Published by Doubleday on 13 Aug 2013
Goodreads
In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu’ivu in search of a rumoured lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub “The Dreamers,” who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He scientifically proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating personal consequences.
The book takes the format of Perina’s memoir with footnotes by his colleague, which are as critical to the story as the body, but first begins with two article clippings detailing the present day scandal surrounding Perina. He is accused of sexual abuse by one of his adopted children, one of the 43 he brought back with him from research on the island of Ivu’ivu.
With those two articles, we have the summary of Perina’s rise and fall, so nothing that happens in the rest of the book is surprising, but the anticipation of how the inevitable would play out kept me going. The one thing that did surprise me didn’t have to do with the plot but with the abrupt change in tone at the very end of the book, which made me consider the intention of this story. Was it to shock? To question the character of someone we thought we knew?
For some, the moral ambiguity presented in this story raises questions about scientific progress and ethics, though I personally found Perina a straightforward asshole, and his scientific quest for eternal life greedy, especially at the cost of another civilisation. A more complex thought for me to ponder over was what one Goodreads reviewer put forth: “The novel doesn’t ask us to question the narrator’s truthfulness; it asks us to question the truthfulness of the world that produces men like the narrator.” The ugly truth is that bad people can accomplish great things. We see it not just in science but throughout history. And what does that mean for what has been accomplished?
It’s easy to be righteous about your morals when considering a fictional situation like the one in this story. But The People in the Trees was inspired by a true story. Perina was based on Nobel laureate Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, who was known for his early discovery of prion disease, and who was charged with child molestation, accused by one of the 56 children he brought back with him from his research in the South Pacific.
Lastly, some thoughts for anyone who’s read Yanagihara’s second novel, A Little Life, and is wondering how The People in the Trees, her debut novel, compares: The two are completely different. Where A Little Life was all emotion, The People in the Trees was written with a scientist’s remove. Yanagihara’s versatility is amazing. Either way, she knows how to write the hell out of a book. I really hope she writes a third novel. I have no idea what to expect!
Oh god, can nothing in this jungle behave as it ought? Must fruits move and trees breathe and freshwater rivers taste of the ocean? Why must nothing obey the laws of nature? Why must everything point so heavily toward the existence of enchantment?
PS: a little life by hanya yanagihara, my favourite secondhand bookstores in philly, 2020 mid-year reading check-in