A highly acclaimed book that has been deemed sure to become one of the classic pieces of literature having to do with the Vietnam War deserves an outstanding narrator for the audiobook edition. That is precisely what was found in actor Will Patton.

One of the busiest and most gifted performers in Hollywood, Patton has appeared in such standout films as Silkwood, The Client, and A Mighty Heart. Equally commanding on stage he has taken home two Obie Awards. His experience as a character actor is evident when he takes on the role of an old man or a person in extremis. It seems there is no one he cannot voice. If you've heard him read any stories set in the South, it is with these that he is in more than top form, embellishing the sounds of his native South Carolina.

Having said all of this and after hearing his narration of Tree of Smoke, this listener totally agrees with Denis Johnson's description of Patton: "I've worked with Will Patton on a couple of stage efforts, and I quickly developed the opinion he's not only one of the finest actors working today, but he also has a miraculous connection to the rhythms and the people and the language in my pieces."

Connect Patton does as he relates the odyssey of young, idealistic Skip Sands who seeks to prove his mettle as a CIA agent engaged in psychological warfare against the Vietcong. His hope are dashed as is his idealism. An important figure in Skip's life is his uncle, the Colonel, a war hero, who basks in that glory for a time until he, too, questions.

Others caught up in the conflict are two brothers, Bill and James Houston, who find a war they cannot understand and would not have believed existed. There is also, Kathy, a widowed nurse.

Compelling, gritty, unforgettable, powerful - Tree Of Smoke stands alone.

- Gail Cooke

The novel begins with the senseless, needless and heartless shooting of a tiny, wild monkey, "not much bigger than a Chihuahua dog", by eighteen years old Seaman Apprentice William Houston. He was walking in the Grande Island of the Philippines, looking for a wild boar to hunt. He doesn't find a wild boar. He sees a harmless and helpless monkey in a tree, instead, and shoots it with a .22-caliber rifle. When the fatally wounded monkey falls to the ground, he picks it up. Johnson writes, "With fascination, then with revulsion, he realized that the monkey was crying. Its breath came out in sobs, and tears welled out of its eyes when it blinked. It looked here and there, appearing no more interested in him than in anything else it might be seeing." When I read the brief episode, the brutal and senseless killing of a harmless wild animal which was foraging for food and minding its own business - five paragraphs in all - I was quite outraged, at first. But soon it dawned upon me that, after all, this novel was about the Vietnam War; and wasn't the Vietnam War needless, senseless, brutal and outrageous also? I calmed down and continued to read.

The novel is about two brothers named William Houston, a Seaman Apprentice, and James Houston who serve in the military in the Vietnam War, and a CIA agent named Skip Sands, and his uncle Colonel Francis Sands, and another intelligence officer named Storm, a military man from South Vietnam named Hao and a spy from North Vietnam named Trung, and a Canadian aid worker named Kathy Jones, a nurse who goes to Vietnam after her husband, a priest, is killed. Because of the author's digressive, ruminating and reflective style, the story at times is difficult to follow. The length of the novel (614 pages) is a hindrance also. The beauty of the novel lies mainly in Johnson's prose. Gripping, descriptive passages, vigorous and fascinating dialogues, and biting commentaries flow off the pages. His prose is lucid and smooth-flowing and almost poetic; many of the sentences are as bewitching and elegant as these: "From all around came the ten thousand sounds of the jungle, as well as the cries of gulls and the far-off surf, and if he stopped dead and listened a minute, he could hear also the pulse snickering in the heat of his flesh, and the creak of sweat in his ears. If he stayed motionless only another couple of seconds, the bugs found him and whined around his head."

The book reads like a collage of a series of episodes put together. The characters ponder over a bewildering array of philosophical, spiritual, metaphysical and religious questions. Even the title of the novel itself- Tree of Smoke- can be traced to the Bible. But Johnson's keen observations of nature, and his ability to describe the wonders of nature with the magic of his pen, cast a spell on the reader and hold the reader's attention. At the end of the novel I felt as if I had been standing by the Niagara Falls at night, listening to the ear-splitting wails of its dark, swirling, foamy water rushing towards its inevitable doom. And when I shut the book an extraordinary thing happened: I felt as if I was seeing a sliver of the moon emerging from dense, gray clouds in a dark, starless sky, its silvery light beginning to light up the gloomy sky. Denis Johnson is a masterful writer. Reading this book was an awe-inspiring, dizzying, bewildering and at times frightful experience.

Denis Johnson has written five novels and scores of poetry. He is the recipient of a Lannan Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award, among many other honors for his work. in his newest gem:.Tree of Smoke: Denis tells the story of Skip Sands, a spy learning the ropes, he suffers many downfalls to to his uncle, the Colonel and uses psychology against the Vietcon. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, however. Bill and James, two men who wander in and out of an Arizona desert into a war of delusional thoughts cloud their actions.

Tree of Smoke: A Novel by Denis Johnson is a touching reminder of how humans are... well... only human. Denis' portrayal of desperate men and women is nothing short of heart warming, Denis has truly given us a novel that everyone should read. If you haven't already it is recommended that you read his earlier works.

Mr. Johnson has written a great novel. The fact that it is about the 1960's and Vietnam is beside the point, for the book could be about Iraq today. The writing is superb in describing characters, their actions and their choices. This is an anti-war novel with all the gray areas illuminated: combat, faulty intelligence, just who are the good guys, and the war's impact upon the characters. It is a collection of great short stories wrapped up in one book.

The tree of smoke is a crazy drug addled ride through the Vietnam war. It easily could have become a derivative of such Vietnam classics as Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" or Robert Stone's "Dog Soldiers." But the author is able to take similar elements from these and other books about this subject and turn out something different. The plot roams and rampages about, which will probably be disconcerting to some, but it is really just a metaphor for the craziness of war, and this war in particular. It's the story of the American experience in Vietnam and is particularly timely given the current situation in Iraq. The story follows Skip, a CIA operative, Young and eager to prove himself and defeat communism. Skip believes in the American dream of democracy for everyone and the essential goodness of America and America's interest in Vietnam. I do not like to give too much away in my reviews but suffice to say Skip Witnesses the brutalities of war and sees things that question is allegiances. He learns that not all is black and white.

This is not the first book on the follies of war and surly will not be the last. Overall it deserves five stars even though the plot is unwieldily at times. The greatness of this book is how the author was able to bring the reader back to the hallucinogenic era of that bloody little war and display the fallout on his characters psyche. This is a must read! Along with Across the High Lonesome this was my favorite read of the summer! This was my first Denis Johnson novel, now I am going to order Jesus' Son: Stories by and Fiskadoro