Scan barcode
sunnymochi's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of sorrow and nature packed into this crisply written page turner. I enjoyed the quiet pathos as we get to know the people in Sam Dent, an Adirondack town, but found the ending a bit brassy.
eleanorfranzen's review against another edition
Banks’s novel about a small upstate-New York town devastated by a school bus accident that kills a decent percentage of the town’s children is told in four voices. We start with Dolores, who was driving the bus, then move to the father of two of the dead children, one of the lawyers who inundate the town seeking participants in a class-action suit, and one of the survivors, a fourteen-year-old beauty queen whose injuries from the accident have made her dependent on a wheelchair for mobility. Every section is told in first person, and Banks takes advantage of the intimacy of that mode of narration to slyly seed uncertainty about everyone’s understanding and motives. This is particularly effective in the sections with Dolores and Nichole, the survivor, who (we quickly realise) has been molested by her father for years; both of them are incredibly sympathetic and nuanced voices. Mitchell, the lawyer, gets slightly too melodramatic an arc, his terrible relationship with a drug-addled daughter forming a clear (and excessive) parallel to the child loss that his clients-to-be have experienced. I enjoyed this but suspect it isn’t Banks’s best; I’d like to try his chunkster Cloudsplitter, about the abolitionist John Brown. Source: bought secondhand from Daedalus Books in Charlottesville
gardnerhere's review against another edition
4.0
Small town tragedy told through four first-person accounts (a survivor, a cause (?), a victim, and a lawyer), each of which muddies the waters by misinterpreting the intents and natures of the other, by mucking up details, and by generally tossing about fistfuls of ambiguity. The characters are clear, though more could probably be done to separate their diction. Banks wrestles well with forms of grief, with the need for blame, with the secret lives we all live, and in the end with the way a community struggles to overcome broad tragedy.
After the overwrought near-mess of Banks' [b:Rule of the Bone|106133|Rule of the Bone|Russell Banks|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348655289s/106133.jpg|226431] this was a welcome surprise.
After the overwrought near-mess of Banks' [b:Rule of the Bone|106133|Rule of the Bone|Russell Banks|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348655289s/106133.jpg|226431] this was a welcome surprise.
katymvt's review against another edition
4.0
2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge-a book with a title that contains salt, sweet, bitter, or spicy.
This is a book about a school bus accident where 14(?) kids die and one is paralyed. It is told through the points of view of the bus driver, the father of two of the children, a lawyer, and the paralyzed girl. It's sad and it's mostly introspection. But, I think I just found it to be profoundly true, and in the end dignified.
This is a book about a school bus accident where 14(?) kids die and one is paralyed. It is told through the points of view of the bus driver, the father of two of the children, a lawyer, and the paralyzed girl. It's sad and it's mostly introspection. But, I think I just found it to be profoundly true, and in the end dignified.
meadams's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure what I think of this book, an easy read w/ difficult subject matter. A tragic accident hits a small town hard, several children die, others are hurt and everyone is changed forever. Before the victims are even buried, here come the big city lawyers ready to sue...anyone! There's no happy ending here but at least someone figures out how to get rid of the lawyers, not that it makes much difference...
tfitoby's review against another edition
4.0
A remarkable and remarkably simple piece of literature that spawned a remarkable movie.
Russell Banks, Russell Banks, Russell Banks. If I write his name enough it might conjure a complete sentence from my mind, as though his name alone might rub some of his magic off on me and I could explain this novel to you. Russell Banks. It's not working.
I just read [b:Affliction|227751|Affliction|Russell Banks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310092463s/227751.jpg|1829642] which a truly incredible movie was adapted from, adapted so well that it seemed to make the novel a non-event for me, yet I knew that Banks had something special, a skill, a voice that could create something wonderful from mere words on paper and being completely unsatisfied I plunged straight in to his other novel that was adapted in to an award winning movie, naturally. It could have been a mistake but I believe my decision was vindicated by just how urgently I devoured this one.
Told in five parts in the first person by four of the major characters in the aftermath of the tragic crash of a school bus Banks slowly creates a multi-layered understanding of the event and the way people cope with tragedy. To tell you much more than that would be to act as a spoiler and I'd hate to ruin this for you. The four people you meet are Dolores the bus driver, Billy a bereaved parent, Mitchell the big city lawyer and Nichole a child survivor. It's loosely based on true events, a school bus did crash in Texas in the late 1980s and the townsfolk went crazy with litigation.
