Tale about unpleasant man
The People in the Trees By Hanya Yanagihara, Trade Paperback, $37.99
People in the Trees is the debut novel of Hana Yanagihara, originally released in 2015 and now rereleased after the success of her more recent novel A Little Life.
People in the Trees was inspired in part by Daniel Carlton Gaj who was revered by the scientific society for his work fighting diseases afflicting the native community in New Guinea. He suffered a fall from grace after being accused of child molestation and later was imprisoned for sexual abuse of one of the dozens of native children he had adopted.
Hana Yanagihara has written a chilling carefully crafted memoir using the character Norton Perina as Daniel Carlton Gaj writing his memoir from his prion cell with accompanying footnotes from his former lab assistant, now turned editor, Ronald Kubadera.
Norton Perina and his twin brother Owen grew up in a dysfunctional family in Louisiana. An aunt recognised intelligence in the boys and encouraged them towards further education. Later, as a medical doctor, Perina was asked to join a research team travelling to a remote island in Micronesia in search of a lost tribe who are rumoured to have an antidote for ageing.
He meets with success and for a time enjoys academic acclaim before becoming the author of his own downfall.
One reviewer states that this is a novel so beautifully told that as soon as you have got to the end you will immediately want to begin reading it again. Not this reviewer. When I got to the end I resented the time it took me to read this book. In my opinion, no matter how good the writing, it is an unpleasant story about a thoroughly unpleasant character.