that there were moments when the writer knew exactly what he was trying to say, unfortunately, I wasn't always sure what that was. There is also a lot of simile use. Enough that I made sure to look up the difference between simile and metaphor.I will say that Mr. Vernon does an excellent job creating imagery. His voice is very literary. His ability to convey inner darkness is superb. There is an ambient mood throughout the book that, as a fellow writer, I found impressive. To maintain the tone throughout and never break it was a feat worthy of praise.While I may not have gotten exactly what is was that Mr. Vernon was trying to do, Devil Tree was a unique read. As with any book, it may not be for all readers. I wanted to love the book, but in the end I just liked it a great deal.