I have seen and enjoyed the Atom Egoyan movie several times and never found it lacking in anything but in this instance the novel really does add an extra power and understanding to the film. From the opening paragraph as we meet Dolores I was hooked, the distinct voice of this chatterbox shone through loud and clear and she is the perfect set of eyes and ears to learn about the tragedy that will unfold and be retold in the following 250 pages. The distinct voice of Dolores is then added to by three more quite distinct characters and this is apparent from the opening paragraphs of each subsequent section. The most important literary trick that Banks pulls off in this novel is that at no point are you confused over which character is narrating which section AND on top of that you are led towards sympathising with each of the characters despite their conflicting emotions and intentions with a subtlety that cinema will always struggle to match.
There's only one reason for the lack of full marks in this case and that was the disappointing final section, it felt like an unnecessary addition to the story and a way to moralise at the reader rather than let them take from the story what they will. I don't like being told the answer to these problems by an author and to have one attempt to do so simply highlights the conceit of the literary fiction writer.
But don't let that stop you from reading this book or seeing the movie, both are splendid and worth your time.
Russell Banks, Russell Banks, Russell Banks. If I write his name enough it might conjure a complete sentence from my mind, as though his name alone might rub some of his magic off on me and I could explain this novel to you. Russell Banks. It's not working.
I just read [b:Affliction|227751|Affliction|Russell Banks|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310092463s/227751.jpg|1829642] which a truly incredible movie was adapted from, adapted so well that it seemed to make the novel a non-event for me, yet I knew that Banks had something special, a skill, a voice that could create something wonderful from mere words on paper and being completely unsatisfied I plunged straight in to his other novel that was adapted in to an award winning movie, naturally. It could have been a mistake but I believe my decision was vindicated by just how urgently I devoured this one.
Told in five parts in the first person by four of the major characters in the aftermath of the tragic crash of a school bus Banks slowly creates a multi-layered understanding of the event and the way people cope with tragedy. To tell you much more than that would be to act as a spoiler and I'd hate to ruin this for you. The four people you meet are Dolores the bus driver, Billy a bereaved parent, Mitchell the big city lawyer and Nichole a child survivor. It's loosely based on true events, a school bus did crash in Texas in the late 1980s and the townsfolk went crazy with litigation.
I have seen and enjoyed the Atom Egoyan movie several times and never found it lacking in anything but in this instance the novel really does add an extra power and understanding to the film. From the opening paragraph as we meet Dolores I was hooked, the distinct voice of this chatterbox shone through loud and clear and she is the perfect set of eyes and ears to learn about the tragedy that will unfold and be retold in the following 250 pages. The distinct voice of Dolores is then added to by three more quite distinct characters and this is apparent from the opening paragraphs of each subsequent section. The most important literary trick that Banks pulls off in this novel is that at no point are you confused over which character is narrating which section AND on top of that you are led towards sympathising with each of the characters despite their conflicting emotions and intentions with a subtlety that cinema will always struggle to match.
There's only one reason for the lack of full marks in this case and that was the disappointing final section, it felt like an unnecessary addition to the story and a way to moralise at the reader rather than let them take from the story what they will. I don't like being told the answer to these problems by an author and to have one attempt to do so simply highlights the conceit of the literary fiction writer.
But don't let that stop you from reading this book or seeing the movie, both are splendid and worth your time.
adrienne_l's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Based on a real school bus tragedy that took place in the town of Alton, Texas in 1989, resulting in the deaths of 21 children and the injuries of 49 more, The Sweet Hereafter is as sad and moving a story as you would imagine it to be.
This is my second time through, and the only novel I've read to this point by Russell Banks, but he has that rare knack reminiscent of my favorite author Stephen King, of rendering characters in a way that's incredibly vivid and authentic, with just a few short sentences. For example, describing one of the kids who boards the ill-fated bus, "He had a round burnt-orange babyface with a perpetual peaceful smile on it. as if someone had just told him a terrific joke and he was telling it to himself all over again." Banks also really captures the scope and severe beauty of the Adirondacks in winter. And I say that as someone familiar with that impressive and often overlooked landscape. He also does an excellent job rendering a small town hunkered down in its isolation, compounded by grief, and the seedy underbelly that's often a part of such communities.
"It's dark up there, closed-in by mountains of shadow and a blanketing early nightfall, but at the same time the space is huge, endless, almost like being at sea...that makes you feel simultaneously surrounded by the darkness and released into a world much larger than any you've dealt with before. It's a landscape that controls you, sits you down and says, Shut up, pal, I'm in charge here."
