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The Lion Trees: Part One: Unraveling Paperback – August 13, 2014

by Owen Thomas (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

What if survival required you to unlearn who you are? How far would you fall to save yourself? Sometimes happiness is a long way down.

The Johns family is unraveling. Hollis, a retired Ohio banker, isolates himself in esoteric hobbies and a dangerous flirtation with a colleague’s daughter. Susan, his wife of forty years, risks everything for a second chance at who she might have become. David, their eldest, thrashes to stay afloat as his teaching career capsizes in a storm of accusations involving a missing student and the legacy of Christopher Columbus. And young Tilly, the black sheep, having traded literary promise for an improbable career as a Hollywood starlet, struggles to define herself amid salacious scandal, the demands of a powerful director, and the judgments of an uncompromising writer.

By turns comical and poignant, the Johns family is tumbling toward the discovery that sometimes you have to let go of your identity to find out who you are.

[A] cerebral page turner…a powerful and promising debut.—Kirkus Reviews

[Five Stars]…[A] powerful, gripping and realistic story…The Lion Trees does what so very few great novels can: it will take a lot out of you, but leave you with much more than you had when you began —Pacific Book Reviews, a five star review.

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  1. Print length
    826 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    August 13, 2014
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 1.87 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0692235906
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0692235904
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The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[FOUR STARS]... "By the time you are done with The Lion Trees, you [will] have forgotten all about the length and will realize what an amazingly entertaining piece of literature it was and do I dare say it, a serious novel that provides you with some genuine laugh out loud moments. ... Owen Thomas's writing leaves you richer with emotions and contentment even before the ending arrives. If there is only one book that you are going to read this year, make it The Lion Trees." - Motorwriter.com

[FIVE STARS]..."I've been an avid reader for well over thirty-five years. I've been a reviewer for over a dozen. I've been bombarded by today's cookie cutter story assembly and I despise it. ... Then, someone like Owen Thomas comes along and reminds me what the book world CAN offer, what a story CAN be. ... [T]his was an astounding read for me. Not only was the story telling mesmerizing, but Owen's writing style is inspiring. His writing is seamless and flawless and makes me yearn for more." -- LiteraryLitter.com

[A] cerebral page turner...a powerful and promising debut.--Kirkus Reviews

[FIVE STARS]..."This is a powerful, gripping and realistic story. Once, a few decades ago, many authors would set out to write "The Great American Novel," hoping to tap into whatever it is which makes the US and its people so unique and hopeful, particularly at a set point in time. ... These days it doesn't seem like anyone tries to write those kind of seminal novels anymore... until now. ... The Lion Trees does what so very few great novels can: it will take a lot out of you, but leave you with much more than you had when you began." - Pacific Book Review

[FOUR STARS]..."In its structure and nature, [The Lion Trees] reminds me above all of John Updike's wonderful Harry Rabbit novels and their ability to summarize the essence of change in American society across a decade at a time." - BookIdeas.com

“A sweeping literary saga in the tradition of ‘Dr. Zhivago’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, and ‘The Thorn Birds’, this book has it all, including scandal, aspiration, treachery, and reinvention. Thomas’ fiction has a fresh feel—original and stirring—delivering a tale of monumental family dysfunction, which captures interest through numerous plot shifts, quickly alternate between poignant and humorous. By turns exhilarating and exhausting, Thomas creates compelling, rich characters. The ending is just as satisfying as the beginning.” – The Eric Hoffer Book Award

[FIVE STARS]“Every now and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a new voice comes along and knocks your socks off. Owen Thomas owns that voice. . . . Intoxicated by his prose, you gorge upon chunks of passages and while awestruck by the language’s majesty two discordant thoughts course through your brain: why is the book so long and then, superseding that sentiment, please don’t let it end. It is not often that a book like ‘The Lion Trees’ graces our lives.” – The Anchorage Press

About the Author

Owen Thomas is a life-long Alaskan with an abiding love of original fiction. While managing an employment litigation practice in Alaska, Owen has written three novels: Lying Under Comets: A Love Story of Passion, Murder, Snacks and Graffiti; The Lion Trees, winner of thirteen international book awards (including the 2015 Kindle Book Award, the Eric Hoffer Book Award, the First Horizon Award, the London Book Festival, the New York Book Festival, the Beverly Hills International Book Awards, and the Amsterdam Book Festival); and a novel of interconnected short fiction entitled Signs of Passing, winner of fourteen book festival awards (including the Pacific Book Awards for Short Fiction, the Indie Reader Discovery Awards, and the Great Southeast Book Festival) and was named one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2015 by Shelf Unbound Magazine. Owen maintains an active fiction and photography blog on his author website at owenthomasfiction.com.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ OTF Literary; 1st edition (August 13, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 826 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0692235906
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0692235904
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.9 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.87 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
11 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Ionia Froment
    4.0 out of 5 stars What a Debut!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2015
    At first, I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by the length of this book, as well as by my lack of understanding over what exactly was going on with the family of characters. Once I read a few chapters, I was hooked, and I believe you will be too.

    This story is so well crafted, that you begin to feel as if you are part of the family itself, and the goings-on carry you away from your own life and into the lives of these people.

    This book is funny at times, sad at others, and occasionally frustrating. If you are looking for a work that you can fully immerse yourself in, this is it.

    I enjoyed the reality of life, aging, marriage, the power of decisions both positive and negative and the author's use of people who were ordinary to fulfill the required drama of a book like this.

    I definitely recommend that if you are looking for a quality read that will make you reflect on your own life, that you pick this one up.