The book is told through four different points of view: the school bus driver, the flashy New York City lawyer who comes to the small town of Sam Dent with vengeance on his mind, the devastated father who lost two children in the disaster, and the fourteen-year-old cheerleader and Harvest Festival Queen who is left paralyzed. While I prefer some of the perspectives to the others, all of the pieces are still incredibly moving and all of them are devastating, but, really, how could they be anything else?
This is my second time through, and the only novel I've read to this point by Russell Banks, but he has that rare knack reminiscent of my favorite author Stephen King, of rendering characters in a way that's incredibly vivid and authentic, with just a few short sentences. For example, describing one of the kids who boards the ill-fated bus, "He had a round burnt-orange babyface with a perpetual peaceful smile on it. as if someone had just told him a terrific joke and he was telling it to himself all over again." Banks also really captures the scope and severe beauty of the Adirondacks in winter. And I say that as someone familiar with that impressive and often overlooked landscape. He also does an excellent job rendering a small town hunkered down in its isolation, compounded by grief, and the seedy underbelly that's often a part of such communities.
"It's dark up there, closed-in by mountains of shadow and a blanketing early nightfall, but at the same time the space is huge, endless, almost like being at sea...that makes you feel simultaneously surrounded by the darkness and released into a world much larger than any you've dealt with before. It's a landscape that controls you, sits you down and says, Shut up, pal, I'm in charge here."
The book is told through four different points of view: the school bus driver, the flashy New York City lawyer who comes to the small town of Sam Dent with vengeance on his mind, the devastated father who lost two children in the disaster, and the fourteen-year-old cheerleader and Harvest Festival Queen who is left paralyzed. While I prefer some of the perspectives to the others, all of the pieces are still incredibly moving and all of them are devastating, but, really, how could they be anything else?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
marziae's review against another edition
2.0
Noioso. La trama non sarebbe neanche male ma non ho amato né la scrittura né i personaggi, che sembrano poco credibili e approssimativi.
richardrbecker's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Sweet Hereafter centers on a school bus accident in a small town, as told by the first-person accounts of four primary characters: bus driver Dolores Driscoll; garage owner and surviving parent of two children killed in the crash, Billy Ansel; attorney Mitchell Stevens; and a surviving, but crippled by the accident student, Nicole Burnell. The novel is simultaneously sardonic and cathartic, with characters so fully rendered that it's as if you've known them all your life.
While the primary plot deals with the aftermath of the bus going off the road and into the frozen waters of an undrained sand pit in a small town, killing 14 children, The Sweet Hereafter is largely about the hidden motivations of individuals as the town attempts to cope with the accident and consider who to blame. And the life experiences and decisions made by these four primary characters shape the outcome, for better or worse.
A sense of loss and guilt colors Dolores. Billy is tainted by grief, not only from losing his children but his wife five years prior. Mitchell is motivated by his anger at a world that contributed to the alienation of his daughter. And Nicole is motivated by a dark family secret. While Banks shares how other characters cope with the accident through the eyes of these four characters, the four set the unexpected direction of the town and leave the reader feeling a similar sense of loss and grief.
While the story told isn't something I could ever add to my favorites list, it has elevated Russel Banks to one of my favorite writers. Enough so, all of his unread works will now be added to my reading rotation. Banks has not only impacted as a reader with this novel, but my own writing as an author. I read the book in five days, but I could not put it down despite having others open. Incredible.
While the primary plot deals with the aftermath of the bus going off the road and into the frozen waters of an undrained sand pit in a small town, killing 14 children, The Sweet Hereafter is largely about the hidden motivations of individuals as the town attempts to cope with the accident and consider who to blame. And the life experiences and decisions made by these four primary characters shape the outcome, for better or worse.
A sense of loss and guilt colors Dolores. Billy is tainted by grief, not only from losing his children but his wife five years prior. Mitchell is motivated by his anger at a world that contributed to the alienation of his daughter. And Nicole is motivated by a dark family secret. While Banks shares how other characters cope with the accident through the eyes of these four characters, the four set the unexpected direction of the town and leave the reader feeling a similar sense of loss and grief.
While the story told isn't something I could ever add to my favorites list, it has elevated Russel Banks to one of my favorite writers. Enough so, all of his unread works will now be added to my reading rotation. Banks has not only impacted as a reader with this novel, but my own writing as an author. I read the book in five days, but I could not put it down despite having others open. Incredible.