    This review is based on a complimentary copy, provided in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Laine Cunningham
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2016
    The Lion Trees by Owen Thomas

    Available from OTF Literary

    This novel has garnered an eye-popping number of awards. I appreciate knowing up front when a book has won at least one award or been shortlisted for an honor but that generally doesn’t impact my impression. It might, in fact, lead me to anticipate a better-than-average reading experience, which sets me up for disappointment if the work doesn’t meet my personal standards.

    The Lion Trees did not disappoint. The awards this novel (or diptych of two novels, depending on which production version you’re reading) has pulled in are all well deserved. The story follows a family of four: the aging parents and two adult children, as they muddle through some astonishing changes in their lives. They are, like most of us, ensnared by the tendrils of past hurts, wounds, harms and mistakes. They do their best to help themselves without hurting others too much.

    Or at least, most of them try not to harm others. The father is the big exception here. The depth and breadth of his arrogance and selfishness keeps him from seeing even the smallest part of how arrogant and selfish he truly is. Even when his wife leaves him to live in a lesbian commune, he still doesn’t really see how entrenched he is in his own horrible ways.

    But of course glimmers arise. He eventually, through a lot of suffering that is at times poignant and at other times funny, manages to start down the path of change. The remainder of his family—a son, a daughter and that AWOL wife—meanwhile manage to implement rather large changes. Not without their own suffering of course but they come out stronger, better people. As one might hope.

    This is a long novel, clocking in at some 550,000 words. It is split into two parts mostly I assume for print purposes, because the physical book cannot easily be created or distributed as a single unit. This does lead to some issues with the transition from the first to the second “book.” At the end of the first part, I turned the page and knew that it doesn’t work well as two separate books. I was fortunate to have read it in electronic version and therefore did not feel the pain of having to go hunt down and then wait for delivery of a second print book.

    That being said, the end of the first part is only one clear example of this author’s abilities. I literally read the last few paragraphs at the end of part one with a growing emotional response to the characters’ situations and, somewhere in the back of my head where the critical judge sits always hovering above the reading process, thinking that if the author ended it on that page, he was a genius. I turned the page and saw yes, there’s an end, and so yes, this author is significantly talented.

    There are a few flaws in this work. Although the book is presented conceptually as if all the family members are equally important, two of the characters fall into a secondary role. These are the daughter and the wife. The wife receives noticeably less attention than the other three, as well. Taken together, it made me wonder if the author isn’t as familiar with female characters and had some trouble drawing them as fully as men in this narrative.

    In some ways, even the men the daughter interacts with have equal roles as her, which strengthens the idea that the author has some trouble drawing women on their own (i.e., without the foil or support of male characters). The wife’s scenes in the all-female commune also don’t resonate with strongly drawn secondary characters in her plotline, so that seems to also point to the need for the author to work a bit on female presentation.

    The story also drags a bit in book two. I strongly felt the second part could have been trimmed as much as 150 pages and still held the same emotional resonance and achieved the same plot elements. This might also have solved some of the two-book issue for the print version.

    These two issues don’t detract much at all from the superb experience and exceptional writing readers will find in The Lion Trees. Pick up these books, and you’ll surely want more from this author.

    For a gripping novel that features a strong female lead, try Beloved: A Sensual Noir Thriller.

    I received a copy of this through a Goodreads giveaway.

    5 stars!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Donna
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Family Unraveling
    Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2014
    What a riveting story! The personalities of the Johns family ring true. Their faults cause them no end of trouble. A husband and wife drifting apart and each trying to find their own separate identities. A daughter who avoids her father and at the same time seeks his approval. A son who feels he is a disappointment to his father and is dealing with his own nightmare. A downs syndrome son who brings the only light to the family with his joyous smiles and dancing. Each family member circles around the others, with brief overlaps where they interact.

    I can't wait to find out what happens to each of them in Part 2!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Paula McComb
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well written epic novel with engaging characters!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015
    Thanks to Librarything and the author for a free copy of The Lion Trees. This is an epic novel told in two parts, Unraveling and Awakening, and I loved every minute of it.

    This is the story of a very dysfunctional family with chapters alternating from the point of view of four of the family members. How dysfunctional is this family? David, the adult son not living at home, sneaks his younger brother out of the house through his bedroom window for a night out at the movies, all to avoid seeing his parents.

    We begin and end the novel with Matilda at the end of her life, reflecting as Tilly on her younger years as a Hollywood actress, famous for her steamy offscreen behaviour. These chapters are in first person past tense. Hollis, her father, is struggling to adapt to retirement. His chapters are told from a third person perspective in the past tense. Susan his wife is the main caregiver for their special needs child Ben and is struggling with her role in their marriage. Her chapters are all written in dialogue. They are so well done that there is no confusion as to who is talking even though there is no he said or she said.

    David, the oldest child is a very conscientious high school high school teacher who is always putting his concerns for his students before his own, much to his detriment. At one point I had to put the book down in frustration at his actions. His chapters are told in first person present tense. Although Ben is given only one chapter of his own of internal dialogue which gives us some further insight into his character, he is a very important character which holds the family together.

    The differing set up for each character's chapters was brought to my attention while reading a review after I had read the book. It was so well done that I must confess, I hadn't noticed. I had to go back and skim over the chapters to see for myself.
    As well as great characterization, there is a suspenseful plot, lots of interesting historical, and political information, interesting facts about Hollywood, and a science fiction story woven into the storyline. Yes, this is a lengthy read, but well worth the effort.
    2 people found this helpful
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